Thread: Does anyone use a barber's hone like old barbers did?

As long as you catch the razor before the edge degrades, and this is the key point. I guess you can call it Preventitive Maintenance. You can maintain them with a Barber's hone indefinitely. I have several, but gravitate towards the Swaty. I keep it out by my razors with an Escher. I did the Swaty exclusively for one year, that's all I used. I actually missed using my other hones. I think I averaged about 5 x strokes every 14 days. No noticeable hone wear, and the blades shaved amazingly well. You can use lather or a few drops of water. I think I read somewhere you can use them dry. YMMV.

So far I've been shaving with the same DOVO Best 6/8 half-hollow for the last year and a half, and I use a barber hone since last Winter.

I've managed to keep a good edge with weekly touchups on the hone, and though it does not equal the edge I got when I had my razor professionally re-honed, it still feels close and clean.

Just got my 3 line Swaty yesterday and did my first touch up with it and it did an amazing job. I couldn't be more pleased.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

A 12k hone used once a week like a barber hone is also a good solution.

How many laps do you recommend with this stone for maintenance?

I generally do maybe about ten or so. I think that someone here suggested to us more like five or six.

Originally Posted by Str8nSharp

Just got my 3 line Swaty yesterday and did my first touch up with it and it did an amazing job. I couldn't be more pleased.

The swaty is wonderful. I use mine with light lather, make 3-8 strokes and I'm done. Try both sides and see if you feel a difference, old instructions say the stamped side is finer. I can't really tell the difference much...

I think a lot of guys using barber hones that think they leave a rough edge may be overhoning by using too many strokes, be conservative!

Originally Posted by Hrwa

How many laps do you recommend with this stone for maintenance?

For a barbers hone start at 3-4 strokes and test, I wouldn't go past 8.

Originally Posted by riooso

Sorry not to notice your reply for so long I have had a family emergency lately. I also find that for travel the felt is very handy. Another benefit is that I have a Robert Williams that I have used tape on and when using the felt on it I don't have to do anything special because felt gives enough to get the edge. I also don't have to worry about a bad stroke on felt because one is using a stropping motion.

The bad part.....I have this beautiful J-Nat that is seeing absolutely no action!

Take care,
Richard

Trade you a barbers hone for the J-nat. then you wont have to feel bad about its being neglected! I[ll even return it after I get the hang of it.

Disburden - What you said about the stamped side being finer, well, my hone is an old one and it has labels on it that say something like 'begin with this side - finish with this side.' At first I couldn't tell the difference between the sides, however, after restoring the hone there's a noticeable difference when honing, with the brown side being finer and the grey is obviously the coarser of the two. Of course, after slight use it is similar to the way it was before. I find I mostly use the brown side for simply doing touch-ups.

Yours is definitely a two sided hone. The three line swatys are the same look on both sides and uniform but there's a lot of reports out there that the company said the stamped side is finer although they both are the same visual.
I have a winner hone that's brown on one side 4k level and white on the other side aprox 8k level.

Do a search for a thread called "barber hones characteristics" started by my friend Sham, its great!