Thread: Favorite and Must Have Hones

If one wanted a small assortment of the most useful and best barber hones for razor use what would you pick? I am thinking of the well know names here....Honemaster, Itsapeech, Gem, Swaty, Amalgamite, Cushioned Strop Back, Lithide, etc....... I realize some of these will duplicate others and there may be a few lesser known ones too that are "must haves". So...if you wanted 4 to 6 pieces in a nice range without duplication what would they be?

(yes I know not everyone like barber hones but I am only considering them here)


Tony

I have found the Carborundums to be my favorite due to their ease of learning curve and speed. They are harder to find though.

If I could only keep only one barber hone, it would be the Dubl Duck combo hone. The coarse side feels about like a 5k, the fine side feels like a 10k, which is a nice working range for a hone.

My favorite barber hone is one called "The King". I don't know who made it, but it looks like a generic reddish-brown barber's hone, except that it is an extremely slow cutter (it takes ~25 laps to take magic marker off the bevel) and puts an extremely fine finish on a blade -- I use it after the 15k shapton as a finishing hone, and use it for touch-ups as well.