Thread: Rescuing a Barbers Hone

I had a go at rescuing a strop-backed Barbers Hone today.

I'm not the most practically gifted of people and have zero artisan skills.

I took an old AAT strop-back hone which had a worn bit of thin leather and a thick bit of felt which was coming away from the hone itself and cut up an old, cheap hanging strop and used both bits of leather from that to replace the leather and felt, in order that the hone can be used by a friend from another forum.

Here's what I started with:










The felt and adhesive washed off with detergent and I cut the bits of leather to size:

A bit a Araldite was applied, allowed to dry and after a trim with a craft knife, some sanding and an application of neatsfoot oil I was left with this:






The trimming is a bit uneven and I wouldn't want to strop on the reverse side as it has little give in it, however I think I have been able to breathe some life back into this hone. I've also come away with an understanding of how difficult it is to work with thick bits of leather and have a new found appreciation of custom strop-makers.

Thank you for sharing your work. I worked on three strop/hones this year, only had to replace the felt on each. If you still have the original leather, I would keep it. The leather looks actually in good shape from the photo. I saddle soap the old leather, and lightly brush with a toothbrush, let dry for over a week, lightly work in Bickmore, reattach with rubber cement.
Keep the old leather, work with it for a while and save it for your next hone, maybe even create another stop/hone with it.

I never thought of keeping it to re-use.

I'll certainly give you suggestions a go.

Thanks mate.

That looks great! You are to be congratulated, Sir!

Originally Posted by ajc347

I never thought of keeping it to re-use.

I'll certainly give you suggestions a go.

Thanks mate.

Your welcome.
You could even cut the old piece down to the size of a pocket stone, that might be lying around the house. Make yourself a strop/hone out of an old carborundum for your pocket knives.

Brother - that's awesome - I am inspired!

Yeah, that's a nice piece of work! Don't sell yourself short.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys.

It's certainly given me the confidence to attempt to do something like this again.

UPDATE:

I've just used the hone to sharpen and strop a blade (following Neil Miller's advice on another forum), and must say that it has performed a lot better with the new bit of leather on it than it did with the old leather / felt combination.

It feels very similar to using my paddle strop (although it does need to be used a bit more delicately).

All in all, I'm really happy with what I've achieved.