Barber Hones

[Lynn]

Hi Guys,

One of the other forums was having a discussion regarding Barber Hones and as there has always been a group of Barber Hone proponents, I thought it would be interesting to get some information from you guys. I don't regularly use a Barber Hone as I find them very hard to handle and way too slow for most of the honing I do. It is also hard to determine the grit on them and there are a million varieties out there. That being said, I have tested them and used several for touch ups on occasion.

So.........What brands of razors are you guys honing with Barber Hones? Which Barber Hones are you using? How many strokes on a touch up? How many on a re-hone job? How many on an Ebay Special. Lather? Water? Oil? X-Pattern? Circles? It would be very interesting to hear more than I like Barber Hones and give the new guys an idea of exactly what is involved in their use and how much time is involved with each razor. I'm sure there is a lot of experimentation much the same as with a Norton and the polishing stones, but the specifics are not often discussed.

This should be fun.

Lynn

[mparker762]

Well, they are slow, and mostly suited to touching up an already-sharp razor.

I've used mine on friodurs, pumas, various swedes, gencos, watervilles, W&b and wostenholm, etc. Friodurs take more strokes, but that's typical. I find the manufacturer's directiosn are optimistic, if they say 3 strokes I usually need 5 (10 for a friodur).

The key is lapping them really flat, and holding them really loose so the razor will tilt the hone to match its angle, even if you don't use any pressure. I don't get the kind of edge off of them that I get off the chrome oxide, but that's no sin. I do get good-shaving edges off the barber hones.

My favorite barber hone is the DD combination hone, you can take a badly-pulling razor to shaving sharp with 10 laps on the coarse side and 10 laps on the fine side. 10 laps on chrome oxide and you're done.

[izlat]

from the barber hones I must say I like my Swaty the most. I have used it on many razors. Off the top of my head - used it on Pumas, Heljestrand, W&B, DD, Engstrom, Genco

The Swaty does a good job of touching up most razors in 10 or so laps, and more laps can handle bigger jobs. I use whatever I feel like - mostly X, but have also done circles and just sections of a razor (e.g. - toe)

Lithide - has been ok on WKC and a couple of other razors, didn't seem to work as well as the Swaty.

I like to use them dry, but have tried water and oil. Too many laps on a dry barber's hone seem counterproductive - dulling the edge

Hope this helps
Ivo

[Howard Newell]

My absolute favorite barber hone is an Aloxite hone by The Carborundum Company. It puts an edge that's comparable (though not quite as smooth) to a 12k Chinese water stone in about 3-5 strokes for a touchup. For rehoning, I can often go up to 25 strokes for hard steel, 15 for Sheffield steel.
I've used it with saliva, water, oil, and lather. It seems to work best with oil and lather.
I only use X-strokes with it.

[JoshEarl]

I've played around with five different barber hones: two-line Swaty, Gem, Barber's Choice, lithide, and the strop-back hone from Tilly.

The lithide, Gem, and strop back were part of the set that Tilly sells. I haven't had any luck yet with the lithide, which is supposed to be a finishing hone. The surface feels really coarse, even after lapping, and it always seems to dull my edge.

The Gem is a medium hone, and the strop is a coarse one. They both work great for what they do. It would take a long time to sharpen an eBay special, even with the coarse--maybe a couple of hours. The Gem will take an edge to HHT sharp, but not quite to the comfortable-shave level. I use my Barber's Choice to finish the Gem edge. This is a really fine hone, and sometimes I'll do 20 or 30 laps, which leaves an edge nearly as sharp as any I can get with .5 micron diamond paste. To refresh the edge, I only need to do about 5 laps.

I haven't had any luck with my Swaty yet, but I plan to keep working at it.

Like the others said, the key seems to be holding the hone lightly in your palm and letting the blade glide over the hone. Tilting the hone toward the razor really helps.

Unlike the other guys, I've had the best results with a dry hone. I've tried lather and soap, and they seem to make too much suction and dull the edge. I'm planning to experiment with misting water from a spray bottle; when I pour it on the water beads up and runs off.

Barber hones sometimes seem to work well on blades that won't respond well to my Nortons or Belgian hones. I think they cut so slowly that they leave a finer edge than their grit would suggest.

Just my experience to date.

Josh

[superfly]

I have two barber hones, and until recently had little experience with them. But, a while ago, I decided to give them a chance. Since I never managed to put mirror finish on my Lithide hone, I concluded it was not meant to have one, and it is not a finishing hone. My experiments confirmed that.

So, I found that the Lithide is a bit coarser hone, I'd say rougher than the Norton 4000, and I rate it at around 3000 grit. With that knowledge, the Lithide works very well, and cutting fast.

The Itsapeech is a bit finer hone, but I haven't honed much on it yet. When I gain some more info, I'll update here...

Nenad

[izlat]

I just realised that I missed mentioning something - I consider Coticule and Escher (and others like it) barber hones too - but my previous answer was directed to what Lynn expected

Cheers
Ivo

[Howard]

I have a fairly substantial collection of barber hones as they're cheap and I love to see the different names imprinted into the stone. I don't like these stones for honing razors or anything else. I've bought a number of them new from Tilly as well as on the yard sale market. The ones I've gotten from Tilly tend to be too small for my tastes. I like my stones like I like my women... broad and substantial. Gives me something to work with. These stones tend to be good for touchups but for honing... not so much. Just my opinion!

[superfly]

OK, I have just finished my shave...

For a quick update on the Itsapeech. I took a razor that was starting to pull, sprinkled a bit of water on the itsapeech, and took a try.

Well, after some 10 or so strokes, med and low pressure, the Itsapeech seems to work fine. By the scratch marks on the bevel, I guess it is somewhere between 4000 and 6000 grit. The shave was as good as usual.

So, that's my input considering barber hones. I think I'll continue using them, if not exclusively, than as a Norton 4000 substitute, and/or finish afterwards on something finer...

When and if I get another barber hone, I'll update here.


Nenad

[floridaboy]

I have two Barber hones, A Keen Kutter Kombination and a two line swatty. The swatty seems to be courser. 5 to 7 strokes to refresh a razor depending. The Kutter is a little slower. 7 to 10 on the course side, and 5 to 7 on the fine side. A light touch with both. I use the Keen as a finishing polisher after the Norton. Like you would a cuticle. works well for me and can get a razor wicked sharp.

Phil