Guys, I've posted this before, but I thought I'd remind everyone that I offer a barber-hone lapping service. I haven't had many takers on the offer, but I just lapped a hone today. It went so well that I wanted to mention again that I can save you a lot of hassle.
When I was starting out, I tried lapping a few barber hones on wet-dry sandpaper, and it was horrible. These hones are very hard and I wore through a lot of sandpaper. It took hours.
After I discovered the DMT hones, I found that my DMT 325 worked pretty well for lapping barber hones. It still took some time--maybe 30 minutes to an hour per hone.
Then I found out that DMT makes a 120-grit hone. It's more expensive than the others, but I decided to get it just so I could offer this service at an affordable rate.
Today I lapped a Robeson ShurEdge hone in no time flat. The 120-grit hone levels the surface, which is then polished on the 325-grit hone. I was really happy with how it turned out.
So, the moral of the story... :) If you think you might end up getting a lot of barber hones, at least buy yourself a DMT 325, if not the 120-grit.
If you just have a few hones to lap, $10 can save you a lot of frustration.
Have a great day,
Josh