Thread: Did I Ruin This Barber Hone?

I love barber hones and have a stack of them.

I picked up on eBay a "Norton-Pike" combination hone. You know the one that comes in the Norton box but carries the Pike emboss on the stone itself.

The hone was pretty badly "dished" on the label side, so I decided to lap the stone. I got it nice and flat, to be sure, but…well…the nice shiney polished surface of the stone now is gone and I have a rather more rough feeling surface.

Have I ruined that side of the hone? It seems that shiney finish is part of the barber-hone's magic, but I could be wrong.

I'd appreciate some advice, as to what I might have done to this hone, even if it's "Well just use one side of the combo hone." If I sand it with higher grit sand papers, can I restore the surface (if that's needed)?

If pictures are needed, I can post, but all you'll see is a nicely flattened hone with a dull surface appearance!

Do an advanced search for posts by ChrisL with polishing as the keyword and you ought to come up with something. He has been there and successfully done that. Going finer and finer until the polish was restored.

Originally Posted by LawsonStone

I love barber hones and have a stack of them.

The hone was pretty badly "dished" on the label side, so I decided to lap the stone. I got it nice and flat, to be sure, but…well…the nice shiney polished surface of the stone now is gone and I have a rather more rough feeling surface.

Have I ruined that side of the hone? It seems that shiney finish is part of the barber-hone's magic, but I could be wrong.

If I sand it with higher grit sand papers, can I restore the surface (if that's needed)?

You probably can restore it by using progressively finer grits. You can also try lightly rubbing it against another barber hone under running water, but watch the resulting slurry to get a sense of which one is being lapped. Because some are much softer than others, this will affect which pairing will work.

(and I still owe you a PM!)

Originally Posted by Utopian

(and I still owe you a PM!)

Hey somehow I have the impression you've a lot on your plate right now. I'm progressing down the pyramid on the old DD for now, almost done.

Even if you don't lap on progressively smoother surfaces, I suspect simply honing a few razors on it will smooth it quite a bit. It isn't the best way though...

I've restored many Barber Hones. After lapping with rougher grits, DMT XX, DMTC, etc...(Those suckers are hard)
I use wet sandpaper, 220 - 1000 grit. When you get done, they look brand new...

Rich

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

Even if you don't lap on progressively smoother surfaces, I suspect simply honing a few razors on it will smooth it quite a bit. It isn't the best way though...

I really don't think that will have any effect. Barber hones don't tend to release grit very quickly. Given how much difficulty a diamond plate has remodeling the surface, I doubt a thin strip of steel is going to do much to it.

I've been trying to find this thread but so far, with no results.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Do an advanced search for posts by ChrisL with polishing as the keyword and you ought to come up with something. He has been there and successfully done that. Going finer and finer until the polish was restored.

I've had that surface-luster-change on every Dubl Duck combination hone that I've lapped (4+), on both sides. It was a bit more noticeable on the "logo" finer side.

It didn't seem to change their sharpening ability on my specimens. I've also had it happen with some other brands with no noticeably ill effects.

I actually have just finished lapping a barber hone on glass with 3000 grit sand paper. It took a long, long time.It seems to have worked fine but many folks advised me that barber hones should not be lapped.
There is a difference of opinion on this subject.