Thread: Truing barber hones

I just got a swaty, and a tonsorial Gem (two sided) barber hones. Do you/ or can you true up such hones, like the water stones? The tonsorial Gem has a small scratch on the black "use this side first" side.
Thanks in advance for your replys, Tim

You can true them up (called "Lapping") by using some 2000-2500 grit wet/dry sandpaper on a flat piece of glass. Be sure to wash the hone afterwards to remove any particles left behind......

You can also buy a DMT Diamond hone from a member here, at:

http://www.theperfectedge.com

Howard Schecter runs the site. He also sells very nice Belgian coticle stones for honing, and is a good guy, to boot!

Hope this helped -

Best -

I just true a couple that I was experimenting with in the drawer and finished on my Norton......lol. :twisted: Lynn

Yes you can true them up in the same fashion as a waterstone. The grit of sandpaper to use will depend on the amount of correction that has to be done.

Strat with a fine sandpaper, dry, and perform 20 X pattern laps. Then flip the stone over and look at the wear pattern. This will tell you where the low spots are on the stone.
Then wet the sandpaper and do another 25 X laps and check again. If the progress is extremely slow then go down to a coarser sandpaper but never below 320 grit and always finish with the highest grit available. Con tinue until the color and texture are uniform. When you are finished lapping then place the stone under running water and use a nylon scrubber or toothbrush to remove any loose abrasive grains that may be embedded in the stone.

Hope this helps,

Thanks guys, your the best!

To have any hone "Truing" you only need at least a 240 grit diamond hone. Nothing more. You are flattening a hone and the only thing needed is getting it flat. Don't worry about any "lost quality in grit" because it belongs to the hone you are trying to hone.

This is a 12 year old post, and that info isn't entirely accurate. While it holds true for soft honing stones (those that freely and readily release dull grit particles) for harder hones generally it is better to smooth/polish the surface after flattening. This will give a far more comfortable edge.

I would also add to what eKretz posted that, in the case of barber hones, it is often best to simply scrub them up with soap and water then try using them as is. If the hone works, it's best to let it be. Of the 6 barber hones I own, only one has been lapped. The rest simply scrubbed up and put to use. And once that one hone was lapped, polishing the surface to get it working properly once again was a bear and a half. Perhaps I'd have been better off to leave it as I found it like the rest, however it was in quite rough shape so I don't regret putting in the work to restore it to well...better condition.

Originally Posted by aaron1266

Don't worry about any "lost quality in grit" because it belongs to the hone you are trying to hone.

That simply is not correct.
The grit in barber hones is quite large. The only reason that barber hones can create a fine edge is because of the surface prep. For that reason, the "lost quality in the grit" is due to the coarse nature of the lapping plate, which can ruin the finely burnished surface of a barber hone.