Thread: Early 1800 Charles Babbitt Hone

This clipping makes sense to me. At least as a hobby machinist and professional engraver I understand Mr Babbets thinking here.

Lapping (ie. rubbing two metal surfaces together with a grit suspended in oil) has been used to shape, flatten, true, and sharpen by machinist and mechanics for ages. Many of us engravers use a cast iron lap with garnet, ruby,or diamond slurry on it to lap a fine polished edge on our gravers. The most common now days is to use diamond spray because it is the most readily available. So MR babbets comments about trying that as as way to get a good edge on a razor makes sense to someone coming from a machinist/mechanics background of that era.

Now if I am understanding what I am looking at properly this set contains the cast steel "hone" which almost resembles a flat smooth file with no teeth and has paste for "lapping" the blade edge in the handle. Then there is a "paddle strop" with leather faces for use when finished lapping the edge on the steel. It also looks to me like the steel hone nest into the paddle strop and then that slides into the box cover for storage.

I have no idea how well this works to actually sharpen a razor. It seems to me to be a totally different approach than what I see most of the guys on here do with stone honing but it may work very well, especially as a touch up method.

My dad spent his entire career as a prototype machinist. I can't tell you how many projects ended up being back to the drawing board items. Not every prototype works like it should the first time around. Then you have to work around patent issue to keep from getting sued so sometimes changes have to be made because of that. I get the idea from the clipping that this may very well be a prototype or one of a handful of handmade samples and the production got shut down by a patent dispute. So this may be a very rare item.

Thats just speculation on my part so take it for what its worth.

Ray

PS Just for what its worth. Babbitt bearings were invented by a machinist named Isaac Babbitt. It would be interesting to find out if this Charles Babbitt was a relative if Isaac. It is very possible I think since many trades in that era were family businesses passed down through the family from one generation to another. Babbitt bearing were used in almost every machine in that era before they were later replaced by hardened steel ball bearings.

I actually have some babbit for bearings my dad gave me because he has had a Ford Model-T since he was 16 and has used it as a regular car not a show piece. So every time he rebuilds the engine he has to make new bearings out of Babbit. On a related note I have actually used a piece of Babbit to peen the pins on my razors I have restored as a make shift anvil. lol

Yes it is how your seeing it the top of the handle turns a half turn then comes out. The hone itself flat on one side and rounded on the other.

Greg