Thread: vintage carborundum hone

Hi yall I am thinking of purchasing a vintage carborundum hone from the year 1900 the hones in great shape. I'm new to honing and the instructions are to faded to see. Do I soak the hone in water or do I just lather it or do I do both also how many passes should I make when honing the razor

If I am not mistaken carborundum hones were meant for touch up on an already sharp razor that needed a little extra attention. They were not intended to be a hone to take a dull razor and get it sharp. Add to that some of the carborundum hones were not intended for razors at all but for knives and tools. They have model numbers and that is how they divided them up for the intended use. If you want to get one hone to sharpen and maintain your razors the norton 4/8 combo is as close as I know of that will fill the bill.