Flattening barber hones

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

Josh,

Once these suckers are flat, do you find
that they wear noticeably after a lot of
use?

(I don't own any... just curious ;))

- Scott

No barber hone lapping for me! I will send you everyone I ever come across man -
I was hosting a newbie in my make shift shop, took his little barber hones, and thought, "what the hell, lets just use the Norton lapping stone to lap these buggers.." I think one was a fine black from RedTrader.

Well long story short, the hone is much smaller than the Norton, and I effectively created a lapping *bowl* out of my Norton - seriously, I made the damn thing concave - I was amazed, and didn't realize it until I tried to use the lapper to lap a Norton 4000, and I couldn't get those cross hatched lines to go away in the center! Moral: don't use Norton lapping stone, or any stone you really want to keep that *isn't diamond* on a barber hone. Just my experience, YMMV.

K

Barber hones are so hard that I can't imagine ever needing to lap one again unless you literally used it every day for years and years. I haven't used a barber hone that much, but my coticule is a lot softer and it has worn very little with constant heavy use.

I debated on starting this thread because I didn't want it to be too much of a commercial. This hone flattening thing for me is really more of a public service than a money-making scheme. I've been there with trying to flatten these things, and once I found the 120-grit DMT I thought it made sense for one person to spend $90 on it rather than a bunch of guys buying one. It's not too useful for much else. :)

Josh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

...
I debated on starting this thread because I didn't want it to be too much of a commercial. This hone flattening thing for me is really more of a public service than a money-making scheme. I've been there with trying to flatten these things, and once I found the 120-grit DMT I thought it made sense for one person to spend $90 on it rather than a bunch of guys buying one. It's not too useful for much else. :)

Josh

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I see it as more of a service than a commercial. Too bad we cant "sticky" your offer under a "Services/Suppliers" thread maybe. (Great way to list Honemeisters, too)

If I hadn't bought a 325 DMT myself for my super-hard Spydercos, I would've mailed you my Swaty. Instead I used the Swaty and DMT to "break each other in". I tried to lap the Swaty on 400 wet/dry paper and glass...very un-fun to do.

I thank you for posting your service and the need for this.
Thanks
Tom

This needs to be made into a sticky!

Josh, your a saint for offering this service. Barber hones and some of the other hones are a pure SOB to lap flat on sandpaper. Been there, done that! I also have been toying with the idea of a DMT XC for all of my hones that need lapping.

Hmmm... maybe a surface grinder with a diamond wheel would pay for itself?...... ( I love to justify toys!:))

Quote:

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

Hmmm... maybe a surface grinder with a diamond wheel would pay for itself?...... ( I love to justify toys!:))

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Not sure this would pan out.... I mean, sure! Of course it would! :D

You could probably put that surface grinder to good use in other ways, though...

Josh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

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.

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Hmmm... I wonder who's it could have been:w

Was the attached cushioned strop a problem? You had said that it might make things a little tricky. Based on the above, I'm guessing it did not play into it too much!

(Oh, the scale swap is on it's way).

Yep, it was the cushion strop hone. :)

I figured out a way to lap it without any problems. I was kind of proud of myself, actually. What I did was put the DMT in a little basin of water so that the water just barely covered the surface of the diamond hone. Then I could lap to my heart's content without getting the leather side wet. It worked great.

I took the liberty of working on the leather side a bit afterwards. It was cupped and slick with gunk, so I cleaned it with lather, pumiced it and applied some conditioner. I think it might actually work as a strop now. :)

Josh

Excellent job Josh!

:o ye know ... I bought some barber hones from Tilly a couple of years ago and the only one I lapp'd was the lithide and 3 fritionites which I did with a carborundum 102 ..
I didn't even apprecaite that the other hones may need lapped .. I don't really use the barber hones apart from the fritionites on occasion . Think I'll check how bad the others are ...

Going on experience of lapping those little beauties Josh's service is invaluable to anyone looking to start with a nice lapped barber hone -- I know mine would have went to him first back when I started out ..

:) Garry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Yep, it was the cushion strop hone. :)

I figured out a way to lap it without any problems. I was kind of proud of myself, actually. What I did was put the DMT in a little basin of water so that the water just barely covered the surface of the diamond hone. Then I could lap to my heart's content without getting the leather side wet. It worked great.

I took the liberty of working on the leather side a bit afterwards. It was cupped and slick with gunk, so I cleaned it with lather, pumiced it and applied some conditioner. I think it might actually work as a strop now. :)

Josh

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Cool!! Yes, it came in today and I noticed the leather looked MUCH nicer than it did when I sent it to you. Thanks!!! I'll give it a go soon and let you know!
Great work. Thanks Josh!!

I finally got my 325 DMT today (thanks, Howard!) and so I promptly grabbed my two barbers hones and went at it..... The first one was quite flat already but the surface sure improved from the ordeal. Before truing that hone, it was almost useless. My razors would rattle and slide over the surface as if it were made of smooth rippled glass.... really weird.

Next came my 2 line Swaty.... I'd flattened one side before on wet/dry and a marble tile and the Swaty has worked well for me. I started over using the DMT only to discover that what I thought had already been flattened, had NOT! It took a long time to get that side flat, I mean my arm was getting tired but I finally got it 90% flat with only some of the edges rolling off... not bad, no need to go further and waste abrasive. Then I flipped it over and started on the opposite side.... I gave up for the night. Man, these things take a lot of work to flatten. If you have one or more and you don't have a DMT and you're wondering if it's worth sending out to Josh, IT IS! I'm thinking of springing for the xtra coarse DMT but considering I only have one side left to do on this barber hone, it's probably wasted money. If I end up going on another ebay spree, grabbing barber hones left and right, I'll either order the extra coarse DMT or better yet, save my elbow grease for new razors and send Josh my hones... Heck, for what he charges, it's a bargain.

Just my two cents worth after giving this kind of work a go.


Regards

Christian

Thanks for sharing your experience. The 325 shortens the process from 10 hours to three or four. :D

I think the XX Coarse really rips off the surface so you can polish it on a finer hone. It ran me $80 or $90 shipped. If you plan on collecting hones, it's a good investment.

Josh

I second Randy on this: you're a saint, Josh.

A five dollar ebay lot I bought to my surprise and delight came with a very fine, barber hone size piece of vintage coticule. It was very delicate, about 1/8 inch thick with no slate backing, and fixed to a homemade paddle by means of nails in the wood with their heads sort of pushed against the side of the coticule to hold it in place. So I prized it loose and cemented it to one side of an old barber hone. Then I decided to lap down the other side of the barber hone so it would fit in its tin. I initially spent about 6 hours doing this, first on my 325 DMT, then more impatiently on 100 grit sandpaper, then cursing and shouting at the cat and switching to 40 grit sandpaper. Long story short it's 3 weeks later and the wife and cat have left me and I've lost my job and am sort of crouching in a dark corner of the room with bleeding fingertips and trembling and muttering to myself and gnawing at this barber hone with my teeth, and the tin still won't close.

Given that the whole thing around here is DIY, it may seem weird to mail off a hone to be lapped by someone else. But that is exactly what I'm going to do in the future.