Thread: My new old barber hone.

I know that this has been asked before, but the terms "lapping", "barber" and "hone" are so common that I can't see to pare the search hits down to something usable.

So, I just won this: VELVET EDGE RAZOR HONE - eBay (item 200342035960 end time May-16-09 03:43:05 PDT)

It clearly needs to be lapped, but seems to be in pretty good shape. Also, it's a 2 sided barber hone, which I vaguely recall some folks preferring.


I understand that a regular barber hone is strictly for finishing or refreshing an edge, and in both cases you should only do 2-5 passes.

However, I'm wondering where the rougher side comes in with a hone like this.

Also, do I need to do anything special to lap this, or can I lap it with ~320 grit wet/dry paper like anything else?

Thanks.

There is a sticky in the basic honing section that has an entry for Hone Lapping 101. That's pretty much all you need to know about lapping.

Regarding how to hone with it. First, start with a sharp razor and shave away. When you notice that the razor is no longer shaving like it used to, then it's time to hone. Do two to five strokes on the fine side, then strop it and shave with it. If the shave is back up to snuff, then you are done. If the shave is still not good, then you can repeat on the fine side again, or you can do one or two strokes on the coarser side followed by five strokes on the fine side. Again, test it by stropping and shaving.

The barber hone is not meant for major cutting. It's meant for maintaining a sharp razor. For that reason, it is best to only use a few strokes during each honing session. Sneak up on a sharp edge by this honing and shaving strategy and your razor will last a long time.

That's exactly the information I needed about usage.

As for lapping, I've actually read that sticky about 8 times. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything special about lapping this particular type of hone. I'll take your response as a "no" unless somebody adds anything different.

You definitely want you use 320 or coarser to start with. Some hones are softer than others and will have deeper scratch patterns from coarser grit. If the 320 gets it flat by removing the gridlines but leaves it with swirly scratches, then you'll have to go up to a finer grit. The scratches have minimal, if any, impact on the function of the hone but they seem to really drive some people nuts. If you are one of them, keep going up to higher grits until you feel your blood pressure to be returned to an acceptable level.

Then, hone away!

I to collect and restore old Barber hones. I have several, including quite a few Swaty's. I think you'll find that some of these hones are made out of the hardest material known to man. I had 3 Swaty's with chips in them that I had to get out. I used a DMT D8XX, and it took a while. I progressed up to 1000 grit sandpaper. After the D8XX, you can see how scratched up the hone is, by the time you get to the 1000 grit paper, it'll look nice and new....As Utopian said, 3-5 passes is all you need to refresh your blade. I keep my Barber hone(s) right on the counter next to my razors. It really is amazing how much honing they save me....

Originally Posted by Utopian

...they seem to really drive some people nuts. If you are one of them...

Yeah, I'm one of those people.

Originally Posted by zib

I to collect and restore old Barber hones. I have several, including quite a few Swaty's. I think you'll find that some of these hones are made out of the hardest material known to man. I had 3 Swaty's with chips in them that I had to get out. I used a DMT D8XX, and it took a while. I progressed up to 1000 grit sandpaper. After the D8XX, you can see how scratched up the hone is, by the time you get to the 1000 grit paper, it'll look nice and new....As Utopian said, 3-5 passes is all you need to refresh your blade. I keep my Barber hone(s) right on the counter next to my razors. It really is amazing how much honing they save me....

And after a few of those Swaty's, you discover that your glorious DMT8XX is no longer the lapping monster that it used to be!

I have a Moravian two sided barber hone which i have used to maintain a razor for a long time, using the method as described by Utopian.

It works. Saves a lot of honing and keeps the edge in a state of readiness.

Once you have a sharp razor you can go for many years with just a barber hone and use of the lenin or canvass and leather.

Works for me.

I got my barber hone in the mail yesterday, and lapped it today after a trip to the hardware store for wet/dry sandpaper.

First of all, holy crap is this thing hard!!!! The surface was not a uniform texture to begin with, but visually it was perfectly flat. Even using serious elbow grease, it took me a solid half an hour on the 320 to get the last of the pencil marks out.

I followed it up with about 5 minutes on 600 grit, just to smooth it out a bit, and then I went ahead and touched up my razor with it and text-shaved.

I've been using the same razor for 6-8 weeks, since I started straight shaving, and wow is that a big difference. I just imagine how much more difference it will make with a bit of honing practice.

Thanks again to all of you.

Welcome to the ranks of the barber hone converts!

A barber hone can be a great option for KEEPING a sharp razor sharp.