I would like to get some advice about a hone I bought on ebay. It is aVintage Tonsorial Gem Double Side (Combo) Razor Hone. The person selling it didn't have the grain. I'm wondering if this stone alone is suitable for honing my straights? Or if I will need to get other stones as well? Oh also I have a strop in the mail as well and I know I will also need to use that. Just hoping I don't need to buy another stone. Thanks for your help
Hone Help
- Thread starter camtram60
- Start date
This is a barber hone. You won't find any published grit/grain values anywhere. This should be good for maintaining an already good razor. You'd probably want other hones if you're trying to make well used/abused (auctions, flea markets, antique stores, etc) razors shave ready.
That should serve you fine. As noted, it is what's called a barber's hone. They were used by barbers to maintain sharp razors. They are normally quite aggressive, and only require a few passes to touch up a blade. I am going to guess that the black side will be more coarse, and the orange side will be more fine (this is a guess). I would guess you could get by shaving with just the use of the orange side.
Normal operation should be:
Shave ready>Strop>Shave
Repeat until the razor is no longer comfortable, then:
Orange side>Strop>Shave
If you damage the razor:
Low Grit Stone to Correct>Bevel Setter (~1K)>Black Side>Orange Side>Strop>Shave
You may find that the barber's hone is adequate, or even very nice for shaving. You may want to pick up some Chromium Oxide on balsa to strop on afterwards. It should notably improve the edge (sharpness and smoothness). Some barber's hones are fine to use dry, some recommend water, lather, or oil. I got a quite porous barber's stone for a guy once. It recommended heating petroleum jelly to a liquid state and soaking the stone if it was too aggressive. I don't know about your stone, it's box may give instructions.
At any rate, I would lap and chamfer the stone before using it.
Oh, and good luck, and welcome to B&B!
Normal operation should be:
Shave ready>Strop>Shave
Repeat until the razor is no longer comfortable, then:
Orange side>Strop>Shave
If you damage the razor:
Low Grit Stone to Correct>Bevel Setter (~1K)>Black Side>Orange Side>Strop>Shave
You may find that the barber's hone is adequate, or even very nice for shaving. You may want to pick up some Chromium Oxide on balsa to strop on afterwards. It should notably improve the edge (sharpness and smoothness). Some barber's hones are fine to use dry, some recommend water, lather, or oil. I got a quite porous barber's stone for a guy once. It recommended heating petroleum jelly to a liquid state and soaking the stone if it was too aggressive. I don't know about your stone, it's box may give instructions.
At any rate, I would lap and chamfer the stone before using it.
Oh, and good luck, and welcome to B&B!
- Thread starter
- #4
The side with the printing is normally the fine side.
Probably in the 6-8k range.
You can lap them to a high polish and get the resulting edge a bit finer.
Fast and aggressive s accurate - you can tune-up or destroy an edge pretty quickly.
Stropping a lot afterwards helps a lot.
Use the coarse side when the fine side no longer works well.
Probably in the 6-8k range.
You can lap them to a high polish and get the resulting edge a bit finer.
Fast and aggressive s accurate - you can tune-up or destroy an edge pretty quickly.
Stropping a lot afterwards helps a lot.
Use the coarse side when the fine side no longer works well.
Usually they come with instructions, but since I don't see any in the pictures in your original post, I'd cover the side you want to use in shaving lather (doesn't matter if it's soap or cream or whatever), and do around 4-5 or 5-6 strokes (that's typically what most, but not all, instructions say), no more, when you can tell your blade is starting to pull a little more. They are really fast, so the fewer the better. More than that many strokes, and you're probably going to get a wire edge, chipping, edge deformation, etc.
You really only want to use this as soon as you feel a known good edge starting to degrade just slightly. If you wait too long, you could probably use the coarser side of your particular hone to catch up, but if you really don't take care of your edge, you'll probably have to do a complete reworking using other stones.
There are exceptions to the general 4-6 strokes, of course, but that's why you need the instructions (a Pike Strop Hone, for example, calls for 2-3 light strokes before each shave, on a dry hone, followed by stropping on the back leather side).
You could also use these in the last stages of honing, if you don't have anything higher than an 8K stone, but some barber hones are not even at the 8K level, so you might be going backwards. There's no published grit/grain on any of them, so you'll have to experiment.
I would probably just use it if I thought a good razor needed a touch up, and stick to the finer side. The finer side is typically the side with the label.
You really only want to use this as soon as you feel a known good edge starting to degrade just slightly. If you wait too long, you could probably use the coarser side of your particular hone to catch up, but if you really don't take care of your edge, you'll probably have to do a complete reworking using other stones.
There are exceptions to the general 4-6 strokes, of course, but that's why you need the instructions (a Pike Strop Hone, for example, calls for 2-3 light strokes before each shave, on a dry hone, followed by stropping on the back leather side).
You could also use these in the last stages of honing, if you don't have anything higher than an 8K stone, but some barber hones are not even at the 8K level, so you might be going backwards. There's no published grit/grain on any of them, so you'll have to experiment.
I would probably just use it if I thought a good razor needed a touch up, and stick to the finer side. The finer side is typically the side with the label.
- Thread starter
- #7
I'm not familiar with the "poor man's strop" but I'm guessing it's a flat balsa strop covered with chromium oxide. If that's what it is, it can be used in the same way as your barber hone for touch-ups. Of course, being a strop, you'll want to use spine leading strokes rather than edge leading (edge leading, and you'll cut into it like you would on a leather strop). The quality of the paste will determine how many laps are needed (the more pure, the less laps). You won't get any feedback, so it probably won't feel like you're doing anything. Just be sure not to add any pressure, and don't do too many laps. I'm guessing maybe 10 laps is probably normal. It's pretty fast acting, just like a barber hone.
Use it for final finishing, touch-ups, or maybe before going to a final finishing stone if you didn't quite get to where you wanted on a previous stone. The balsa strop and your barber hone kind of do the same things, but your barber hone might give you some more flexibility due to its coarser side for dealing with edges that need more work.
In general (but this is a generalization only), the chromium oxide finish will probably feel a little smoother than the barber hone finish (but again, there are lots of barber hones, some better than others, some more aggressive than others). Lots of stropping on leather, and that difference will go away or be less noticeable. For example, I have one barber hone that, while quick, effective, and great at leaving a very sharp edge, results in a "harsher"/"crispier" result with more irritation on my face, while chromium oxide is generally friendlier for my skin. YMMV.
Use it for final finishing, touch-ups, or maybe before going to a final finishing stone if you didn't quite get to where you wanted on a previous stone. The balsa strop and your barber hone kind of do the same things, but your barber hone might give you some more flexibility due to its coarser side for dealing with edges that need more work.
In general (but this is a generalization only), the chromium oxide finish will probably feel a little smoother than the barber hone finish (but again, there are lots of barber hones, some better than others, some more aggressive than others). Lots of stropping on leather, and that difference will go away or be less noticeable. For example, I have one barber hone that, while quick, effective, and great at leaving a very sharp edge, results in a "harsher"/"crispier" result with more irritation on my face, while chromium oxide is generally friendlier for my skin. YMMV.
