Thread: Advice on a possible purchase

Hello folks. I'm looking into buying an old Pike Strop-Hone. However, the hone has a large chip at the edge in the middle. I was wondering if there is any way to repair this chip w/o scratching off multiple layers of the hone?

Hmm...just a thought here...imagine honing a blade..it's lightly removing the metal to make the edge sharper and more even again..perhaps the same for the hone..again..just a thought....if it can be "grounded" down...correct me if i'm wrong guys

How large is large? The size of a match head? Larger?

Yes, you can lap barber hones to remove chips, but all I'll say is barber hones are very hard and can be the devil to lap as a result. They are also not very big and reasonably thin already, so lapping away a third of the thickness of the hone may make it pretty fragile.

Do you have any pics of the hone you looking at buying?

If the chip is really large, I'd be tempted to let that hone pass and search out another one. Theres plenty of them out there in good condition on eBay..!

In general, there is no need to lap away a single chip.

Wrap sandpaper around a pencil or other cylindrical object and then use that to round out the edge of the chip where it meets the honing surface. Effectively you are chamfering the chip just as it is helpful to chamfer the long edges of the hone.

Also, hold the hone with the chip facing away from the hand holding the razor.

If you do those two things, the chip will have no impact on your honing.

+1 on what Utopian said. So long as the chip is not so large that you'd risk rocking the razor into it (and this helps by keeping it on the toe side, as Utopian also said), and you chamfer it, it'll be fine.

Thanks everyone. Here's a pic. Oh and I guess while I'm getting purchasing advice, if I can get some advice on this antique illinois strop. The seller says that it has no nicks or cuts just severe wear.

Thanks for the pic's.... now just follow Utopians advice on dealing with that minor chip.

Re the strop, to hard to tell from the fuzzy pic.

The strop looks like it has a big crease in the center from where it was folded up and stored.