Thread: Master Hone? What is it

So i was at a local antique mall, and there was one display case that had several straight razors, mugs, razor boxes, and this one stone that intrigued me. It's stamped Master Hone and is apparently bake-lite bonded. One side is concave for sharpening safety razors but the other side is completely flat for straight razors. Anyone seen one of these before? Is it ok to use this as a finish on my razor?



Pic 1 Shows the label on the stone and the concave surface.



This one shows the Flat side for the straight razors.



Picture of hone in original packaging

If anyone knows anything about this hone I would love to hear from you. And if there is a certain stage where this should be used that would be good to know as well. Right now I have a Jones MFG. Co. straight i got from the same mall. I used a 1000 grit japanese waterstone by King, followed by a 6000 grit by the same company. following that all i have is this small hone and a strop. I'm getting alright shaves off of this, but if there's something that someone suggests I would also love to here about it!

Thanks for reading!
Pendulum

Can't help with that barber hone but as a user of King stones myself I'd suggest a progression from 1K to 4K rather than 6K. Just that the 4K is faster at 1K scratch removal.

I've never handled a Master hone, but from its appearance, I would guess it to be of a composition similar to all of the Swaty knock-offs. Some of them are at least as good as a Swaty, most are nearly so, and some are much worse. Odds are good that it will be a perfectly good finishing/polishing hone if you want to keep your honing regimen simple and cheap.

The combo hone was common after the advent of the safety razor. The flat side was for the straight razor and the concave side was for the safety razor. You just put the blade in the center of the valley, with the edges oriented toward the high sides, and you would slide the razor back and forth along the length of the valley. Some people did a similar motion inside of a drinking glass.

Originally Posted by Pendulum

So i was at a local antique mall, and there was one display case that had several straight razors, mugs, razor boxes, and this one stone that intrigued me. It's stamped Master Hone and is apparently bake-lite bonded.

Well, Bakelite is a Belgian invention, so it must be very good.

Bakelite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It indeed looks very nice and intriguing.

Nice find.

Bart.

So would this stone be good enough to follow up an 8k norton and get a comfortable shave? or would buying a coticule improve it far more than this? I've been stressing over how much stuff costs as im a college student on a budget, but if this is a decent finish my worries would be releaved! Thanks to all of you for your input

Just guessing, but considering the era and the refreshing of safety razors, I would think it is a lot like the old barber hones where you give a razor 5-6 strokes to refresh it. So.....probably could give it 10-15 strokes after the 8K as a polishing stone and see what happens.

Neat stone!!

Lynn

I think you have a clear shot at it being a finishing hone.
But there's only one way to find out for sure...
and that's using it.

Keep us posted
Bart.