Thread: I should probably get started

Oh when I first started with honing I too only had a couple barber hones and had no idea the pressure I could use. I only figured out the ten minute Swaty honing a few years ago. It's fun to demonstrate at meet-ups!

It makes me smile that so many of us always recommend the same thing

Top down when it comes to learning to hone,


Hardly anyone does it that way, but we keep saying it

I wish i had listened to that sugestion. It might ha e saved me a couple 100 bucks buying stones. But i had to.learn it all at once! Plus with restoring, that wouldnt have worked.

NO Ron. Tell me aint so! Your never wrong when it comes to the rocks. Dont burst my bubble man!

I hate be be the bearer of bad news, but we can’t always be right because we are always learning, and then they nail the lid closed.

Originally Posted by Gasman

I wish i had listened to that sugestion. It might ha e saved me a couple 100 bucks buying stones.

A couple hundred?

Thanks Ron. I was trying to make myself feel better and now you hurt me only feeling i brought to work with me today.

Ok, a few hundered, but thats as far as i will admit too right now.

Originally Posted by MrZ

I think I should buy a set of stones so that I can learn to hone. Where can I get a beginners set of stones? Does such a thing exist? Thanks for the advice.

I get my stuff here:

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/

Enjoy!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Gasman, trust me I frequently am wrong and like everyone else I'm still learning.

That said, I really wish more people would learn how to hone at first with just a barber hone. They are relatively cheap and can produce a perfectly good shave. If you cannot get a good shave off a hone like a Swaty, then more expensive hones will not make you a better honer.

Mind sharing some more advice on maintaining with barber hones? Do you really need one of the best ones (Swaty, Carborundum) or the less famous ones work too?

I have two (a De-Fi and an anonymous Aloxite). Both weren't flat, so I've lapped one up to 400 grit SiC. The other one is a work in progress.

If it says Aloxite on it and is the color of a Swaty or the De-Fi, then it's probably a Carborundum. Were both sides not flat? Most of those hones are the same on each side so I prefer to use the non-imprint side because there is more surface area.

Since you already flattened them, you have exposed the coarse grit. Barber hones use relative large grit and only become fine in the same way Arkansas hones do--by burnishing. Use SIC powder or a diamond plate with increasingly finer grits. I think the SIC powder would be the better option. Eventually though you are going to have to rub steel on the hone to bring back the surface. The hones made by the American Hone Company were surface prepped with 100 grit SIC powder on a rotating 5' diameter steel plate. Absent such a plate you are going to have to do it by hand.

Do you need the best hone? No. Is the Norton barber hone better? Yes. Is a Swaty good? Yes. Does your De-Fi or Aloxite have the potential to be good? YES. It's more important that you figure out how to use it.

For maintenance, you either can do just a little on a regular basis or, what I do, just touch up an edge whenever you notice a reduction in the quality of the shave. I do 4 to 6 ultralight laps on a lightly lathered surface. That does not mean lather on the hone. That means I wet the surface of the hone with water and then touch a lathered brush to the water on the surface and then rub the surface with my finger to make a uniformly wet surface. Without the lather, the water on many barber hones will bead up and get pushed off the surface with the first stroke of the blade. The small bit of lather added to the water breaks the surface tension of the water and allows for uniform distribution. I have never liked honing on straight lather. Try it for yourself and you may have a different opinion.

Don't get carried away with more strokes. Too many can degrade the edge. Remember that the grit of barber hone is probably in the range of 400 to 600 or even bigger. This is why surface prep of the hone is critical.

Disclaimer; I have never shaved off of a barber hone.

With all due respect, let me be the devils advocate here. The problem that I see with recommending learning to hone with a barber hone is the inconsistency of the barber hones, and even the good ones can be set back by age, and or, lapping. Sure if you have a mentor try your hone and proclaim it worthy, but if you have a mentor handy you may want to just go straight to stones. Your going to end up buying them anyway. I like the idea of starting with a 12k or an 8k & 12k synthetic, because these stones are a known quantity. JMHO