Thread: Adventures in barber's hone-land

I figured that but wanted to make sure the OP did too.

Slightly off topic, but since you guys brought it up, what happens when you lap a barber's hone?

Barbers hones seem to be made of large/rough particles in a hard binder. The reason they make such a keen edge is the way the surface is prepped. If you lap it wrong you may expose too much of the large particle grit and turn your barber hone into a 600 grit stone.

Some barbers hones will degrade quickly once lapped. There is a risk that every time you try, your hone could become useless junk.

That too, depending on what exactly the binding material is. Some are made with shellac binders, some with sun baked ceramics, and others with kiln baked caeramics. And of course each hone manufacturer kept the binder/formula a close guarded secret even after they closed their doors. So there's a game of Russian roulette when you lap them.

So, what you are doing is really not much different than what guys have done for hundreds of years, bevel set on a low grit stone of undetermined grit and polish on a higher grit stone of undetermined grit, then strop on leather a bunch of laps to burnish the edge.

Yes it can be done and has, the modern stone honing progression is a relatively new phenomena. Guys are still using a 2 stone Ark progression and other natural stones, like Jnats, with great results.

Depending on the grit size and aggressiveness of your bevel setter you may spend some time polishing out the deep stria. Use circles to speed up the stria removal, then full length strokes to lay an even stria pattern and straighten the edge.

Make sure you have a fully set bevel first, the bevels are flat, in one plane and are fully meeting. Jointing the edge to get a straight edge will help speed the process, then getting them to meet with a fine grit barber hone.

A lot can be accomplished with a 2 hone progression just by altering pressure, though you will put in some time and will take some experimentation.

Some good 60X magnification will make your task much easier, and can be purchased for as little as 2 bucks.

The 4/8K Norton will solve all your problems and really is all you will need for most maintenance. Add some razor quality Chrome Oxide post 8k edge will give you a very comfortable shave.

Rehydrating a Barber Hone, coating with Vaseline and letting it soak in a plastic bag, for a few days, can improve a barber hones performance.

Sorry for the radio silence guys. I thought I was signed up for email notifications. Guess not. :/

No I haven't lapped the 1k - perhaps I need to do that.

I definitely haven't lapped the Apart. I've never heard of 'rehydrating' a barber hone but I'm intrigued; how does it help condition the stone?

RE the barber hone being composed of large particles in a binder, check out these electron microscope pics of a barber's hone:

https://scienceofsharp.wordpress.com...e-barber-hone/

That helped me visualize what the hones look like.

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Last night I honed some more since my previous shave was less than ideal.

Maybe 25x on Apart followed by 40x leather strop and the shave was better but still needs improvement.

I'll give the razor some more passes on the Apart then try again in a couple days.

When I first bought this Apart hone I didn't think it really improved the blade - at all. But the more I use it the more it I like it. Maybe I'm just learning to hone. Maybe I learning to use *this* hone.

But I think the Apart is a keeper.

Another update from over the weekend:

Did 50 more passes on the Apart then 40 passes on leather strop .

The shave continued to improve.

I will do 50 more tonight. That brings me up to probably close to 200 passes on this Apart which I think is kind of silly. I suppose the advantage of intermediate hones is that I get to avoid all that. Good news is that it gives me a good idea of the grit of the apart - must be really fine, eh?

Still patiently waiting on that 4/8...

I would consider doing fewer passes between checks. Barber's hones are fine, true. And 1k to a B. Hone is a big jump. But once you hit that sweet spot it won't take much to go beyond what the blade needs.

Besides, 200 strokes on a B. Hone isn't all that bad. I did nearly 600 across 3 Welsh Slates to polish one up after bevel set. Yes, the intermediate grits really help tone that down. If you had the 4/8k on hand and lapped properly you'd have been done already.

If you were to go from a 1K to another finish level hone in one jump, and no slurry to help, say a Naniwa 12K I would expect the number of strokes required would be in the hundreds too, and the 12K would be twice as long. I do not think that that is an outrageous amour considering the jump. You will find it much easier once you get some steps in the middle.