Thread: The definitive Barber's Hone grit answer..

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

... Over time many of them have degraded to the point that they have become very unreliable. They were after all 'manufactured' from ingredient compositions. Some, not all, would degrade or 'break down' due to over exposure to heat, sunlight, acidic soaps, etc. and also just the passage of time. The vaunted Frictionite '00' ...in MHO in the TOP TWO of Barber Hones...came with a warning that stated as much.

One thing to be careful of when purchasing these old Barber Hones is the presence of 'holes' or 'pits' on the hone face, which would be indicative of a breakdown of the hone's composition. Also...excessive 'crazing' will indicate a degraded condition.

Just MHO...YMMV...

WP34

I think the way they breakdown and to some degree the fineness, depends on how they were made. There seem to be 'hot' barber hones that were baked and 'cold' barber hones that were left to set. The binder used plays a part, too. The later production hones used either an 'earth' binder or a 'resin' binder. Earlier ones used shellac as a binder, some even used potassium dichromate and gum - pot. di. hardens gum when exposed to ultra violet life.

I would suspect that the gum-types (which must be quite rare now) and shellac ones would eventually soften up, and that earth binders that were baked would last better than resin binders that were left to set-up. Some that give reasonable results as-is often fail dramatically after an attempt has been made to lap them, perhaps because the finer layer of surface aggregates has been lapped away - you find this in cast concrete - the 'laitance' collects at the sides and top and looks very fine and shiny - chip it and the particles look much coarser.

Just an idea - I don't know exactly one way or the other, except that they are man-made and all man-made things seem to succumb to the ravages of time sooner or later.

Regards,
Neil

PS: you lucky so-and-so, Wolfpack - a carton of half a dozen pristine hones - who did you hold up?