My shave results; edge comparisons.

[stone and strop]

Finish side of both, Petrified wood on left. The wood version was severely prone to warping. I suspect it was because it was a natural product (wood) glued to a synthetic. Cold water only helped to keep it flat when honing.

On the left is the coarse side of the Hickory version, very fine for a coarse side. It would also explain why the embossed label is on the coarse side which was not common.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Interesting. And the black side is definitely finer on that one? Are there directions existing for one of that version?

 

[stone and strop]

I do not have the original box with instructions.
Absolutely the black side is the fine side. The coarse side of the black one is pretty coarse in comparison to the front.
The tan side (coarse)of the hickory one is pretty fine. I would say the finest coarse side of any Barber hone by a long shot. You could probably shave comfortably off of it although I have not tried.

 

[stone and strop]

This is all I could find for instruction,

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/...raight_1_9562e83623e07dccb5ab6ca0800acbcf.jpg

 

[stone and strop]

This is all I could find for instruction,

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/...raight_1_9562e83623e07dccb5ab6ca0800acbcf.jpg

Sounds counterintuitive but if you click on the link then drag the photo up a bit - release, then click on the photo to enlarge you will see it all clearly.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah I mean on the one with the petrified wood. The wood is for sure the finish and not the (unusually fine) "coarse" side?

 

[stone and strop]

I have never seen instructions for the petrified wood version but the wood side is exceedingly slow.
It has virtually no abrasive sensation whatsoever. 80-100 strokes on it for finishing IMO
It is definitely finer than the Tan side. It leaves more of a "Natural" look under magnification.
If the wood side was the coarse it would take an infinite amount of strokes to correct anything.
It can't be the coarser of the two.

 

[stone and strop]

I have not played with these for a couple years so...
For fun I just took a shave ready "test" razor for a ride on the wood version.
120 strokes on the coarse side - very little sharpening feeling, like a very high grit synthetic. It marginally degraded a near perfect edge.
200 strokes on the wood side - like honing on polished rubber. Hairs dropping at the sight of the edge!
I just shaved tonight so will have to wait till Wed to post the shave result.

 

[kcb5150]

Besides the wedgeway which I am still slowly reconditioning, picked up an olean and a moravia 00 to play around with along with an am I have never seen before called pinau's. Looks a little like the tonsorial gen but the coarse side seems way way way finer and the fine side feels almost like an old bowling ball.

 

[kcb5150]

On the subject of the panama hone... read moravian.

 

[stone and strop]

Is the Moravian beside the Frictionite? If I remember correctly the Moravian was not as fine as the Frictionite.
It is stated to be a duplicate of the old Panama hone but I see no similarities. As far as I know the original is the hickory version but maybe not.
I have seen several of the black version with a different shaped label, some have the 3.00, some don't.
Given the 3.00 price it would be from a particular time frame but if you look at the photos I posted, my old version also has 3.00 but on the coarse side.
There was a member on R&S that had a Moravian that was labeled as a Frictionite.
He thought we were using the wrong side of our hone because on his the Darker side is the finish side. Otherwise the composition looks similar.


Shave complete with the old Panama version. A very nice smooth shave, as close as any good finisher and a little more forgiving than the Black version if I remember correctly.
The black version is crazy sharp AND smooth and much, much faster.
Both good hones though.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Ain’t it always the way? Another star synthetic Barbers hone, and there are no identifying marks. Right in between the ruby Hone, and the swastika Hone in color, a dark red brown. Rounded corners and slightly longer than the ruby hone, substantially thinner and heavier... very dense actually, unlike the ruby hone which is very light.

Feels a little like the ruby hone under the blade, doesn’t seem to accumulate much swarf, but wiping the blade reveals that it is decently fast. . Shave was another superior one.

48/50 closeness
47/50 comfort
95/100 overall

 

[stone and strop]

Looks like a Ruby too!

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah a lot of similarities but weighs about twice as much. Definitely a different material.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Todays was a bit of a gamble stone. I saw it in a lot of three. One disk shaped carborundum axe hone, one very deteriorated Frictionite hone (Pretty sure it's not a 00, but something similar), and a strange ~5 3/8" x 2 1/4"ish stone that looked like a yellow-tinted synthetic coticule and piqued my interest, that's the stone I'm testing today.

A quick run of a razor over it, and it immediately reminds me of my Sigma power hones. The way swarf accumulates, the way it feels, the way it cuts, the way it's hard, but not glassy under the razor. I'm pretty confident this is a Ceramic-based synthetic... a vintage precursor to stones like the Sigma Powers. Most likely Japanese.

The shave was very good. The first swipe or two were troubling. It almost felt like it was struggling, but that was the bevel actually suctioning to my face because it was so highly polished. Haven't felt that in awhile. Once I got it moving, shave flew with almost no irritation and extremely good closeness. It reminded me of a broken hone I've had for awhile... in grey color, but with similar shaping to the sides (on the non-broken sides)... which I wasn't even 100% certain was a synthetic, but I now suspect is likely a similar style hone to this (I'll be reviewing it later). Another top tier stone... and from a gamble I wasn't even certain was going to be a razor hone (color matches some low grit sandstones and hindostans).


Comfort 49/50
Closeness 48/50

Overall 97/100

 

[SliceOfLife]

Pictures of the stone above.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I've been picking up hone lots here and there... so barbers hones waiting for testing atm:

New Frictionite (grey/black... not 00)
Synth Coticule
Grey stone mentioned above
Another De-fi
Alba Hone
Another Panama (also double synth, but no $3.00 on stamp)
Another 00
Possibly a carborundum razor hone (the one that doesn't list a number on box, it has a model no, I looked it up at one point, but I forget it)... these tend to be too coarse for me to bother, but this one was VERY heavily used, broken in, etc. I'll give it a chance and see.

Also planning to retest most of the hones and update if results differ significantly. Then probably do some more nats.

Also got two big hone lots coming in. I believe both are naturals and coarse synths, but if there are any surprises I'll add them too.

 

[Namkcakram]

Would you like to try the random unmarked B-hone I posted for science?

 

[SliceOfLife]

I promised David that when I have time to start taking Samples to test, I do his first. But if you are still holding on to it a few months down the road and I have a little more time, sure

 

[SliceOfLife]

Today was another try for the Ruby Hone. Nothing special enough to bother with a review. It'll get one more try, off a higher finish than my 8k just to rule out the possibility that (as some have asserted in the past) it's just crazy fine... but my guess is that won't change anything and the original ratings will stand.