Thread: Barber hones

The other day I went to my barber to get a cut. I told him that I was getting a straight sent to me but I was having trouble finding a hone (don't have a lot of money at this moment). So he dug into his drawers and pulled out a couple of stones and gave them to me. He told me one was for the initial sharpening and the other was for polishing the blade up.

The question that I have is how many laps should I take on each stone? I was having trouble the other day and it took me forever to pop a hair. How much pressure should I apply?

I was able to find out what the first stone was. On one side it faintly reads "carborundum sic" thats all I could make out. I checked on some sites and determined that it is probably a med stone. The other one just says wet or dry but the surface is smooth almost a like glass. So would the second stone be a fine or a finishing stone?

Any info would help. Would love to get some of the more popular stones but money is super tight so I have to work with what I have.

Pics attached
Thanks
Christiano

Chris, welcome to the club and welcome to the world of barber hones. I was lucky and had a knowledgeable person help pick my first ones out. So I can only assume what you have is a medium hone and a fine finishing hone. The wet dry one does look like the finish side on my favorite double grit hone that I do most of my work on. So first start with the medium stone. You want to source out “nail bite” here on the forum. With the medium hone you can accomplish this by either using the “X” pattern or the circular pattern if the bevel is in worse shape. The number of trips over the hone and the amount of pressure will vary with each razor. Less is always better so start with light to no pressure and less strokes on the hone. When you achieve nail bite then you can start using the finishing hone. You can even do pyramids like what they do with the Norton hone. At first you will be doing a lot of testing to check your work. After several strokes ( say 15 –20 ) wet the hone and do 10-15 more. Check the edge by doing the hanging hair test. I like to use a stiff boar bristle off of an inexpensive shaving brush to do my hanging hair test. When it starts to pop the hair over the entire edge strop with leather and give it a try. There is a lot more to learn, but maybe this will get you started in the right direction.

Glen

Thanks for the info that definitely helps me out. I know that I have some learning to do. I noticed that when I changed pressure and amount of strokes on each stone the results were different each time. There were times when the edge almost cleanly popped a hair and then I tried to perfect the edge a little more by giving it a couple more laps. Then tried it again and the edge was dull. So somewhere to start is really helpful.

Thanks
Christiano

Some finish hones should only be used wet. I also like to use lather or even liquid soap for the final few passes with very little pressure. You will start to feel suction on the blade. This is a good thing. I really like to use these old hones. They will do the trick once you learn how.

Glen

Hello and welcome!

Just a general observation... when you are honing and the blade is getting sharper and sharp then suddenly goes dull that is frequently a sign of overhoneing. The edge has become to thin and is flexible, just like aluminum foil. The cure for this is performing some back honing.

Originally Posted by chris10

Thanks for the info that definitely helps me out. I know that I have some learning to do. I noticed that when I changed pressure and amount of strokes on each stone the results were different each time. There were times when the edge almost cleanly popped a hair and then I tried to perfect the edge a little more by giving it a couple more laps. Then tried it again and the edge was dull. So somewhere to start is really helpful.

Thanks
Christiano

So that's what over honed is. I read about it a lot but never put two and two together. Thanks for shedding some light.