Thread: Frictionite 00

Originally Posted by brooksie967

How good is the finish from these anyways? WHy do they demand such high prices?? A fricionite 00 is comparable to a???

Good question, I hear a lot of hype about these. Was this made by "Norton" The one that went for over $1000.00 on Ebay? They were talking about it on razor and stone.

Is the finish off it comparable to an Escher, Jnat, What?

Originally Posted by zib

Good question, I hear a lot of hype about these. Was this made by "Norton" The one that went for over $1000.00 on Ebay? They were talking about it on razor and stone.

Is the finish off it comparable to an Escher, Jnat, What?

The edge of that norton stone is finer then a Yg Escher and cuts fast.
So fast you can refresh the edge of axe in 5-10 strokes which in a middle of a competion is a huge
edge to beat the other guys.

Originally Posted by zib

Good question, I hear a lot of hype about these. Was this made by "Norton" The one that went for over $1000.00 on Ebay? They were talking about it on razor and stone.

Is the finish off it comparable to an Escher, Jnat, What?

Well i heard from a few owners of The Norton ax men hone and its the king of barbers hence the price they command. The frictionite a strong second for sure both very fine barbers hone. As far as what they compare to? difficult to say since they are fast cutting hones so only a few passes needed, they are for managing a shave ready edge.

I've never had the norton ax man's hone so I can't comment on that. Comparing to an escher is like apples and oranges AFAIC. Take an escher to an ax competition and see how long it lasts. Those 'guaranteed soft' labels we see on some of them were accurately describing the composition of the stone.

The frictionite 00 was one of the American Hone Co's models. First in Olean, NY IIRC, and then in Morovia, Iowa. The earlier ones came in a green pouch with the rubbing stone, the later in a paper box, also with the rubbing stone.

It is a barber hone used for touching up razors. That is the extent of it. It is one of the better barber hones made for that purpose IMO. I'd also rate the Swaty and the Itsapeech up there with the 00 frictionite. Randy is the guy to ask. He forgot more about barber hones than most guys know.

OK, this is a completely rhetorical question-"Why would anyone pay $ 1000 for hone? The is totally business and creating the fake market. Soon a regular user will think that if you want to buy a razors you will have to be a millionaire. When I see such prices I think that we move away from our ideology of using razors, seriously! "

Originally Posted by zib

Good question, I hear a lot of hype about these. Was this made by "Norton" The one that went for over $1000.00 on Ebay? They were talking about it on razor and stone.

Is the finish off it comparable to an Escher, Jnat, What?

Originally Posted by proximus26

"Why would anyone pay $ 1000 for hone?

With all due respect, and just IMHO ..... 'a fool and his money are soon parted.'

( Thomas Tusser circa 1557) ;

A foole and his monie be soone at debate,
which after with sorrow repents him too late

Alright, as someone that's never even held a barber hone, can you guys dumb it down for me a little? Someone mentioned they are for 'managing a shave ready edge'. So, you go through your progression, set the bevel, move to your norton 4/8k for arguments sake then take it to a higher grade synthetic or a finisher. If you've taken your steel to a 12k or 16k or greater synthetic like a shapton, then move to an escher/jnat etc, why would you put it on a barbers hone? Why not go back to the 8k and finish your progression as per?

Sorry if i've made this more complicated than necessary, just wondering where these tools fit in! If you've finished on a finisher, why take it to a barbers hone then strop and shave again????

Originally Posted by brooksie967

why would you put it on a barbers hone? Why not go back to the 8k and finish your progression as per?

Sorry if i've made this more complicated than necessary, just wondering where these tools fit in! If you've finished on a finisher, why take it to a barbers hone then strop and shave again????

Y'know those smocks with two waist pockets that barbers used to wear ? In one of those pockets old Frank Natale used to keep a Swaty barber hone. When he would be shaving a customer if the razor wasn't quite keen enough to suit him, and the strop wasn't bringing it back to quite enough keenness, he would grab that Swaty and do 3 or 4 round trips on the dry barber hone. Put it back in his pocket and resume the shave. That is what it was for.

A guy who isn't a barber but shaves with a straight razor ..... like me for example. Keeps a Swaty (could be any barber hone) in his medicine cabinet. In the same case as aforementioned , if the razor needs it and I am in the midst of a shave, 3 or 4 round trips. Going back to the regular hones would be reserved for later when free time was available.

It's not barbers who are paying big prices for hones, or shavers. It's axe men, and almost exclusively they're going to australia.

I sold a bunch of frictionites that a friend of mine had (frictionites and super punjabs). The first one I opened only to the US and it didn't bring much. The rest, I opened to australia and they sold easily at prices I'd consider pretty high. All went to a single woodsman and none to shavers.

I did use one of them before I readied them for sale, or two actually. One super punjab and one #00 (same abrasive). They have a superb feel with clean water (i can't think of any reason to lap them other than if they're out of flat, they need no slurry). I got a nice keen edge that didn't razor burn me like a synthetic 12k stone would. I did not use linen, just straight to leather.

They are a cut above every other barber hone I've used, and easy to use because honing all the way to the edge won't yield a harsh edge, but it's not shavers that are supporting the high prices.

Well,

maybe my statement will be bold and I can`t compare (in fact I should not even to write what I`m writing as I never had or used #00) but pretty good (and as we know natural stones vary in quality) LI finishing on oil brings really good result too. I wish to compare blade from #00 and LI on oil. I still have several hones which I never had time to lap. Someone from SRP forum even mention that two of them are Eschers stones and from what I heard and this are really good stone too. Also (recently) I have read about this South African hones. DaveW my question is where is #00 placed in this "race of perfection"? Top of all natural stones or top of all synthetic stones? Is it something you can answer on assuming at least you had experience of some of the stones I have mentioned. Thank you!