The "Official" Old-Fashion, barber-hone thread.....

[HenrikWL]

Ah... I said "locally". Half a truth there. It's available through a norwegian online retailer - we don't have any actual TOBS shops here.

Anyway, so silicon carbide is pretty hard then. Forgive my ignorance, but barber's hones are mostly finishing and edge-maintaining hones, right? Or does it depend on the particular hone?

[Garry]

Your correct , from my experience ( not a lot .. ) and from what I've read on the forum .. Barber hones are mostly used for touching up an edge , one thats became a little dull - maintenance like you said ..
I have however heard some people do use them exclusively for all there honing needs -- you need to be pretty dedicated to do that IMHO and I recon most of the memebers here would suggest a norton or another fast cutting stone which would be more ideally suited for resetting a bevel ,and creating a good edge ..

When I started out all I had was a little barber hone , they're nice to have and ideal for just touching up

Tilly .. you may have heard mentioned here sells barber hones , I bought the beginners set a few years ago , nice little hones for starting out with
heres a link to her page , sdoesn't look like there much left ,but I suggest maybe emailing her ansd asking what she has available .. She is an absolute pleasure to deal with ..

http://www.redtrader99.com/hones.html

Garry

[Markopolo]

ChrisL........It sure seems like Tilly has more "goods" than she's willing to let on to.....(Hell's Bell's, she bought a WHOLE hone company) !

I dealt with her via E-Mail......not on her web-page.

.....and YES !.......She is an absolute JOY to deal with !

Marko.....

[shotwell1234]

All hones should be lapped for best performance, including barber hones. Also, the Norton flattening stone requires intermittent lapping.

[Sticky]

I usually shave right off of either a Swaty 2-line or a Carborundum Company pocket razor hone (1.5"x4"). My Carborundum hone is much harder than the Swaty and the edge from the Carborundum feels a bit sharper. Both have been lapped.

90% of the time I use them dry, sometimes with water, and rarely with lather. Five light laps to refresh the edge works well for me.

[joke1176]

I just got me Carbo No.102, lapped it (except for one low spot, I got impatient) and took it for a test hone.

It leaves a finer finish than the No. 106. Visible to the naked eye, and under microscope.

I will post a few pics, and a few side by side shots of them both when I get to it today or tomorrow.

[joke1176]

Here's an odd hone I got at a local junk shop for $5

It came with a fitted box, no labels or anything. I think it might be a hard black arkansas stone.


I lapped it up and it had a pinkish, purple-ish swarf.... the pic doesn't show the color properly on the cut edge. As far as hardness goes, when lapping it compared to my Carborundum hones.


It is about 6"x5"x1/2". It was glued into the box, at least until I pulled it out .

I took it for a test hone on a Red Imp 133, it cuts pretty slow. After about 50 passes it started to polish the edge. It cuts faster when wet, but doesn't appear to load up when dry, at least not yet.

Any ideas? I'm stumped.