Typical # stones owned by town barbers in 18 to 19 c.

[Frito Ray]

I am not a straight razor user, but a recent thread on modern razor honing has got me wondering.

We are blessed today with a plethora of stones, films and pastes all just a few computer clicks away.

I’m curious at how many stones a good town or village barber in the late 18th/early 19th century owned? Did they rely more on strops? Would they provide sharpening services to men who would owned their own razors?

 

[Brian the Barber]

I would say two. I use two in my shop (one often, one only rarely), and anything that would take more than that would probably involve regrinding which of course would be sent out .

photos for reference (early 20th c.)

-Brian the Barber

 

[Legion]

I use two in my shop (one often, one only rarely),

What type are they?

 

[Wid]

I knew of two barbers that used a regular straight razor and they both had one hone. One had a coticule and the other had a Swaty.

 

[Brian the Barber]

What type are they?

until last week, I used an IRL for my shaving razors (Portland Razor Co. stainless), and a Swaty with oil for my various 2/8 and 3/8 old haircutting razors or if I needed to really work the shaving razors.

pasted strop (chrom-ox/green paste) every morning, ILR once a week

this week I got a Norton combination hone, so I expect to use the 4k side instead of the Swaty most of the time, and going from the 8k to the ILR I expect to be much quicker than using the ILR only, but we'll see!

Swaty with oil has the advantage of being small and quick enough to bring back a cutting edge on my haircutter if I suddenly realize I need to touch it up even with the customer in the chair (less than 90 seconds really)

 

[LJS]

Yikes!

When straights were the only razors, there were more pro grinders and sharpeners for service too. Maintaining an edge can keep one shaving a long time until it needs some work.

 

[Gamma]

Synthetic hones were not readily available until the late 1800s. And initially, the pickins' were slim.

I had a late 1880s barber's kit that had 1 stone, like a Carborundum type and many pastes.
Even so, I am certain a large number of barbers did not hone 'in house', instead they sent them to a grinder that specialized in fine edges. There is an old-school shop like that not too far from me. The current owners father had a pretty good arsenal of stone options back in his day.

My 1st barber here in Brooklyn used several services of this type back in the 50s and 60s and into the 70s. He had a touch up barber hone or two or three lying around though. He was not all that impressed with those slabs, unsurprisingly.

Antique Barbers manuals and barber supply catalogs usually show Coticules, Eschers, Swatys, the usual suspects, etc - not so much to do with full on honing though. Some did supply Arkansas stones though. Who bought them and how popular they were, will remain, forever, unknown.

Certainly, a lot of abrasive compounds were popular. Anything that made something 'sharp' fast would be ideal. Time was money and the faster a blade was brought back to life the more $$ there was to be made. Back in the 1800s, I would imagine that any hone stone was very expensive and even having just one was probably a luxury. But I would guess that when higher-end barbers began to exist, that the available resources in those shops was greater than what the typical shops had on hand.

One barber supply booklet I skimmed mentioned using Arkansas stones in succession, Washita, Soft, Hard. Many other sharpening guides that mentioned razors referred to grit succession also. The plethora of grits we have today were not around until way later on.
I remember going to the local hardware shop in the 70s to get a sharpening stone and there were maybe 6-7 options. Arks, Queer Creek, a few Carborundums.

 

[Frito Ray]

Synthetic hones were not readily available until the late 1800’s…

I didn’t know they were available that early!