Thread: Hone Identification Needed

One of my neighbors, after seeing my razor collection, gave me
some hones that she had stored in her basement since her husband died. At any rate, I am trying to identify them. None came with boxes.. I would like to know what I have. The hone on the left is purple-ish in color and a little more coarse than the rest.
Thanks for any input.......

if i told you any thing i would be gusing and i wont do you that way so good luck some one will give you a hand.

Moved this to "Basic Honing" forum as it seems to be better to let the guys who play with hones the most to help identify the hones in question.

PM me with any issues. Thanks!

I am likely wrong but the purplish blue looks like a Belgan Blue and the yellow one next to it looks like a Coticule! the other two look like barber hones, but I couldn't tell you which type or manufacturer.

At first glance, the one on the far left looks like a Thuringian or a Belgian Blue, the one second from the left looks like a Coticule, and I cant tell what the others are.

Could take some more pics, close ups etc?

If you form a slurry on the large blue/gray one and the slurry is purple, it's a Belgian blue, if the slurry is gray it's a Thuringian (maybe even an Escher, but you'd have a hard time proving it with no label).

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

At first glance, the one on the far left looks like a Thuringian or a Belgian Blue , the one second from the left looks like a Coticule, and I cant tell what the others are.

Could take some more pics, close ups etc?

I would debate with you over the far left one, but we are looking at pictures, not the genuine article! I have to say though, if you look at the picture closely it looks like the figure in the stone is characteristic of a Belgian blue.

I corrected myself as you were typing. In all likelihood the guy probably picked up a Blue at the same time he got that Coticule, being as they are pretty much exactly the same size.

Good score by the way!

Agreed on the blue and the coticule. If you are going to use the coticule, you might want to glue it to a board or something more rigid so that it doesn't break. There is a practical reason why coticules are usually glued to a piece of slate.

Given that the blue and coticule are the same size, it is possible that they might have originally been glued together. That used to be a common practice.

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

I corrected myself as you were typing. In all likelihood the guy probably picked up a Blue at the same time he got that Coticule, being as they are pretty much exactly the same size.

Good score by the way!

My thoughts exactly, it really looks like a belgian blue and a coticule. Don't have a clue about the other ones, though...

The two on the left are belgians which used to be glued together, both are natural stones with the Purple one being the coarser, approx 4000-6000 grit and the yellow the finer grit, 8000-10000 grit. The other two are manmade barber hones, usually they are a finishing hone, 8000-10,000 grit. The one on the far right appears to be a dual grit hone with each side being a different color. Is there printing that says something like " Little fricionite 00" on the side?

Very nice!