Thread: What Exaclty Is a Barber's Hone?

I've never noted any reduced edge life based on the type of hone.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record the razor does not know what type of hone you are using or its grit. I have barbers hones that are finer than "finishing hones" and barbers hones that are less fine as well.

I suppose that if someone owned every barbers hone they could qualify their edge life accurately. I only own 4 or 5 of them. I do update my blades every month or so, just out of habit.

My apologies to Sham but I would have a hard time agreeing with the statement that finishing hones last for months and barbers hones last for days. I will say that this hasn't been my observation. Reduced edge life? Perhaps . . . they also run 10 times cheaper. Maybe that is why.

Barber Hones are the play toys of the razor gods! Get a barber hone, experiment, and have fun, all the while realizing you are doing what your great grandfather took for granted as a daily (weekly!) chore! You'll soon develop HAD, and then comes RAD and then the fun of experimenting really takes hold! Oh, yeah, give up on the idea of finding the ultimate hone! That animal never existed! I promise you your $10 antique find barber hone will mow down the whiskers almost as well as a $500 nanayakamonana!!!!! Neither your razor, or face knows the difference!
Barber Hones-Its why god invented shaving!

Originally Posted by yul b. nekst

Barber Hones are the play toys of the razor gods! Get a barber hone, experiment, and have fun, all the while realizing you are doing what your great grandfather took for granted as a daily (weekly!) chore! You'll soon develop HAD, and then comes RAD and then the fun of experimenting really takes hold! Oh, yeah, give up on the idea of finding the ultimate hone! That animal never existed! I promise you your $10 antique find barber hone will mow down the whiskers almost as well as a $500 nanayakamonana!!!!! Neither your razor, or face knows the difference!
Barber Hones-Its why god invented shaving!

Talked me into it.
My HAD just developed a want for a dozen barber hones.

Originally Posted by yul b. nekst

Barber Hones are the play toys of the razor gods! Get a barber hone, experiment, and have fun, all the while realizing you are doing what your great grandfather took for granted as a daily (weekly!) chore! You'll soon develop HAD, and then comes RAD and then the fun of experimenting really takes hold! Oh, yeah, give up on the idea of finding the ultimate hone! That animal never existed! I promise you your $10 antique find barber hone will mow down the whiskers almost as well as a $500 nanayakamonana!!!!! Neither your razor, or face knows the difference!
Barber Hones-Its why god invented shaving!

LOL - I am very susceptable to the power of suggestion. I just found and bought a Franz Swaty barber's hone. I already have RAD, I hope it cannot spontaneously mutate into HAD, SAD and all of the other "ADs" that have begun to suck the life out of my disposable income.

Originally Posted by v76

Why's that?

Barber hones cuts at least 10 faster then any finishing stone i have ever used.that is why they(barber hones) never recommend to do 30,50 etc strokes.
mostly used no more then 6 strokes and it sharpens the edge very fine, narrow level. This is so small with 100x i cannot see change in the edge but razor acts a lot sharper then before.That is why so small changes will not last longer.
This is the case if you start to use barber hones you do make couple strokes maybe every 2-5 shaves and move on.
final finishing stone is opposite. you put final finish edge it will last months just stropping will bring the sharpness back until edge gets dull.hope this helps.

Alembic: Be very, very afraid of AHD. It will totally suck you dry of disposable and any and all other income! Oh, yeah, I forgot, AHD means: Acquiring Harley Davidson! I'm currently selling off razors and hones to feed this addiction!!!!

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

i cannot see change in the edge but razor acts a lot sharper then before.That is why so small changes will not last longer.

Well, I do get the meaning of what you said but I still do not understand why the razor's edge finished on a barber's hone will not last as long as a finishing stone (days vs months).

I also don't get why and how you correlate honing speed (+ "acting sharper") with edge/sharpness duration. It seems like you're saying that barber's hones particles are so fine that they create a brittle edge. If so, why wouldn't it be the same with another finishing stone?

Originally Posted by v76

Well, I do get the meaning of what you said but I still do not understand why the razor's edge finished on a barber's hone will not last as long as a finishing stone (days vs months). I also don't get why and how you correlate honing speed (+ "acting sharper") with edge/sharpness duration. It seems like you're saying that barber's hones particles are so fine that they create a brittle edge. If so, why wouldn't it be the same with another finishing stone?

it is easier to me explain second part of your question at first.it is not honing speed but cutting speed of the barber hones makes the differences. To explain first part of your question is not easy.my best suggestion will be try it out and you will see youself. this is what i have done shave ready blade start to have feeling i use cmon hone 4 strokes blade cuts same sharpness as was shave ready condition or a little better.before and after using barber hone i checked the edge not bevel and in 100x i couldnt see any ds

Any differences.this doesn't mean i am saying barber hones don't do anything to the edge obviously it does that is why blade start to cutting better then before.i think if you use higher magnification you will see what changes barber hones does which is 100x you cannot see. Davis asks doubt about longevity of the edge between this 2 hones.again easier way just experiment it and you will understand better.really doesn't take too long time.10 days should be plenty enough for this exp. i am on cell phone that is why have to type in 2 different message.hope i was clear enough

Guys,

Thank you all for a very interesting thread.

It's hard to beat empirical evidence. :-)

I'm wondering: could a possible explanation be, the barber hone puts microscopic "teeth" that cut well but break off easily, whereas the finishing hone polishes so much more finely that the edge wears away in a much more microscopic manner?

Cheers,
Jeff