Carborundum No. 119

So I dug up an old Carbo combo that belonged to my Grandfather. Mildly dished on both the coarse and fine side, and stamped "A PRODUCT BY CARBORUNDUM" with what I think is NO. 119 below it, and another stamp that I can't make out beside that. 1 3/4 by 4. Should I hang on to this as a razor hone or use it for my garden shears? How should I lap this with wet/dry paper if it is worth keeping?

***I think that it might say 112 instead of 119. Not too sure. But it does look a bit like 112 when it is wet, though...

I once had a combo Carbo stone that was barber hone sized, and I would say one side was coarse and the other side was medium. IIRC, the coarse was greenish and the medium was black/grey. At the time, I didn't have much knowledge of honing, and by the time I learned a thing or two I didn't have the hone anymore. I can only try to remember and speculate on grits, but I would guess it was something like a 220/1k. I didn't use it too much because it was small, and I'm not a fan of short hones, especially for bevel setting.

Pictures or a better description, in addition to the model number may help. Unless someone has the exact stone (with the model number clearly written on it) or knows a ton about the company, just knowing the model number won't help much.

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Originally Posted by blockhead

So I dug up an old Carbo combo that belonged to my Grandfather. Mildly dished on both the coarse and fine side, and stamped "A PRODUCT BY CARBORUNDUM" with what I think is NO. 119 below it, and another stamp that I can't make out beside that. 1 3/4 by 4. Should I hang on to this as a razor hone or use it for my garden shears? How should I lap this with wet/dry paper if it is worth keeping?

***I think that it might say 112 instead of 119. Not too sure. But it does look a bit like 112 when it is wet, though...

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These are very difficult hones to lap. Even with a xxc DMT it would ake a long long time. I have picked up barbers hones in local antique shops for a song. If I get one that needs mild lapping that it one ting but to lap a dished one, too much work for me. Of couse, Diamonds are the best way to do these since SiC is so very hard. Most sand paper won't barely dent it.

Problem post . Will try again.

Back in 1968 my barber sold me a Corborundum 118S combo and a 3 line Swaty in a velvet pouch along with a DD Special No. 1 and a DD # 70 strop.

I thought I should post here about flattening a Swaty with a Carborundum stone. Good idea. Bad idea is flattenning a Swaty with a DMT 8C. It leaves a nasty brown mark on the DMT 8C.

Sham was experimenting with Carborundum hones recently and he may have some interesting thoughts on Carborundums.

Don't pass up a chance to purchase a vintage Carborundum stone. :)

You are correct Jerry i did test them and this is the results.
i did test only carborundum razor hones
they were
101. 101a,102,103,103a
there is differences among them mostly on sizes.
Generally they are surprisingly very fast cutting stones. Edge of the stones are good.You can shave off it without any trouble.
Not the best edge you can get.
hope this helps.

Hey guys I'm new to this and hate to drag up an old thread, but I picked up a carb 101a yesterday and was wondering if I should use it or let it sit in display. I don't know much about sharpening straights yet, but I'm trying to learn. I just don't want to mess up something valuable in the process.

The 101a that I have looks to me to be the same grit on both sides, is there anyway to tell?

Thanks
Sean

If you're worried about messing up the hone, don't. About the only way you can harm that hone is to drop it. That hone is really hard so you are not going to wear it out or harm it by any way by honing with it.

As far as using it or displaying it, I would hope you would like to use it. Like most barber hones, it is for maintenance of a previously sharpened razor. The Carborundum 101a is very good for that purpose, as it is both fine and fast. You use it by only taking 4 to 6 light strokes on the hone.

O ok cool, I can't wait to use it now. I need to get my razor much sharper first, I picked up the razor and the hone yesterday and haven't had time to mess with it yet.

Am I correct in my reading that using this hone means I do not need to use a strop? Or am I confused? Please forgive my newbie questions, I'm trying to learn quickly.

Sean

You still strop after using it. But THAT you might want to practice on with a butter knife before you take a blade to it if you dont have experience yet!

I think you may need to do some reading in the beginner's section of the Wiki.

You should start with a properly honed shave ready razor. You strop before every shave. When you feel that the razor is diminishing in its performance, you hone on the barber hone doing only 4-6 laps, then you strop and shave. The hone is only for occasional touch ups to maintain the edge in a sharp condition. The stropping is done daily to re-align the extremely thin edge.

Ok thanks, and I have tried to read some ofthe for beginners links but they wouldn't open correctly so I couldnt. I'm sure 99.9% of that was operator error though

Is there a list of Carborundum hone and what the corresponding numbers mean/are useful for?

I've compiled such a list--but more keep turning up! At some point I'll make a Carbo thread and show them all. If you have a question about a particular one, just ask.

I have a carb 101A, it looks to be the same grit on both sides. Is there anyway to be sure?

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Originally Posted by Sreid87

I have a carb 101A, it looks to be the same grit on both sides. Is there anyway to be sure?

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I think you asked that in another thread and I forgot to answer it. The 101A is the same grit on each side. I've played with enough Carborundum hones to know for sure.

Yes I did ask, but thanks for the quick answer. Aslo would you happen to know what the grit would be, I have looked and might have missed it but I haven't found a definitive answer.

That's because there is no definitive answer.
Some barber hone grits were sieved, and therefore could be rated by a grit size, but that size doesn't matter.
Some barber hone grits were rated by their "flour" rate. That is, the raw grit was immersed into solution and 1F was what came out in an hour, 2F came out in two hours, etc. The more fine the grit, the longer it remained in suspension.
Now, neither of these ratings are terribly informative because it doesn't tell the whole story. The binder and the density of the grit also impacted the effectiveness of the hone. Barber hones, like natural hones (including the Chinese hone erroneously rated as 12k) do not have grit ratings because those ratings are meaningless.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

I've compiled such a list--but more keep turning up! At some point I'll make a Carbo thread and show them all. If you have a question about a particular one, just ask.

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well the one I have is either a 119 or 118 its hard to tell, did 10 X strokes on blade that was broke in half to see what does and it seems to cut fast

The 118S is 4"x2"x3/4" and is porous unlike a many of the Carborundum razor hones. For that reason, this hone works better with lather rather than water because the water will just keep right on sucking the water into it. It is made of silicon carbide, laps quicky, is fairly soft, and cuts quickly. In general, you'll only need about 5 strokes or less for touch ups.

Please let me know the dimensions of your hone.