Thread: Barber hones characteristics

Originally Posted by Alucard77

if you had to choose between a pike hone or a swaty hone which one would you choose??? Because I would like to buy one and there priced the same, so what should I do

BUY TWO!

Agree with Jim, buy them both. I have both. They are nice hones. I think the Emerald green PIKE is probably just a little less fine grit than the Swaty, but that may just be me. If it is, and I think it is, the Pike would be a good step in the direction of a finisher, or, it could be a nice quick edge straightner during a shave.

If they are in comparable condition, buy the Swaty. Because it has better name recognition, it is easier to sell if you ever have the need.

Swaty it is

thanks everyone

Originally Posted by Utopian

If they are in comparable condition, buy the Swaty. Because it has better name recognition, it is easier to sell if you ever have the need.

Ron, I have wondered what it was they used in the green Emerald Pike hone I have that made it so .... green? One thing I'll pass along on my Swaty vs Emeral Pike I found out, is that the Swaty will attract a magnet, but the Emereald Pike will not.

I don't know. The grit may have been green or they may have added coloring to make it green just so that they could call it the Emerald. I did not know the Swatys were magnetic.

I didn't know it either until I happend to put a magnet against both to determine what might be in them. BTW, speaking of early barber hones, their is a VERY close relationship to the present Norton-Pike (Saint-Gobain) comany and the Pike I have with the fish swimming though the capital "P". Norton Pike History
I have a Norton HS4 transluent slip stone and it's seemingly more fine that simply 4000 grit. Almost glass smooth.

are those little, concave double edge razor hones considered barber hones?

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

are those little, concave double edge razor hones considered barber hones?

I'm not sure. If you are referring to those little slip stones that Norton (and other) made, if they would be a "vintage" barber hone. I remember in the 1960's when I went to Bogg's Barber shop in Oshkosh, NE, he always trimmed around the ears and the neckline with a straight razor. I used to Bi**h at him about stropping it more. He showed me some of his razors and he had a couple of little slip stones there, and one was a Norton translucent white and if memory serves me, he also had one just like it that was pretty black. He used them to "touch up" the edge and then go back to stropping. Could be he wasn't where they had any of the old Swaty, or other hones and wanted something to touch up a razor. So, I don't know if you can really call a Norton slip stone (if that is what you are referring to) as a barber hone or not.

I bought a Norton translucent white hone later on in life remembering back to Wes Boggs and his hones and figured if it was good enough for a barber to bring out an edge, it would work very well as the last step of sharpening my knives.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

are those little, concave double edge razor hones considered barber hones?

In the packaging and ads for a lot of them they say you can use the back side for razors. They're awfully small though. It would be tricky to actually hone on them.
I always wonder about the barber hones some companies gave away as promotions too. I saw one ar an antique store that wasn't much bigger than a postage stamp.