Thread: hone wear...what is it?

hi everyone,

can anyone explain to me what 'hone wear' means? i see it on a lot of the razors posted in the classifieds, but can't figure it out.

does it affect shave quality? how can you tell if a razor has 'hone wear'? how does it affect the value/quality of the razor?

thanks,
drawkward

Hone wear is the wearing out of the steel along the spine and/or blade's edge, and is caused by honing. I hope this helps. If a good honer can hone it back to "shave ready" all is well, but I have seen razors with so much hone wear they are not even good for a challenge. Most hone wear is merely a cosmetic concern and means nothing when it comes to performance.

and here an example of it.
This particular razor restored and shaved nicely so in this case the honewear as not an issue.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...hone-wear.html

There ya go...be sure to check out the sad Dovo Bismarck about half way down and compare it to a new one....that's hone wear.

It seems natural to me for an old blade. Is there a reason to have the spine re-ground round? Or, is it only in need of repair if uneven?

As I look at old blades for restoration is this a huge issue or just good to know?

Thanks

To some extent, you can think of honewear as a razor odometer. Some old cars have been driven very little and some a lot. The odometer helps to distinguish them. The more the razor is used, the more it is honed and the more spine wear occurs. One hallmark of an NOS (new old stock) razor is a lack of spine wear. Taping a spine can be the equivalent of disconnecting the odometer cable as wear will continue to occur at the edge but not at the spine. This is not an issue at first but over time (decades) the angle of the bevel will increase because the width of the blade will diminish but the thickness of the spine will not.

Originally Posted by okiwen

It seems natural to me for an old blade. Is there a reason to have the spine re-ground round? Or, is it only in need of repair if uneven?

As I look at old blades for restoration is this a huge issue or just good to know?

Thanks

So long as a razor will take and hold an edge, hone wear is just cosmetic - if you like your razors looking new, it may be something to stay away from. Excessive and/or uneven hone wear is usually a bad sign, though.

Until you get a feel for it, you may want to avoid razors with excessive hone wear or at least avoid gambling on them so if you do get burned you don't get burned bad.

Ok this thread has been around for a little while and nobody has answered properly. Honewear is a brand name of mens skirt like bottoms similar to kilts. These "kilts" are made from the highest quality of j-nat and escher finishing stones threaded together with kanayama strops and 50 karat diamond pasted felt strops.

Originally Posted by deighaingeal

Ok this thread has been around for a little while and nobody has answered properly. Honewear is a brand name of mens skirt like bottoms similar to kilts. These "kilts" are made from the highest quality of j-nat and escher finishing stones threaded together with kanayama strops and 50 karat diamond pasted felt strops.

Hahaha. It took me a second, but now I get it. Very clever indeed.