Thread: Early Christmas, ummm...what did I get?

Originally Posted by littlesilverbladefromwale

I bet it is a belgian natural cobo

Well, I bet it isn't!
Look at the surfaces. Both have a marbling that kind of looks like leather. The big giveaway though is the stamp that says Frictionite!

BTW, I see that the side where the sticker would be only has residue of the sticker. If you'd like, I can take a picture of one of mine to show you what used to be there.

Ok, but the line between the two surfaces is wavey.
£5 or $5 ?
M

I would very much appreciate a pictuer showing the sticker, that would be great. I'm very happy then, I'll have to decide which of these I won't bugger too much practicing with (razors that is).

Red

Here are a couple of labels. In Littlesilverblades' defense, usually the waviness between the two sides of a hone is a pretty good indicator of a natural combo coticule. The Frictionites are an exception in that for some reason when the two sides were poured (?) they often did not end up straight.

The labels of my three Frictionites all indicate that the darker, brown side is to be used first. I have seen this same convention in a few other two sided barber hones. I suspect this standard was established in order to remain consistent with the order of use for a natural combo coticule, though I'm not certain how many barbers actually ever bothered to use the dark side of a coticule.

Have fun playing with your new toys!

I can't believe they aren't Belgie's

When traveling, the Frictionite always comes along. I often bring the Swaty with it. The Frictionite was fairly hard in lapping terms too. Hardness and swarf buildup on the lapping plate very closely comparable to the Swatys. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not...

Thanks for the label pictures, Utopian. My Frictionite also came with the label missing. It's good to know that I've been using the correct finishing side.

Where the label should be, I suspect that most of them have this stamping/engraving on it:

Originally Posted by Sticky

Where the label should be, I suspect that most of them have this stamping/engraving on it:

I think the instruction label is usually on the opposite side of the hone from the company stamp.

Originally Posted by Sticky

...
Where the label should be, I suspect that most of them have this stamping/engraving on it:

Oops, I mis-spoke myself. I should have said that "I suspect most of them have this engraving under the labels". Here's a picture of both sides of mine. Sorry about that.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Here are a couple of labels. In Littlesilverblades' defense, usually the waviness between the two sides of a hone is a pretty good indicator of a natural combo coticule. The Frictionites are an exception in that for some reason when the two sides were poured (?) they often did not end up straight.

The labels of my three Frictionites all indicate that the darker, brown side is to be used first. I have seen this same convention in a few other two sided barber hones. I suspect this standard was established in order to remain consistent with the order of use for a natural combo coticule, though I'm not certain how many barbers actually ever bothered to use the dark side of a coticule.

Have fun playing with your new toys!

Utopian,
Are any of your Frictionites blueish green on on side and medium brown on the other? It looks strikingly like my "Super Punjab" by the American Hone Co. I'm wondering it they didn't change the hone name at one period. The Punjab comes with a seperate rubbing stone of different look and composition.

Nope, none have any bluish green tint to them. I've heard that some had a rubbing stone but have never seen one. I've also never heard of the Punjab--I guess they were going for an exotic name.