Thread: Barber hone instead of pasted strop?

Ok dumb newbie question What is the definition of a "barber hone"?

Is it as i believe a slow cutting stone with a fine grit rating like a chineese 12k?

Originally Posted by BigIan

Ok dumb newbie question What is the definition of a "barber hone"?

Is it as i believe a slow cutting stone with a fine grit rating like a chineese 12k?

A hone for barbers, was once used to keep the edge of your razor as sharpas possible. When the barber(or you) felt the blade starting to catch, pull or tug and stropping wasnt enough to bring it back into line, he could reach into his pocket, grab the barber hone, give the blade a few licks, re strop and go back to work in a very satisfactory manner.

BTW, sometimes a little pasted strop action after the barbers hone aint so bad.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

A hone for barbers, was once used to keep the edge of your razor as sharpas possible. When the barber(or you) felt the blade starting to catch, pull or tug and stropping wasnt enough to bring it back into line, he could reach into his pocket, grab the barber hone, give the blade a few licks, re strop and go back to work in a very satisfactory manner.

BTW, sometimes a little pasted strop action after the barbers hone aint so bad.

cheers for that i was just wondering as to the construction of a barbers hone. and how they differ to a normal "finishing hone"

I have not had the experiance , if you use paste to touch up your razor that fine . Then there comes a time when your paste does'nt work. Why because the very cutting edge becomes a little convexed. So you have to go back to rehone so then you can carry on using your paste for a thew more months. Going back to barbers hone, may not be enough you may need somthing like 4k to reset the bevel. To avoid this happening i'd just use use your barbers hone and may be one touch up with paste then barbers hone to keep the bevel in a nice v shape at all times.

if you use it right BARBER HONES will do the job forever. gl

Barbers hones are typically fast- like 5 laps is all I need to do on my swaty to bring an edge back (provided I do it soon enough)

I use barber hones exclusively (Swaty is my fave) & here's my experience.

(1) Chrome Ox gives me a finer edge than the Swaty alone.

(2) However, if I put the Chrome Ox on a hanging strop & use the strop exclusively to touch up, the edge gets slowly convexed over time. At first, the convexed edge is quite nice, but eventually it becomes too convex to shave with. (How long this takes depends of course on how often you touch-up). When this happens, you have to do a good bit of work to undo all that convexing & make the edge triangular in cross-section again. I have had to resort to coarser hones than the Swaty to do this quickly. There are 3 remedies for this that I know of:

(2.1) Ditch the Chrome Ox and just shave right off the Swaty.

(2.2) Every time you touch up, do a few laps on the Swaty, then finish on the Chrome Ox.

(2.3) Apply the Chrome Ox to a non-compliant surface, such as a lapped piece of oak, which will not convex the edge. Then use the Chrome Ox exclusively for touch-ups.

I am still experimenting with 2.3 & it's too soon to say anything conclusive, but so far the results are quite pleasing. I have also done 2.1 and 2.2, and they work fine also. My least favorire solution is 2.1, since I like a slightly finer edge than my Swaty can give, but the Swaty is an excellent hone, and this, admittedly, is nit-picking.

I got a method like this from watching Lynn... I don't know why he does it, or if the results vary /that/ vastly, but if it works for him, and the blades of mine that he does it on shave this well, I might as well do it too.

When my blade starts to tug, I will give it 5-8 laps on a Barber's Hone. After that, I give them 10 laps on Wool Felt with .5 micron Diamond Spray, after that I do my normal stropping progression (way in depth and way more than you need to do, just strop it, fabric and leather afterwards) Dunno if it makes a big difference, but I get GREAT results!

My lazy everyday kinda touch up is 5 laps on the swaty, 10 laps on a sharpening strop (very fine, like CrO or less) then regular stropping (30/30 cotton/horsehide)
My full ultra touch up is 5 or so on the swaty, 20-25 on my Thuringen (its small so laps are high) 15 laps sharpening strop, then regular stropping.

LOL Like everything alse about this crazy hobby, it appears there are as many opinions as people! I see that nobody said 'My god don't do that, I did that and wore out my blade in no time!"... so I guess I'll play around a bit. Keeps it fun. The barber hone is pretty fine (Velvet Edge) so I am not too worried. Thanks for the responses.