Thread: Ultimate Barbers Hone?

What would it be?
I have a vintage Thuringan, and a Champion barbers hone.
I have read that the grain on the Champion is far too coarse to be any good for straight razors, but mine seems to do OK.
My Thuringan is a little over 1.25 inches wide, and 6 inches long. A little narrow for me, as I do not have the utmost confidence in keeping the blade straight and flat on it, but it puts a lovely polished edge on my blades.

I hone my straights with lapping film, 15um, 5um and .3 um, no pastes, and my home-made strop.

Instead of breaking out the .3um film, which is a pain, I would like something comparable in fineness, but a stone.

Is the Thuringan my best bet?
Should I look for a Swaty?
Keep using the .3um film?
Shapton 30k?

0.3um is finer than any stones go AFAIK. The shapton 30k is still only 0.49 micron. Some nakayamas, while not assigned a grit rating, have been reported/estimated to go up to 40k+, which would be around 0.3 microns if not even finer.

Just FYI, though, a swaty is maybe 10k or so - a little over 1.1um. A thuringian is maybe 13k or 14k? Which would be maybe 1 micron or so. This is going by shaptons conversions for grit to micron, and complete WAGs (wild ass guesses) at the grit ratings of the other stones. Just trying to get the point across that finishing hones don't regularly come anywhere near 0.3um, if ever.

Why not use a pasted strop?

I would think a 40k equiv Nakayama would run you $300-$500+++++++. That may be out of your price range.

I agree, if you're looking for that kind of grit, why not use pastes? Cerium Oxide is finer than .5 micron.

Chris L

Using pastes is definitely a MUCH cheaper way to achieve that sort of fineness. Prices on stones generally get more and more expensive the higher the grit, so even an artificial stone like the Shapton 30k will cost a fair chunk of change.

If you do want to achieve that fineness but with a stone (something I can relate to COMPLETELY ), then it depends on if you want to go the synthetic or natural route. For synthetic, the Shapton 30k on glass would be most comparable to the 0.3 um film since it's stamped as having particles of 0.49 um size. The Shapton 30k in the pro series is crazy expensive.....not saying that it isn't a great stone, but for those prices I would MUCH rather fetch me a nice natural stone. If you want a natural stone that's comparable to 0.3 um....the only one that I know of that gets that fine is a nice Japanese natural. But once again, they get pretty pricey....

A thuringian is honestly a very nice stone, so that is honestly fine enough for a straight. But if you're like some of us here....you're on a quest for ultimate fineness and sharpness............not me though......

Well, I made the mistake of buying some green CrOx, before calling the manufacturer, after I got home I called, and he said it was the equivalent of -300 mesh.

Anyhoo, I guess that I will just stick with my thuringan and .3um film for now.

I picked up an Aloxite Dry Razor Hone #79 made by the Carborundum Co. It set me
back $16 and appears to have been only very slightly used. It came in the original
box with the flattening included still wrapped in cellophane. All the others I have
seen or heard of are whet stones. Though there were a couple of Dupont Dry
Barber hones on fleabay. Have had no experience with any other Barber Hone but
5 o, at the most 6 passes, and the edge being treated is renewed; it is wonderful.

Sorry, no camera (see our daughter at University for that) so no pictures.

Donald