Thread: Barber hone lapping

Has anyone tried to true up the surface of a barber hone? If so, can you relate techniques and successes?

Bruce

I would take it to a decent machine shop. They could grind it flat without taking too much meat off pretty quick. I would bet they would do this for you for next to nothing.
I'm not sure if I would do it myself. A shop could do a perfect job in less than 10 minutes.

I think your best bet would be to use a DMT hone if the hone's pretty hard. Other than that, plate glass with sandpaper should do it.

The quickest method is to use a diamond hone, but that hone is expensive. The least expensive is to use sandpaper, but that takes a long time.

6000-15000 grit Wet & Dry paper on 1/4 plate glass.

PuFF

Originally Posted by PuFFaH

6000-15000 grit Wet & Dry paper on 1/4 plate glass.

PuFF

6,000 ???? Did you add an extra zero?

I use another barber hone. Or rather, the large piece of another barber hone that I broke...

I guess it would depend on how worn it is and how perfect you want it to be. Also cost. I suggested a machine shop to true it because they can level the stone on a surface grinder so that it is perfectly flat, then do some light passes with a diamond wheel to true the top surface. It would then be flipped over and the process repeated. The stone would be squared like new again, the same process I'm guessing they use to square brand new ones.
I brought it up because I used to do this type of machine work. Having done it for as long as I did I'm not sure if I would trust any other method when you could just take your stone up to a decent shop to have them do it for next to nothing. You have to figure how often do you need this done?
I'm not dis-ing the other methods at all. Just that they could take a lot of time or in the case of the DMT money. Just another suggestion in the list of options that would work.

-Brian

Now you have me wondering... just how much would a machine shop charge to surface grind these hones? I have quite a few that need lapping and if the price were right, like $5 each or less, I would spring for it.

Randy- I'd talk to the shop foreman and tell him you do it for a hobby. You might find them doing it as a one off for next to nothing (maybe free). This would be a standard tool and die shop that has some (or a) decent surface grinders.
If I was doing this professionally I might setup an account (or at least save your receipts), you could write this service off on your taxes. Not to mention all sorts of other things they could do for you to save your shop time and money (mill parts, sharpen tools etc.).

-Brian