A moravia frictionite and an olean frictionite 00. All 4 sides were at least as out as the coarse of this olean... Well out... Another observation, they're hard and all, but if this is the baseline hard, there is a bit of hype about lapping these/the brutality. It may be I was broken by the apache black gila and various arks over the years, but this is nothing... Tiny little compact circles and the thing rains material. Long linear for bulk removal on these seems to be a mistake, it fights a lot more. Both are in good nick, but the olean is definitely harder. It also has a slightly different odor when lapping to the newer one. Definitely lap and recondition though. I was expecting them to be out but it surprised me how concave they all were.
To people who say don't lap barber hones...
- Thread starter kcb5150
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That's the coarse side. Try the fine.
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- #3
I lapped both back and front.. They're hard but not insane or anything.
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- #4
Just finished this one. This was weird to lap. It didn't want to lap on coarse grit... Gave up material readily on the 600 and 800 levels..
Biggest question is whether or not they auto slurry while in use. If they don’t shed while honing then you’re good I think...
The big question is what's the effect on an edge? Is it better, worse, or the same?
Chris
Chris
I never found the Frictionite to be the bear some claim either.
I have never had a Barber hone self slurry, it would have to be pretty degraded I think.
I have lapped quite few, some just to clean up the surface some a lot more and I have never had an issue with performance.
Is it as good as new? How would anyone know? The good ones produce a hell of a nice edge so I would say yes, as good as new.
I have never had a Barber hone self slurry, it would have to be pretty degraded I think.
I have lapped quite few, some just to clean up the surface some a lot more and I have never had an issue with performance.
Is it as good as new? How would anyone know? The good ones produce a hell of a nice edge so I would say yes, as good as new.
If you haven’t found frictionites to be hard to lap, then you haven’t had a warped one. They generally aren’t hard to lap, because they hardly wear, so if they haven’t warped than You’re really only wiping out scratches which takes no time on anything. However they do have a tendency to warp very severely in certain cases, to the point where you might have to lap away almost half the depth on one side and half the depth at the opposite point of the other. This was the case with the first one I ever bought. It took about a week and a couple dozen low grit high-quality sander belts... I don’t doubt I could’ve ground entirely through a full inch thick translucent Arkansas in the same amount of time
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- #9
These were not stored in some area to really render them that turbulent. They were straight but not flat. All sides had a nice concave. One side weirdly had the pool in the middle but also a low couple or corners. I suspect these weren't used with razors. No autoslurrying or anything. I found they lapped like rolling something down a hill starting as slowly as possible. Starts slow but the speed builds. Get the thing shedding some slurry but keep the slurry under it and the coughs up more and more until it sort of hits stride. The abrasive is wildly aggressive though. It will leave a sheet of wet dry bald in short order if you stay on it. The binder of the frictionite must be like concrete where it never stops curing
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- #10
These are acting normally. I actually had to throw an unmarked swaty looking stone out a couple of weeks ago. You could have lapped it on a washcloth it was so degraded.
Some are harder than others. Some seem much harder. Has a 25 that was very very difficult. Some Swatys can seem nearly impervious to a diamond plate. I don't buy many of them these days, but I still lap all barber hones.
I never knew people said not to lap them.
Barber hones can be pretty hard and get a file/rasp effect if lapped coarse. A frictionite or Swaty off a 120grit lapping won’t finish as fine as one off 1200 grit lapping.
By contrast a Thuri and most (not all) coticule stones resurface so fast that you don’t really need to polish them after coarse lapping. A natural stone that I would liken barber hones to in this respect are Arkansas.
There may be other reasons not to lap a barber hone unless you need to, but that is the immediate reason I would suspect.
The other reason being indicated seems to be because it’s a lot of work, but that makes no sense because the REASON it is a lot of work is the same reason it needs done. The hone is badly warped or damaged.
By contrast a Thuri and most (not all) coticule stones resurface so fast that you don’t really need to polish them after coarse lapping. A natural stone that I would liken barber hones to in this respect are Arkansas.
There may be other reasons not to lap a barber hone unless you need to, but that is the immediate reason I would suspect.
The other reason being indicated seems to be because it’s a lot of work, but that makes no sense because the REASON it is a lot of work is the same reason it needs done. The hone is badly warped or damaged.
I’ve had a few like that. Mostly old ones. Boss Barbers, Champions, and a couple swaty ripoffs “THE THREE LINE HONE”
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- #15
One thing I noticed is these all gave up material much more readily on less coarse paper than I would typically start with. Less coarse and multidirectional lapping vs just being linear/using the slurry and it ramped up quickly.
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Well, from my trials, it makes a fading edge ridiculously sharp but that positive is tempered by the fact it feels like a brute force application of sharpness. After the first run, the next razor I went 60/100 waxed linen/leather. I haven't done that in ages, but it calmed it down somewhat. I would say it certainly performs the task it was designed for. If all I had were this I could probably keep a shaving edge going forever provided I didn't damage it severely. It's a two trick pony, very sharp and extremely fast. It doesn't seem to be particularly generous on any other front but it isn't horrendous either. It might be compelling for someome who works outdoors with folding knives a lot just to keep one refreshed.
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- #17
The binder gets that bicycle helmet foam/adidas boost foam look almost. That popcorn crazing.
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- #18
I have seen ones shrunken as well. Odd stuff
Thanks for this.
I still stand by my advice to avoid these hones, they are just not fit for straights.
Chris
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- #20
What is your sample size? Some definitely are razor grade stones.. The fernslers is, this is even if I wouldn't recommend it to someone with sensitive skin, the tonsorial gem is with the same caveat as the frictionite, deluxe no 500 is, some swatys really are, the john primble is, the brackett's is excellent. The synth coticule I tried got it done.. Never had a norton or a lakeside so idk about them.
