Thread: "The Champion Razor Hone -Directions Inside"

Originally Posted by Utopian

Mine did not have a box, but your box informed me of something I did not know. The Champion hone was made by the same company as the Winner and Regal hones. I say this because the boxes are almost identical. I don't know its age, but if I had to guess, I would say 50 to 75 years old.

If it was made by the same people who made the "Winner", it should be a good hone despite the one you mentioned earlier.

I have a Champion hone, a USB microscope, and time on my hands... Look for pictures shortly.

BTW, St. Cloud, I like the new avatar.

The following pics are on a Worcester Razor (Worcester Mass) which has not been shave tested yet, but will be shortly.

The first pic is of the razor off of 10 laps on a Naniwa 12k, prior to using the Champion hone. The second is after five laps on the Champion. Clearly the Champion hone adds scratches, but the edge still looks ok.
The third picture is after an additional fifteen on the Champion (twenty total). The fourth picture is after stropping 40 on linen and 100 on leather after using the Champion. The last picture (which is meaningless to me) is the surface of the stone at what my microscope claims to be as 150x.

It actually looks like the hone did an ok job. I have a straight edge with no chipping. It passes all of my tests that indicate it is ready to shave test. I will let you know how it shaves.

Originally Posted by MNstCloud

Made a quick stop at the antique shop, and found this. From what I've read they aren't the best honest but nonetheless I think its cool and for $4 It had me at hello.

Any information regarding these/thoughts/comments etc? Thanks everyone, happy finds, and happy shaves!

Run some water on it and see if it has been used with oil.
If it has been used with oil continue to use a little oil.

Do not lap it. Some barber hones have a thin slip skin
of fine material and if you lap down to the sand and pebbles
in the middle you will be upset. Perhaps scrub it
with a Scotch Brite and Comet if it is too nasty.

Try both sides, first with your dog ugly razor should you have one.

I have what should be a good barber hone that I now use only
on kitchen knives because the sand in the middle has been
exposed. Of interest white fluoride tooth paste helped
it tighten up.

Shave test complete... It was an ok shave; not great, but not terrible.
At this point I am uncertain if it is the hone, the razor, or possibly the shaver that is the problem. I need to put a few more shaves on this razor before I can say whether the Champion hone makes it shave below it's potential.

Originally Posted by HNSB

Shave test complete... It was an ok shave; not great, but not terrible.
At this point I am uncertain if it is the hone, the razor, or possibly the shaver that is the problem. I need to put a few more shaves on this razor before I can say whether the Champion hone makes it shave below it's potential.

Good deal.
With a barber hone less is more. A light coat of lather
can help it hone finer than it is.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

Good deal.
With a barber hone less is more. A light coat of lather
can help it hone finer than it is.

I didn't mention that above... The extra fifteen laps were to see what would happen, as I didn't see any damage from the initial five laps. Because the edge still looked good I decided to shave with it. But, that could be a reason for the shave not being fantastic as well.

Originally Posted by HNSB

I didn't mention that above... The extra fifteen laps were to see what would happen, as I didn't see any damage from the initial five laps. Because the edge still looked good I decided to shave with it. But, that could be a reason for the shave not being fantastic as well.

Now that bit I love.... "see what would happen"
Experimenting and testing is the way to learn some things.

Try this... lightly run the edge over a soft cork then strop
and shave test.

Follow that with a light run on a cork followed by
five very light laps with a bit of lather on the barber hone.
Strop canvas then leather and shave test.

The light visit to a cork can remove a burr. I like the
softened cork that I find on the top of some bottles of Scotch.