Thread: puzzled about barber hones

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Just be aware that some of the barber hones on Ebay are totally unsuitable for razors. One of them is the "Champion".
A safe bet is a "Swaty". One that has 3 lines of text imprinted on the hone. Also a Frictionite 00, Apart, Dubl Duck, Keen Kutter. Others will chime in here with others that are OK.

Warning!!! Slightly and

Hey Randy,

Just curious... Regarding your moving avatar - the razor is completely straight up and down in relation to the hone (back edge of razor to narrow end of hone). Yet in all the manuals I've seen, the razor is slightly canted, about 45 deg. to the end of the hone when honing. I'm imagining the effect either would have on the cutting striations created at the razor's edge. I opt for, and use, the canted method of the barber manuals.

Thoughts?


Scott

Here are a few on Ebay now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/razor-hone-strop-back-old-and-in-not-to-bad-a-condition_W0QQitemZ220232125221QQihZ012QQcategoryZ 1461QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/DIFFERENT-RAZOR-HONE-DOBL-DUCK-SHARPENING-STONE-in-BOX_W0QQitemZ350058363670QQihZ022QQcategoryZ35992Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/DIFFERENT-RAZOR-HONE-AUSTRIAN-SHARPENING-STONE-in-BOX_W0QQitemZ350058367756QQihZ022QQcategoryZ35992Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-RAZOR-HONE-FRANZ-SWATY-AUSTRALIAN-SHARP-STONE_W0QQitemZ200223627979QQihZ010QQcategoryZ3599 2QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Swaty-Straight-Razor-Honing-Stone-Franz-Swaty-NR_W0QQitemZ160239373700QQihZ006QQcategoryZ43220QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/E-Co-Escher-vintage-German-razor-hone_W0QQitemZ320251240728QQihZ011QQcategoryZ35992 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-WATERE-RAZOR-HONE-GERMANY-E-C-BEST-QUALITY_W0QQitemZ130222045310QQihZ003QQcategoryZ35 992QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

When I was a kid and getting haircuts in the 1950s I remember often times if there were two or three barbers in a shop and they weren't all busy one guy would be busy honing up razors. The reason I remember is because it just seemed odd this guy doing something with these stones and his razors. Sometimes while I waited for my brother or my father to finish up I would watch. Remember that in a typical shop each barber had many razors and they did not send them out They had separate razors for trimming sideburns and hairlines and others just for shaving and many of those used for hair trimming got very dull very fast.

Barbers had accidents too and dropped them and hit them into the chairs and they got chipped. They repaired them right there and had a number of hones available to use. Its no different than old time carpenters who used all hand tools. They didn't send them out to be honed they did it themselves. Tradesmen looked after their own tools. No, barbers weren't experts or hobbists like us they were just guys who used their razors every day and their jobs depended on them and also remember that on the really old days alot of people would take their razors down to the local barber shop and the barbers honed them for a small fee.

Originally Posted by honedright

Warning!!! Slightly and

Hey Randy,

Just curious... Regarding your moving avatar - the razor is completely straight up and down in relation to the hone (back edge of razor to narrow end of hone). Yet in all the manuals I've seen, the razor is slightly canted, about 45 deg. to the end of the hone when honing. I'm imagining the effect either would have on the cutting striations created at the razor's edge. I opt for, and use, the canted method of the barber manuals.

Thoughts?


Scott

I cant mine about 20-30 degrees. One of our guys, Superfly, made that gif and said I could use it. Someday I will ask him to update the gif.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

When I was a kid and getting haircuts in the 1950s I remember often times if there were two or three barbers in a shop and they weren't all busy one guy would be busy honing up razors. The reason I remember is because it just seemed odd this guy doing something with these stones and his razors. Sometimes while I waited for my brother or my father to finish up I would watch. Remember that in a typical shop each barber had many razors and they did not send them out They had separate razors for trimming sideburns and hairlines and others just for shaving and many of those used for hair trimming got very dull very fast.

Barbers had accidents too and dropped them and hit them into the chairs and they got chipped. They repaired them right there and had a number of hones available to use. Its no different than old time carpenters who used all hand tools. They didn't send them out to be honed they did it themselves. Tradesmen looked after their own tools. No, barbers weren't experts or hobbists like us they were just guys who used their razors every day and their jobs depended on them and also remember that on the really old days alot of people would take their razors down to the local barber shop and the barbers honed them for a small fee.

Perfectly plausible (I can't argue with your childhood memories - although some old memories are, well, you know those once-upon-a-time huge rooms, people, etc. that now seem much, much smaller...anyways....)

I'm sure some barbers did their own, and I know for a fact that the big barber supply houses offered regrinding services for barbers straight razors and shears.

But back to the main point, I think a single fast (if you are experienced) or slow (if you are beginning) hone can serve a shaver very well for most purposes, regardless of grit size.





Scott

I would suspect that there was quite a bit of variation amongst the Barbers. I do know that my grandfather, a dairy farmer, had a Little Frictionite 00, (which I now have), and he was always close to poor.

One thing I have noticed in my few years of scrounging for razors is that the number of razors available far exceeds the number of barber hones.