Thread: On Lapping-

I've been thinking about this for some time now, just what, exactly, did our forefathers lap their hones with? I'm quite sure that they didn't have to have something that got within .0001" from perfectly flat! So how did they get their close shaves with something that wasn't lapped properly? Could be that they apparently did quite well with what they had, as did the barbers of that day. Just look at old barber hones, they almost always have a dip in the middle, and yet, still honed razors. Maybe we put too much emphasis on this accurately lapped hone business when just a little expertise would do the trick.
Like I said, this is just some ruminations on the subject.

Fred

Machinists and other professionals have used lapping plates for a very long time. The plate in this link is older than the DE, and used to be used for flattening stones and metal.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...t=cast+lapping

My old man was a successful barber and I clearly recall his hones being dished. The secret of course is not to have the hones all perfectly flat but rather to have all the hones more or less the same. If they can't be the same, make the coarser one with slight hump in the middle and the finer hone dished. That said, the most likely way of maintaining a couple of hones would simply be to rub them together now and again... that would keep them reasonably flat. I think having the fine hones dished was actually preferred by some as they would create a slightly more durable edge. Dad was always tinkering with new paddle strops, often ones that had a bit of sway or dishing in them, not that a 10 year old boy would have paid all that much attention at the time.

Honing razors has always been a bit of a black art, most gents would have taken their razors to the local barber for honing in the old days and rely on stropping in between honing visits. Of course those who had a bit of money would simply go to the barber for their weekly or twice weekly shave. After all, this was the motivation for the Gillette Safety razor... a simple to use device that contained a blade that could be replaced with a new sharp blade for very little money.

Regards

Christian

My dad used to take a sanding block to his hones before putting a plane iron to them and he learned that from his dad so it goes back a ways.

I think with skill, they got by with what they had, and it worked. With that said though, the one observation I have to add and also one point that I've heard regarding barber's usage of razors for their trade are:

Observation: Think of the vintage razors, especially razors that were likely actually used by barbers that have undesirable frowns. Couldn't those be attributed to a hone with a high middle?

Barbers didn't futz with their razors like we do. Although they weren't regarded as being disposable, they were simply tools used in their trade. As such, razors needed to work. If they didn't (screwed up from the beginning or rendered essentially unusable due to honing, etc, they were cast aside if an "unflat" barber hone resulted in razors losing their effectiveness sooner than a "flat" hone, the hone probably wasn't tossed....the razors were.

My 2 cents is all.


Chris L

Originally Posted by Chrisl

undesirable frowns. Couldn't those be attributed to a hone with a high middle?

Well, what I meant with a high middle was not from side to side on the hone but rather from end to end, just like the many hones we see with a low center due to much use. Most frowns are caused by x honing on a somewhat narrower stone than the blade and or improper pressure during honing. A crowned hone would tend to make an ever so slight hollow ground bevel, a dished hone following the crowned hone would place more effort on the very edge and the trailing edge of the bevel and not touch the hollow ground middle portion of the bevel. We're really talking molecules here... not that much in the way of actual material but still, it was enough to make a difference.

Regarding that frown, if you think of it, when you hone on a 2" hone, you start with the heel of the blade to the center of the blade on the hone. At the end of a honing stroke, the toe of the blade and the center of the blade are on the hone. Note that from the beginning of the stroke to the end of the stroke, the center portion of the blade would remain on the hone but the toe and heel would only be on the stone for part of the stroke. If you add in a bit of uneven pressure, possibly dropping the tang a bit during the stroke, you'll be honing an awful lot on the center of the blade vs the toe and heel and thus create a frown.

Regards

Christian