puzzled about barber hones

[goat kiss]

Does anyone know what grit size these are likely to be? If most barbers had only one hone to maintain their razors it must have been pretty fine. The ones I see on ebay might be a cheap way to get a finishing hone.
GK

[Wildtim]

might be. they tend to be in a rang from 6000 to more than 10000 grit. There, are just a ton of different ones out there though. Most with no known information about them.

[clrobert60]

FWIT, I picked up a Swaty on Ebay for around $10+S&H and I've found it finishes my edges beautifully. It was nice and flat but had a few small chips on the edges; I smoothed them out a little bit w/sandpaper so they don't catch the blade and it works great.

[thebigspendur]

Actually most barber's had many hones but in general the "barbers" hone was a finishing hone they kept out with their other tools and every so often they would give their razor a few swipes to keep them up to snuff since they used them continuously all day every day.

[wescap34]

My barber uses an ancient barber hone which fits in the palm of his hand and has never been lapped. His razors are scary sharp and his shaves are amazing. The skill and experience of the person doing the sharpening are the key.

[JMS]

My barber uses an ancient barber hone which fits in the palm of his hand and has never been lapped. His razors are scary sharp and his shaves are amazing. The skill and experience of the person doing the sharpening are the key.

I would agree with this statement!

Actually most barber's had many hones but in general the "barbers" hone was a finishing hone they kept out with their other tools and every so often they would give their razor a few swipes to keep them up to snuff since they used them continuously all day every day.

This is a rather odd comment to me, as straight razor shaves have been an uncommon sight in America for at least the last thirty to forty years!Unless you were a barber who knew lots of barbers it doesn't seem that you should make such a certain all encompassing statement as this! I was recently reading an excerpt from a barbers manual from the 20's and 30's that said that most barbers only carried two stones, a fast cutting stone and a slow cutting stone.

[honedright]

Good catch Mark!

In fact some manuals confirm that many barbers prefered the fast cutting hone in order to save time, which makes sense in context of the job they performed. And I can't see a barber going through all of this honing progression stuff. If his razor really needed that much work, he'd send it out. 2 hones would have been more than enough.

I think it should be considered that barbers were probably more simple "Craftsmen" than sophisticated "Technicians."

Based on what is written in the barber teaching manuals, everything is based on subjective feel rather than objective findings as, say, looking at the edge of a razor under a microscope. In fact, I can only imagine the odd looks a customer (and the other barbers) would give were his barber to first place the razor under a microscope prior to the shave. Would have probably started a disease scare...

I'm sure most barbers never considered the grit of the hone. If it produced the proper edge (based on the feel of the thumb nail test) that was all he need to know.

It worked then, should work now.


Scott

[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.

[nun2sharp]

My favorite is my Keen Kutter Kombo. Also on hand is the Barbers razor hone, the Duro hone and the velvet Edge.

[Wildtim]

Lithide, Frictionite, Little Devil