Quote Originally Posted by normbal View Post
This is truly crazy making.

What did the people making the straight razors do say, two hundred years ago?

There was no trade with China or Japan that I know of.

Not in a major way, maybe there was a small cadre of secret honers trading stones along the old silk route, like George Gurdjieff saw in his "Meetings with Remarkable Honers,"
but for the average barber of Saville, or Augsburg or Minsk, what method worked to hone a razor to simple day to day marketable use?

Is there a text somewhere referencing this?

I'm just a beginner, but damn, there's got to be a common man method that was widely known and used, not CRO2 or diamond paste or pricey coticules or Naniwa stones.

Anyone?
Ha! Yep, the common man method around these parts is the barber hone. They work great. You can also use fine Arkansas stone. For the record though, I don't think prices of coticules were then what they are now. Besides, if you're a sleuth, they can be had on ebay or in grimy antique stores for reasonable prices. Such prices are due to the seller not being a member here!