Thread: Info on Vintage John Primble Hone Block

Preamble: I am brand-new to honing, having started a while back with ready-to-shave razors and a twin-sided DOVO strop. I've been searching for a barber's hone to use for touch-ups between full honings, which are only done every 6-12 months (I'm rotating five razors).

And so it is that I have come across a vintage John Primble Razor Hone, but I cannot find any information on it in the Wiki. This seems to be similar in size and appearance to Swaty barber hones I have seen on eBay and classifieds. From what I can find online, Primble was apparently a knife, razor, and accessories distributor based in Kentucky for most of the 20th century. The company distributed Boker razors, but I have not been able to find anything on their hones. The hone I picked up is in excellent shape, and appears to be from the 1920-1940's (my best guess - see photos).

Questions - does anyone here have knowledge of the Primble hones and whether or not it would be an appropriate finishing/touch-up hone to keep my razors keen between more formal, annual trips to a honing expert? Does anyone know any more history of these hones that they might be able to share?

Cheers.

I don't have any hands on experience with the Primble hone. I can tell you that among pocket knife collectors they are a premium brand. Their 'India Steel" pocket knives in particular are highly sought after. From the photo it looks very like a Swaty and it is quite possible that it was made by them.

Primble was a distributor/vendor not a manufacturer of hones or razors. Most of their razors were Solingen made and 'good' razors. I would bet the hone would be a good one too. The only way to find out is to experiment with it when one of your babies needs a bit of touching up. Let us know how you make out.

I have one also. Didn't get the nice box with mine. I have honed all my razors with it & it works just fine. I use Smith's honing solution that I added a little Marvel mystery oil to & it hones my straight razors great. I saw an old ad somewhere on the net. but there was really no info on the make up of the hone.
Dave Huffman

Our very own Modine wrote up a good reveiw of this hone HERE. From the write up it looks to be a 10k to 12k stone. I have a Primble straight and a Primble strop, but haven't been able ot snag a barber hone yet. Good score!

I too picked up a John Primble 5/8 India Steel straight razor early this year at an antique store but I have never seen a John Primble stone or strop. I guess I will have to keep an eye out.


Mike