Thread: Is this hone an equivalent of a barber's hone?

I saw this hone on the Excalibur cutlery and I was wondering if this is basically a barber's hone.
6inch Surgical Extra Fine Arkansas Stone

no its an arkansas hone sold in some barbers supply magazines what do you want to do with it a barber hone such as a swaty is way more versatile for keeping an edge sharp, but not for resetting a bevel and so on, you could get away on the cheap with diamond embedded paper or with a old carborundum hone for resetting bevels then a barber hone for polishing it up i wouldnt recommend the arkansas hone for a straight

I've heard that although they will do the job eventually, they cut slowly & are awful. As far as i'm aware, there are countless better things to sharpen just about anything with than an Arkansas stone! Once you say something like that, you usually find that there are a few contradictions, but that's what i heard when considering them.

I think that hone at 4-5k grit is too coarse for touch ups.A barber hone from what I've read would be more like 8-10k and I expect hardness might be an issue here.There are many more experienced posters than me who might elaborate.

I started out with Arkansas stones and never did get a good shaving edge. Some swear by them...others swear at them.

I have started a small collection of them, but I have yet to get one flat (except for a smaller, softer stone I have, it's about 1000 grit, maybe?). The higher the grit, the harder the stones seem to be. So, I haven't used one yet, and they are taking forever to lap.