advice on honing products

[Neurotopia]

Relatively speaking (I'm not worried about putting a number on the grit), where would an Ahconite two-sided barber hone fall compared to those Chinese 12K stones? I have both and have some DMT plates coming, I just don't know where/if I should bother with the barber hone.

I can see that restoring any flea market specials is going to become a hobby for me... I pity my poor girlfriend. She's gonna hate the expenditures :)

[leighton]

barber hone > Chinese stone.

edit: Sorry, I don't like those stones. Pretty much any stone in that grit range I will rate as superior to the C-nat.

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Relatively speaking (I'm not worried about putting a number on the grit), where would an Ahconite two-sided barber hone fall compared to those Chinese 12K stones? I have both and have some DMT plates coming, I just don't know where/if I should bother with the barber hone.

I can see that restoring any flea market specials is going to become a hobby for me... I pity my poor girlfriend. She's gonna hate the expenditures :)

Barber hones, depending on the maker, generally run from 10-12K, I'd say. There are some others that are somewhat coarse (6-8K or so), but they were made to be finishing hones for barbers to touch-up their razors on, so the grit is normally pretty fine. I actually like barber hones quite a bit.

[English]

The barbers hone is used by some as a touch up hone. They keep one in the bathroom for such use.

By that I mean that when the razors edge fails to respond to the normal daily stropping routine, and the razor starts to pull hair and not cut hair, six return passes on a barbers hone should put the world to rights again.

I find that a woolen or linen strop maybe with a high grit abrasive finish does a much better job and to my mind is the modern day replacement which has actually superseded the barbers hone.

[Neurotopia]

Just to clarify, we're talking about the smooth side correct? Mine has a coarser cutting surface and some very slick, smooth brown stone on the other side.

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Yep. I just did a quick search for that particular hone, and all I can come up with is that is has a "fine and coarse side". I'm referring only to the fine side. I have no idea what the grit may be on the coarse side and no idea how good it is for honing or where it may fall into a honing progression.

[Sticky]

Grit-wise, probably somewhere between 8-14k on the finer surface.

I routinely use barber hones after the DMT 8k/3u, as part of my progression. Almost all of my barber hones are finer than 8k, with few exceptions. I have several different combinations, but none are an Ahconite. Just try some laps on yours and see how it works.

Most of my barber hones cut faster than a Chinese 12k, and give me an acceptable shaving edge. I have several barber hones that give me better results than the C12k (equal or better finish and faster).