Thread: Did barber hones ever work?!

Originally Posted by randydance062449

P.S. I will not be lapping barber hones again unless it is needed.

Prior to the Swatys, my only experience with barber hones was Tilly's beginner set, which was comprised of three NOS hones which had never been used. None of the three was perfectly flat, and two of them (the C.S. and the Lithide) seemed to have some kind of slick surface glazing, & would not cut very well until I removed it. In this day & age, you're unlikely to find a barber hone that's never been used, but if you do, you probably will have to lap it, at least until you knock the glaze off.

for some reason the C.S. hones were particularly non-flat. They're pretty thin & I did not want to remove enough material to get the whole thing flat, so I lapped them enough to create a large flat area in the center & stopped. The fact that the flat area does not quite reach the edges doesn't bother me (especially with a rolling X stroke).

The Lithide and Gem hones were pretty flat & didn't need much lapping.

The Swatys had bizarre wear patterns on them when I got them. One was mostly glazed like the NOS hones, but had a rough, matte spot in the middle. The other was similarly shiny, but had two discolored spots close to each other in the middle. I have no idea how they got that way. At least now the texture on both is nice & uniform now.

I have had no need to lap any of my three beginner-set hones since the initial lapping three years ago. They may never need to be lapped again.

Addendum:

just in case this thread gets stickied & turns into the de facto barber hone bible, I suppose I should mention that barber hones are particularly prone to raising a burr, and you should end your honing with 2-4 toe-leading back strokes, then a few more forward strokes. That will remove the burr. This was brought to my attention by Puffah, and independently confirmed by another member who claims that a very old barber told him this as well.