Thread: Barber hone coaching wanted

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Are there any techniques you've picked up that really made a difference?

A member we haven't seen around for quite a while (Hal Wilson) was a great proponent of them... he is truly a barber hone addict. He mentions [in this post] viewing the The Lost Art of Straight Razor Shaving by Greg Ives as inspirational. I've never watched the video, but you might give it a shot. There was a fair amount of discussion about barber hones a long while ago... but my aging memory can't remember whether it was on this site or the Yahoo SRP... might even have been in the Yahoo SRP archives.

Anyway, I have a barber hone but use it infrequently. I never used it enough to say I really mastered it. But when I've been lazy and let my rotation get down to the last sharp razor, and that one gets uncomfortable part way thru the shave, a couple light strokes on the barber hone and a quick strop allows me to finish the shave... quick and easy. Hal might disagree, but for me the barber hone will never match the edge I can set with a 4/8K Norton followed by croxide (or diamond) on a leather bench hone.

All that said... anyone know whatever happened to Hal... he hasn't checked in here since last Fall?

Originally Posted by azjoe

A member we haven't seen around for quite a while (Hal Wilson) was a great proponent of them... he is truly a barber hone addict. He mentions [in this post] viewing the The Lost Art of Straight Razor Shaving by Greg Ives as inspirational. I've never watched the video, but you might give it a shot. There was a fair amount of discussion about barber hones a long while ago... but my aging memory can't remember whether it was on this site or the Yahoo SRP... might even have been in the Yahoo SRP archives.

Anyway, I have a barber hone but use it infrequently. I never used it enough to say I really mastered it. But when I've been lazy and let my rotation get down to the last sharp razor, and that one gets uncomfortable part way thru the shave, a couple light strokes on the barber hone and a quick strop allows me to finish the shave... quick and easy. Hal might disagree, but for me the barber hone will never match the edge I can set with a 4/8K Norton followed by croxide (or diamond) on a leather bench hone.

All that said... anyone know whatever happened to Hal... he hasn't checked in here since last Fall?

Hal is on vacation in the Himalayas right now I think. Talked to him last right before Christmas. He was pretty busy this last fall so he wasn't to chatty.

I have been reading some of these posts about how rough they are and not to bother using barber hones. Both Hal and Dave Francis taught me how to use them and just for comparison I recently bought a Norton 4k/8k. It should be interesting to see just how they fit in. I can tell you that Hal did sell his Norton and I once asked him if the Honemaster was finer than the 8k side. He said that it sure is. I guess I will find out for my self.

Glen

Glen

If you do come up with a good sequence for an E-bay find let me know. I like the little hones (my waterstones are only 21/2 by 4) and would like a good barber hone sequence to try. I'm just not experienced enough to buy them blind and try to work something up myself.

Tim, there are a ton of barber hones that fall into the medium fine category. I was lucky when I started that someone told me what to buy and at the time Tilly at Redtrader99 had what I needed. I highly recommend looking out for double grit hones. This should give you a medium and a fine hone with one purchase. One of my favorites is a Wester Bros. That is kind of OD green on one side and black on the other. This hone is capable of taking a razor off of ebay and turning it into a great shaver. But as we get more refined and want more, I have purchased several extra fine finishing hones. The Honemaster is my favorite along with Itsapeech and a three line Swaty. Since Tilly doesn’t have any of these left you have to keep you eyes open. Buy a few and see how they work. You may get lucky only buying a couple of different hones and get a working set. If you need information on getting them flat let me know.

Glen

p.s. I use to do Schutzund training back in the mid-seventies. Now I have two Jack Russells and a Basset. How things change with time.

I posted some old swaty instructions from here sometime ago, to me the blade goes in the opposite direction to stropping. I still have not tried my swaty yet, I did not know how to lap it.

John