Thread: Belgian honing progression

I could be wrong, but I don't really think that the belgian naturals were the "Norton stones" of their day since they are and probably were very rare stones. Where are you getting that idea? According to this website: http://pacifi.ca/Temp/BBHistory.html
the sharpening properties (i.e garnet content) of the blue belgian stones was not discovered until 1996/1997. To me this implies that they were not commonly used 100 years ago. My understanding is that barbers used various barber hones to set a bevel and polish them. Medium or course barber hones would be used to set the bevel, then finer hones were used for the polishing. Also lather and light pressure could be used to make a fairly course hone act finer. I believe that there were also various pastes available for polishing.

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

I could be wrong, but I don't really think that the belgian naturals were the "Norton stones" of their day since they are and probably were very rare stones. Where are you getting that idea? According to this website: http://pacifi.ca/Temp/BBHistory.html
the sharpening properties (i.e garnet content) of the blue belgian stones was not discovered until 1996/1997. To me this implies that they were not commonly used 100 years ago. My understanding is that barbers used various barber hones to set a bevel and polish them. Medium or course barber hones would be used to set the bevel, then finer hones were used for the polishing. Also lather and light pressure could be used to make a fairly course hone act finer. I believe that there were also various pastes available for polishing.

When straight razors were in much more common use so were sharpening services. Plenty of these are still around today for tools, kitchen knives and so on, but I know from experience that they don't know *$%! about straight razors.

Apparently there were also sharpeners who would go around door-to-door offering their services on a weekly basis or whatever.

Most barbers' hones are for maintenance, not cutting bevels.

Now that straight razors are an exotic hobby rather than an everyday tool for private and professional use, we tend to think of shaving skills and honing skills as two sides of the same coin. This wasn't always the case. Think about it: meat butchers and restaurant chefs are expert at everyday "steeling" of their blades, but major maintenance, removing nicks, resetting the bevel and so on is done by a professional – who in turn wouldn't know the first thing about separating the primal cuts from the carcass or preparing a beef wellington.

If any of you are old enough to have read Julius Ceasar's "De Bello Gallico" (About The War in Gaul) in school (Gaul in those days included Northern Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Western Germany, Austria, & Switzerland) Considerable military, tatical, and political interest was given by the Romans for "provinces" and areas that produced basic, strategic raw materials for war making, ie. leather, cloth, iron, stone, salt, grain, etc... and significant mention was made of Belgian/German mines & quarries that produced stones & cement for road building, fort building, etc... AND the sharpening of swords, arrows, and knives!

I guess it's noteworthy that 2,000 years ago our humble Coticule, Escher, & Thuringen "magic stones" were a vital military, strategic, and political resource.

All the best, guys...

Tony

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

I could be wrong, but I don't really think that the belgian naturals were the "Norton stones" of their day since they are and probably were very rare stones. Where are you getting that idea? According to this website: http://pacifi.ca/Temp/BBHistory.html
the sharpening properties (i.e garnet content) of the blue belgian stones was not discovered until 1996/1997. To me this implies that they were not commonly used 100 years ago. My understanding is that barbers used various barber hones to set a bevel and polish them. Medium or course barber hones would be used to set the bevel, then finer hones were used for the polishing. Also lather and light pressure could be used to make a fairly course hone act finer. I believe that there were also various pastes available for polishing.

For a really dull razor you can go to the 1000 and then the 4000/8000 and then the coticule and strop on clean leather. OR, you can use a DMT 1200 which will really reset the edge then the 4000 blue belgian, coticule, and strop OR you can use a norton 1000/4000 then a coticule and strop. I shipped on the 11th so you should have it now or will get it tomorrow. Enjoy!