Thread: What the hey?

Actually, the fine side was almost completely flat, but the coarse side was significantly dished. It took me a good couple of hours to get it flat.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I have two disparate thoughts.

First, the sticker sounds like the one found on Frictionite hones. However, when you lap the finishing side of a Frictionite, it will get significantly lighter but it remains smooth when lapped with a DMT plate. Perhaps you should do a follow-up lapping with a finer grit sandpaper? Maybe you have residual sandpaper grit embedded in the surface and finer sandpaper might remove it. This seems like an improbable solution but it might be worth a shot.

Second, if it is not a Frictionite, then it's something else. I believe that some barber hones were just surface-coated with grit. If that is the case with your hone, you may have simply, and unfortunately, lapped the grit right off of the hone and are just left with the substrate.

I agree that it sounds like the instructions for a Frictionite. I have a couple of those with the same labels.

I also have had a "Little Devil" hone that was only surface coated with abrasives and lapped them off the first time. Bummer!

Originally Posted by JohnP

Call me wrongheaded, but I've NEVER lapped a barber hone and never regretted it. The closest I've come to this is to rub two of them together to help get rid of some ground in steel.
IMHO (which could, of course, be wrong) barber hones are not designed to work with a slurry, none of mine have even remotely dished or any such like a water stone does (after all, water stones release their particles into the "slurry" which does the sharpening-barber hones do not).
I've lapped a spyderco hone, but not a barber hone.
So far, perhaps I'm just lucky, but they continue to do fine.
Often, rather than even scrubbing as in the above example, I'll just hit them with oven cleaner. Soon after, they are as good as new.



Let the flames begin...


John P.

The Little Frictionite 00 hone that I inherited from my grandfather came complete with instructions and a "rubbing" stone. The instructions said to use the rubbing stone to clean the hone of any build up. It works!

I do agree that most of the barber hones can probably be used as is without lapping. But...I think they will be better if they are lapped. There would simply be more contact with the edge.

There, my two cents!

Well, both sides seem to be honing my razor fine right now. But the real test will obviously come with my next shave.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

The Little Frictionite 00 hone that I inherited from my grandfather came complete with instructions and a "rubbing" stone. The instructions said to use the rubbing stone to clean the hone of any build up. It works!

I do agree that most of the barber hones can probably be used as is without lapping. But...I think they will be better if they are lapped. There would simply be more contact with the edge.

There, my two cents!

Randy, it's possible. I've just never seen one with a dish in it (yet). Mine all are perfectly flat except when they have chips and the like.
One that takes a rubbing stone might be an exception.
Mine typically get scrubbed clean or oven cleaner. I've not had a flattening problem with any of them so far, though. Did have to flatten my Belgians though.

John P.

Actually, I have found that most of the barber hones I have lapped have been the opposite of dished. That is, the first region to be cleared is in the center of the hone, meaning that the center was the high point. The only exception to this is the coarser Carborundums, which are softer. I have found several of these to be quite dished in the center.

Very possible. I do not own any Carborundum hones at any rate. One wonders if they wouldn't wear a little different than say an Itsapeech or Swaty due to action of the rubbing stone? Kind of makes it an oddball hone IMHO.
Apparently they're pretty good, though, based on how much people bid on them.

John P.