Thread: Superior Razor Hone

Found locally today. A 2 sided barber's hone sold by T Eaton Co in Canada.

Bob

Nice find Bob.

Sweet.! Nice grab.

Nice looking hone from the one side. What does the other look like?

Do you know the vintage and if this one was made in Iowa?

Originally Posted by 32t

Nice looking hone from the one side. What does the other look like?

Do you know the vintage and if this one was made in Iowa?

Thanks. Condition wise both sides are the same colour wise they are different. The side shown is a medium grey and the side not shown is a very dark grey/black. The side not shown is referred on the box as "finest Belgian Hone".

There is nothing on the box or hone to indicate where it was made. The only thing I know for certain is that the T Eaton company sold straight razors before WWII. How long they continued to sell straight razors after that is a mystery to me and would guess that as long as they sold straight razors they would be selling hones and strops to support that.

Bob

Thanks, I would have thought that that was the dark side.

But then again the show side with the name is the finishing side, at least for most.

If nothing else I have learned about T Eaton and his Co. after reading this thread.

After a little looking I think that I remember when Sears bought them out but I do not usually follow such things.

Barber Hones were made by a handful of companies, American Hone Company made a lot of them in their name and for other brands.

Which is why so many of them look alike, with another brand on it. There were different formulas, but probably if they look like another, they probably are. Many identical vintage hones vary in performance, what does make a difference is condition and light pressure.

Who made it, does not matter, how or if it works is what matters. most produce a finish in the 6-8k range. With some Chrome Oxide a Barber Honed razor can shave well.

One of the old instruction sheets in a Franz Swaty Hone recommended, (To clean hone use emery paper dry, or pumice stone wet.) See last line on page 2.

The maker of the American Hones was supposedly taught by Franz Swaty himself, how to make the hones.

Franz Swaty did not teach the Johnson family how to make hones. The Johnson family purchased what became the American Hone Co. from the original company in New York about 1954. The original company became K-Bar. They bought everything, machines, raw materials and the recipes. All of it was shipped by railroad car to Moravia , Iowa. The youngest son and the only surviving son was who I purchased the recipes from. I have over 100 of them. The people at American Hone Company were taught by a person sent by K-Bar.

Originally Posted by 32t

Thanks, I would have thought that that was the dark side.

But then again the show side with the name is the finishing side, at least for most.

If nothing else I have learned about T Eaton and his Co. after reading this thread.

After a little looking I think that I remember when Sears bought them out but I do not usually follow such things.

In the end both T Eaton Co and Sears Canada are both defunct. Sad end to two retail giants in this country. IIRC in a very old T Eaton Co Catalogue you could order an entire house from them.

Bob