Thread: Barber hone... Razor hone... professional or self shaver?

It would appear to me that when we say “barber hone” we are referring to the hard (burgundy) ceramic type hone like the Swaty, but though they are called barber hones I believe they were primarily marketed to the “Self Shaver”.

So my question is; where does the natural “razor hone” fit in all this… were they primarily marketed to barbers? and were they popular with the self shaver?

I don't call them barber hones , because the ones I have all say "razor hone" on their boxes . I would imagine that most people who owned a straight razor would also own a razor hone . I don't know if all barbers honed their razors , I'm sure some did . But I do know that honing and grinding shops that specialized in razors were around , and I would think most barbers may have sent their razors out to be honed . ( of course , this is speculation on my part)

When my barber used a straight razor to give shaves, he used a Swaty to touch them up. Other than that, some vintage hones were passed down through families. When I bought my first straight in 1980, a Swaty was what was available as a hone to both barbers and self-shavers.

I am sure barbers would hone there own and would send them out to be reground when the bevels became too wide for the razor to be honed within reasonable time.

But when full hollow ground razors became the norm (full hollow almost never need to be reground) barbers would still hone there own razors (there is a barbering manual in the SRP archive that teaches this).

I suppose barber hone and razor hone are interchangeable, I just wondering how popular were the ceramics versus the naturals among self shaver and barbers… was one type marketed to one group more than the other?

The barbers I knew in the Newark, NJ area all honed their razors on coticules. They used lather from their "Lather King" hot lather machines as a vehicle. At least one of them that I knew kept a Swaty in the pocket of his smock and when he was shaving a customer if necessary he would give the razor a few strokes on the Swaty. I still have one that he sold to me in the eighties.

I collected straight razors back then and went to barber shops and asked the old guys if they had any old straight razors that they would sell. I also bought a few coticules from barbers in those days. These guys were old then and most weren't doing shaves anymore. Most of them had a dozen or more razors in their cabinet and I bought some cool stuff.

Alex Micah was the oldest practicing professional barber in the USA @ 99 years old. He had a shop in Madison, NJ and I bought a beautiful Heljestrand from him with ivory scales. Still have that one.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Alex Micah was the oldest practicing professional barber in the USA @ 99 years old. He had a shop in Madison, NJ and I bought a beautiful Heljestrand from him with ivory scales. Still have that one.

May I respectfully request you write up the story on that and make sure it stays with the razor? That's a really neat piece of history you've got... a legacy left, to borrow from Shaughnessy, from a dream that has died.

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

May I respectfully request you write up the story on that and make sure it stays with the razor? That's a really neat piece of history you've got... a legacy left, to borrow from Shaughnessy, from a dream that has died.

That is a good idea. I have googled and tried to find something on him. I am sure he was written up in the papers in NJ at the time. If not in the Star Ledger in the local paper in Madison. I will take your advice and put something with the razor. I'll post a pic of it too maybe tomorrow.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

That is a good idea. I have googled and tried to find something on him. I am sure he was written up in the papers in NJ at the time. If not in the Star Ledger in the local paper in Madison. I will take your advice and put something with the razor. I'll post a pic of it too maybe tomorrow.

Yeah, sounds like a great plan! I have a pile of old razors here, all of which I would love to have tell me their past owner's stories... Neat to have an old one that can, y'know?

(And I return this hijacked thread to its previous owner, sans ransom)