Hey, i have one of those exide hones too!
Barbers Hones Reviews and comparisons.
- Thread starter SliceOfLife
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #102
Have you done any experimenting with it? I'm going to try it wet and with lather eventually, but probably not for a few weeks. I've got two stones coming on loan to play with in the immediate future.
None, it's been sitting unlapped in a drawer for almost 4 years. Mine has the am co hone company stamp on it.
- Thread starter
- #104
That might be that hone that came with a sticker on it instead of an impressed logo --- can't remember the name. Carbo something I think.
- Thread starter
- #106
Ian, one of the guys over at razorandstone has been doing this same kind of experiment with these stones for a while now. He kind of tries to compare them to an 8k and 15k edge... yeah i know. But i think you could probably do the 8k comparison for these pretty well. Can you add that to your data? 
- Thread starter
- #108
Ya I'll do an 8k shave in the fture and add it in
Ian i was thinking more along the lines of giving a + or minus 8k rating
- Thread starter
- #110
Almost all these stones would be +, unless I say they're unshaveable.
Speaking from a Norton/Mesh 8k (3micron), the Victory and nox all may be around or slightly below. The rest would be above. Generally, if I thought the stone wouldn't be significantly finer than 3micron, I just skipped it. I don't consider 3micron edges anywhere near shave-worthy.
I don't own an 8k JIS, but I'd say the vast majority of the stones fall in the 5-7k JIS range, so the few that may improve on or equal an 8k JIS edge will undoubtably comprise the majority of the 'winners', I intend to recall at the completion of the test.
I would say beyond a doubt the Swaty and Quartz hones improve on an 8k JIS edge, the Exide and Duck may slightly, and the rest would probably fall just under.
I can't speak for 15k shapton, but the swaty and Quartz may come close-ish to my 10k SP, which is about the same particle size as a shap 15k. It'd be really hard to judge. Making that distinction visually is absurd, even at 400x. Making it in the shave, just has way too many variables for me to say confidently one way or the other. I definitely find the 10k SP shaves better than either of these stones, but I'm far more comfortable shaving with that edge than either of these stones edges.
Speaking from a Norton/Mesh 8k (3micron), the Victory and nox all may be around or slightly below. The rest would be above. Generally, if I thought the stone wouldn't be significantly finer than 3micron, I just skipped it. I don't consider 3micron edges anywhere near shave-worthy.
I don't own an 8k JIS, but I'd say the vast majority of the stones fall in the 5-7k JIS range, so the few that may improve on or equal an 8k JIS edge will undoubtably comprise the majority of the 'winners', I intend to recall at the completion of the test.
I would say beyond a doubt the Swaty and Quartz hones improve on an 8k JIS edge, the Exide and Duck may slightly, and the rest would probably fall just under.
I can't speak for 15k shapton, but the swaty and Quartz may come close-ish to my 10k SP, which is about the same particle size as a shap 15k. It'd be really hard to judge. Making that distinction visually is absurd, even at 400x. Making it in the shave, just has way too many variables for me to say confidently one way or the other. I definitely find the 10k SP shaves better than either of these stones, but I'm far more comfortable shaving with that edge than either of these stones edges.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #111
With the exception of maybe one or two, they all look like they are rather inconsistent in their abrasion and do some damage as well as refinement. The nox looks like it straight up murdered the edge. I'd be really curious to see if the edges have this quality under magnification from something freshly made out of the oven. I still really think they had to have been better new. Like an old car that has had some hp escape from the block.
Last edited:
Only barber hone I have in my possession. Haven't done much with it besides feed it a sheet of 220 to see how out of true it is on either side. It is well out on both. If I have leftovers when I true my huge trans ark I may see how cooperative it is and if so how refined I can get the material.
Looks sorta like a Carborundum; keep it of your DMTs, unless you want to break in a new one.
Most have a rather notable impact on the steel. Ian asked earlier if I've ever gotten a wire off one, and yes I have. Several. But not after lapping and polishing them. Burrs - yes, easy to go to burrville too, polished or not. They're pretty fast most of the time.
