Thread: velvet edge hone.

I'll have to say, hats off to whoever came up with the name 'Velvet Edge' for a straight razor hone.

I have several Barber hones & two tht stand out are my Raven & the John Primble. I have used both as finishing hone with great success. The J. Primble may be just a little nicer in the honing Dept. but it is really hard to tell. On another razor forum there is a "Barber Hone Shoot Out" where many barber hones are tested.

Slawman

i have about 5 different barbers hones and have not found one that i like. Just like has been stated already "when the razor starts to seem dull is the time to use it" i have found that it always takes more than the recommended 2-3 strokes to make a difference and than it is always a scratchy rough feel, rather than an improvement. always make visible scratches on the edge. is that commons? (i'm actually thinking of selling them since i don't use them anyway).

All barber hones are not created equal. There are many that are very well suited for their intended purpose. A partial list of some that I have found to work very well includes: Lakeside, Frictionite, Special no 500, Panama, Apart, the above mentioned John Primble, Fernsler Ruby, Gem Cushioned and the list goes on. Modine has done great work over at Razor and Stone reviewing barber hones and taking much of the guess work out of it.

Originally Posted by tintin

i have about 5 different barbers hones and have not found one that i like. Just like has been stated already "when the razor starts to seem dull is the time to use it" i have found that it always takes more than the recommended 2-3 strokes to make a difference and than it is always a scratchy rough feel, rather than an improvement. always make visible scratches on the edge. is that commons? (i'm actually thinking of selling them since i don't use them anyway).

Depends on the stone. My Swaty is about 8K and leaves scratches about like a Norton 8k - visible in the right lighting. I have others that are finer and improve an 8K edge. Then I have a glass hone that changes performance based on what kind of slurry is used with the hone. Quite an interesting little creature that bucks the assertion that barber hones are good for maintenance but not for honing. I can make an 8k edge with barely visible scratches, a hazy edge, or a 12K+ edge with the glass stone.

They're just something you have to tinker with and learn individually. Small tip, a little bit of wet shave lather can go a long way with a barber hone. I've used that trick with most of mine and get a pretty good edge. I usually do 5 to 10 licks, then check the edge if I'm just going for a refresh. If unhappy, then I do 5 to 10 more and so forth until it's as good as I can squeeze from the stone.

I'll second Slawman on the Raven stone. The Celtes is equally good, I suspect them to be made in the same factory perhaps for different distributors. I also have a 2 sided Pike that's decent, if a little on the small side.