Question Re Barber Hones

[spoonman]

Just wondering if a dual grit barber hone is enough to bring up a 'factory shave ready' razor to being truly shave ready, for example a factory ready Dovo or similar?

I realise this is hard to answer because the grits of the hone are unknown, so I guess what I'm asking is do factory prepped razors need to have a bevel set or do they just need a bit of extra work?

 

[mainaman]

some of the factory shave ready razors have the bevel set properly some not. Barbers hone will work for you in some cases and not work in other.

 

[Utopian]

Is there any kind of name or number or any identifying mark on the hone?

There is a drastic range of differences between "factory set bevels"--even from the same factory. If what you have actually is a barber hone, most likely a two grit hone CAN be used to set a bevel, if you know what you are doing and if you are willing to be patient. It can take a long time to set a bevel with a barber hone.

 

[dancraig]

It can be done. I have made several new razors "shave ready" with a two sided Keen Kutter Kombination barber hone. I even honed out some chips in a vintage blade. It now looks and shaves great.

 

[spoonman]

Did you use the hone dry, with water, or with lather on that vintage blade?

 

[Utopian]

You can use any of those options. Though some are meant to be used dry, most are not. In my experience, diluted lather works best because it prevents the water from beading up and getting pushed off the hone.

 

[dancraig]

Did you use the hone dry, with water, or with lather on that vintage blade?

I used only water.
The chips were small, only clearly visible through a 30X microscope. It took some time to hone the chips out. I did circles, with some pressure, on the courser side of the hone. I did fifty clockwise on each side and then fifty counterclockwise on each side. It took several hundred circles. I did the last sets of circles with almost no pressure. Then normal laps on the course side, normal laps on finishing side, CrO paddle, Iron Oxide paddle, linen strop, leather strop.

 

[dancraig]

Did you use the hone dry, with water, or with lather on that vintage blade?

Here is the vintage "Tennis" that had the tiny chips. I rescaled this in maple with bacote wedge, brass pins and washers.

 

[spoonman]

Nice work on that razor.

My hone says 'Super Punjab' on one edge and 'American Hone Co' on the other. It came with a rubbing stone which the instructions say is to be used to clean the hone (as opposed to making a slurry as I thought). I used the rubbing stone today and could certainly feel a difference in the 'roughness' of the hone with my fingertip. I then used lather on the rougher side and water on the smooth side and my razors seem to have come up very well, judging from the way they sliced through arm hair mid-strand.

I guess part of the fun of honing is trying out different methods with different razors.