I have a Nox All - it works pretty well for me, Ian didn't like his. Could be a degraded stone, could be anything really. Pressure, stroke, all of the above. I use sort of a 1/2 back stroke pigtail into an x stroke move - seems to help. Maybe I'm nuts.
Given the time-frame, My testing shows that the finest abrasive in any of them, including the 'best' and most highly favored models to be 5k JIS or so. But different types of abrasives do different things and when they're in different binders they behave even more differently. Frictionite's are 3µm, but the material is different than what's in most hones, and the binder is a different type. It's the binders, I think, that give the stone the 'cheat' on the particle size. I'm playing with that myself - and I see it first hand here with newly made prototypes. My problem is on the other side of the fence - I don't want to hide the particles at all. But that's another story.
Swatys are Alox I think, but not sure what type and they/he added FeOx, so did the Pike versions but they added more of it. My Pike Swatys create better edges than my Swaty Swatys - all are prettty good. I can manage subtly finer edges off my 00 Frictionite though. My old Olean 00 was a bit finer than the one I have now.
I shaved off a newly acquired Aloxite 79 tonight. I lapped it over the weekend. From memory, it's markedly different than my other one which is stashed away. I'll have to get it out and do a comparison.
Very nice edge, very good shave, great face feel. I'm beginning to think that was Carbos best hone. My #200 was good too - but this #79 is remarkable to say the least.
Grit - Norton 8k isn't a shaving edge for me. WTG, yes. After that it's no-go, somewhere around mid-XTG.
Typical 8k JIS brings up an edge I can work with a lot better. Most of the B-hones I have can get me shaves that are as close as what I get from 8k JIS, but not as smooth. A couple/few have gone there though.
That Carbo hone you have - out of the box they seem like 3k stones. After working on them, they get much better. Get lather on the hone and a super light touch and I can cheat the abrasive and get a bit better. They're not the plums of the genre but they work.
I have another b-hone that works so well, it doesn't need lather. In fact, if I put lather on it, nothing happens when I hone on it.
I think the assumed recon-coti might be Alox based. That's just a guess though.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #115
- Thread starter
- #116
Once I've done a bit more testing of David's stone it'll get added. Also considering throwing a SP 13k edge, a Vintage Jsynth polishing hone edge, and a Goku 20k edge in to wrap this up.
I found a couple of sheets of 50 grit so I killed them on it. Needs more coaxing in that one spot you can see and now I have obnoxious 50 grit scratches to delete
- Thread starter
- #118
I'd agree that MOST swaty's seem to fall around 5k. Most. In fact, all I've used before this one.
First two images are this swaty, then an average swaty, then a "broken down" swaty and finally a 6k JIS stone for reference. Pretty darn similar to the "avg" swaty, no?
The breakdown is interesting. There appears to be a brownish flake that binds the abrasive particles together. Looking through the slurry, the particles are about the same size as the "average" swaty, but that brown crap covering everything doesn't seem to break up when the slurry is raised, and no doubt is responsible for the fact that these stones cut so coarsely. It appears to create a structure of multiple abrasive particles locked together, where originally the materials would readily free these particles from one another as sufficient surface area was exposed.
First two images are this swaty, then an average swaty, then a "broken down" swaty and finally a 6k JIS stone for reference. Pretty darn similar to the "avg" swaty, no?
The breakdown is interesting. There appears to be a brownish flake that binds the abrasive particles together. Looking through the slurry, the particles are about the same size as the "average" swaty, but that brown crap covering everything doesn't seem to break up when the slurry is raised, and no doubt is responsible for the fact that these stones cut so coarsely. It appears to create a structure of multiple abrasive particles locked together, where originally the materials would readily free these particles from one another as sufficient surface area was exposed.
Attachments
Last edited:
Could this be another one like yours?
I started a thread on another forum here; http://www.razorandstone.com/showthread.php?3011-Barbers-Hone
Still curious about this hone.......
Looks like it. I'll check out your thread. Ian did a big write up about that stone here http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/440944-Synthetic-coticule-WIP
