Thread: Barber hone coaching wanted

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

Lapping a barber hone is fairly simple. Just get yourself some wet dry sandpaper, depending on the hones condition you will need grits from 120 to 1000. Soak the sandpaper in water, stick it to a flat surface and take your hone to the paper in an x fashion. Do one leg of the x for a few strokes then move on to the second. That is how I did it with my swaty hone. Start with 120-220 then move to 600 to finish, then polish with 1000. Make sure you keep the stone and paper reasonably hydrated throughout.

These days I'm lapping barber hones and other stones with my DMT 320-grit diamond hone, which does a fantastic job. I can get them flat and smooth in 20 minutes or less. The downside is I get less of a workout.

Josh

Hey Josh,
I saw you have mostly the same hones I do and roughly the same problem I used to have.

I have a couple of big W&Bs and have found they generally shave best off of
the Gem. No Swaty.
My other finish hone ruins the shave too.

I have also found that the cushion strop, gem and such take a LONG TIME to remove scratches left from coarser hones.

That was the major thing the microscope showed me was leftover scratches from a coarser hone.

Try spending more time on the cushion strop, like another 150 laps and then go to the gem for 50 more.
See if that will shave better.
if not do it again but maybe 50 on the cushion strop and 30 gem.

I used to worry about overhoning and now I realize that I was under honing by like two thirds.

I like the Swaty for really hard razors but not the Sheffield stuff.
Even then I find it works great sometimes and not at all others

Keep it up. I sharpen all my razors on nothing but 2000 sandpaper, cushion strop hone, gem, sort-of-coticule, swaty, 1 micron and .5 micron diamond paste applied to a cedar shim sanded smooth.

I didn't even have the diamond 2 weeks ago, just the black paste from CS on a strop.

I threw the Lithide at my neighbors dog for crapping on my lawn
no really, I gave it to someone to practice on

I just clicked the link and read Hal Wilson's post:

"My train of thought is this: why half kill a dying art by denying half
of the skill and tools used for straight razor shaving?"

and

"Barber hones are not necessary, neither are straight razors."

These sum up my attitude about barber hones and straight razors to a T.

I've got a three line Swaty, a NIB Edlis (arrived today-still unused) and I broke a Gem before I had a chance to use it.

I, like Hal, figure barber hones are part of the package that attracted me to open blade shaving in the first place.

Now, to find a copy of the video The Lost Art of Straight Razor Shaving.

Regards

The pointers I got here really helped me figure out my barber hone issues. I've been able to get some great shaves off of a medium grit red barber hone that I have--the very first hone I bought, and one I kept for some reason even after many failed attempts at using it...

Right now I'm really into using a smooth, less sharp edge instead of a hyper sharp one. I adopt a steeper blade angle and the razor just plows through the stubble.... It pulls a bit more, but not uncomfortably so, and I wind up with a super close shave and no irritation.

Since barber hones cut slowly, they seem to put a different kind of edge on the razor than the faster hones. It's not as sharp but it's smoother. I think the abrasives are coarser--maybe 6K as the consensus seems to be--but less cutting surface is exposed, so the grooves are shallower. Anyway, I like the result.

With all the talk about high-grit finishing hones and pastes, it's easy to get swept up in the "sharper is better" idea. I think sharper is better for some guys, particularly those with lighter beards. But a less sharp, toothy edge might work better for some coarse beards. (Think of how the HHT works differently for different hair types. Really thin hair needs an extremely sharp blade or it just bends out of the way.)

Just a few thoughts.

Josh

I use Barber hones and any other hone I've bought soon gets cut down to barber size. I have never had a problem getting an edge from a set of barbers and can say that the edge achieved from a good combination of barber hones would stand up against an edge produced on my echers etc.
I think us all posting our opinions on barber hone grading and relationship would prove a valuable archive for beginners and veterans alike. Who will get the ball rolling
I'll go and log my barbers and post tomorrow.

PuFF

Puff,

This is a great idea. There will probably be some naysayers along shortly, but even a highly subjective review of different hones would be an improvement over the near-total vacuum of info we have now.

I have or have used several barber hones that I'd be glad to describe...

Let's do it!

Josh

I had some thoughts on this and came to this format for the grading, let me know your thoughts.

One razor tests all the hones.
This razor is shave ready before the tests.
Progress from what is believed to be the finest to the coarsest hone in each test. (possibility of bringing back to start level before trying new hone? )
30 round trips on the plain leather strop.
Single pass WTG on the cheek to determine the level on shave readiness for each hone.

I suppose this could be refined, so I would appreciate your input here.

PuFF

edit:
>>descriptive notes for feedback<<
Comparison between dry/wet/lather/oil (if wanted)
account for number of round trips over hone needed to gain an edge.
HHT guide but shave stroke is deciding factor.
Describe sound and feel of razor on the hone. ( some cast hones give a very disagreeable sound while honing)

I have a few barber hones, I'm in. Is it literally the same razor? Should we ship the hones to one person? don't you think that the variable of evan different type razors of the same make, also the person using the hone would effect the test? I would be willing to let someone borrow my hones to gather this info.

Phil