Thread: Carborundum hone #103

Hey Guys,

I found a old barbers hone the other day in an antique store, called a carborundum hone #103, has anyone heard of it? the name makes me think its made of cardboard, but maybe it's a reference to carbon/boron? nfi. It says to use a paste but i don't have any, will dry honing suffice? or should i use some water or oil? I've got a 8k and 12k coming in the mail so i just bought this for the hell of it but i figure it may be good for traveling given its size, i assume it would be good for touch ups before stropping...hmm

orfeo

I have a few Carbo's myself. I don't know much about them and have only played around with them a little due to that fact. The different numbers refer to different grits but I am unaware of an actual "number to grit chart". They were apparently fairly popular back in the day but thats all I can really tell you....which isn't much....lol....

The carborundums are synthetic hones. I second crichton's statement of of unawareness of a number to grit chart. If anyone knows of such a chart, please let me know. I have a 118S that is relatively coarse (I'd guess in the range of 4-5K. I also have a 102 which is much finer (I'd guess 8-10K) and absolutely horrible to lap because it's so hard.
I would guess that the 103 is closer in character to my 102.
A few carborundums are meant to be used dry but most are to be used with water or lather. Do not use oil! If you use oil you will never be able to get it out of the hone without a lot of trouble.
If you want the hone lapped, PM me and then I can let you know how the 103 compares!

yeah the 103 is very fine, i'm yet to compare it to the hones i've got in the mail but i think your 8-10k is a good estimate. luckily it's in good condition so i don't need to lap it much yet.

One of mine is a 102 that - when I first got it - was extremely dirty and in need of being lapped. Not thinking (typical for me) I used my Norton lapping stone on it. After much effort the Carbo looked quite nice - and my Norton was toast. So now I need a new Norton lapping stone....they are NOT up to the task of lapping something as hard as those Carbo's.....

i used some water with it last night and it made a huge difference, firstly there was a lot of friction in trying to move the blade, like the blade was suctioned onto the hone, but it did seem to start to cut, with some grey sludge appearing which i guess was maybe the slurry of the stone but it seemed like there was some metal in there.

I have a Carborundum Company small pocket razor hone too. It was harder to lap than a larger Swaty. If yours is like mine than I'd give even odds that most of the slurry was metal from your razor.