Thread: 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

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

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!)

Originally Posted by randydance062449

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

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

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

Josh

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.

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

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