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Thought I was getting barber's hones, got stones instead - but what are they?

Hi friends,

A barber friend sent me what I expected to be ceramic/pressed/manmade barber's hones. Instead they're a natural stone. Each is about 5 inches long - one is 7/8 of an inch thick and one is about a quarter of an inch thick. The thin one is very much black. The thicker one is dark gray and when it's wet, you can see a bit of a brownish vein in it. It's very dense and smooth. Any ideas what they are and in which order they're intended to be used? They came together in a leather case (unmarked by any name), so I presume they're a set. I've been using lapping film and synthetics, and just ordered my first coticule, so this is new to me.

Thanks!

Note/Edit: These photos admittedly stink! Please see about 5 posts down for some much more helpful pics (I hope).
 

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They look like thuringian to me but need better pics in better light.

Thanks much for the good guess. I know you're hampered by the poor photos and I'll try to get something better posted. I really do appreciate the educated ID attempt, though!

I did some finishing work with them last night and shaved with it this morning - I'll put the edge under the microscope later to look at the finish, but the shave was nice. If the shave was no good, I wouldn't have bothered trying to ID these. But I think they've got potential.
 
I know I wish I had better luck finding stones. :biggrin1:

Very nice stones. A great score if they are thuringians.
 
Hey all, thanks for the pointers - I do believe, based on your direction and some follow-up reading, that it's a thuringian and a rubber. Another thing to learn, now! :)
 
If it were me, I would ask my barber friend who sent them if he knows what they are.

Also, the rubbers that I have seen were smaller than your second stone and the same type of stone. You might have a different second nice stone there.


Enjoy them lots as that is a very special gift from your friend.
 
Okay, here are some better pics. Unfortunately, the barber was not the original owner and he just knows them as "hones."

Assuming that the thin stone was a rubber, I did just that and developed a nice milky gray slurry. But, perhaps the thin stone isn't a rubber? The thin black stone seems to have some layer structure, like slate (but very dense). I've taken a picture of a flaked spot what might show that. The thick stone is 1.5x5x7/8 inches and weighs a hefty 11 ounces - it's very dense and seems to have no visible layer structure at all. I hope these photos are more helpful:

$Stones and case.jpg$thicker stone.jpg$thinner stone.jpg
 
The purple one looks like a Fox/Goldfisch, they were sold in little Thuringian style wooden boxes. Mine is 6" but the ones I've seen at forums are more like 5".
 
Are you using a flash to take the pic? How about daylight when possible.

No, not with flash. These were under halogen overhead lights and I do see that there's some purple there, while in person it's much more truly a deep dark gray. At least that photo shows some of the "vein" structure, which was my hope in wetting it, but the actual color's not visibly purple.

Again, my apologies for the pics - I'm trying to make do with what I've got, but will try to get better photos in daylight. Thanks for the patience, all.
 
If there is no purple it is Thuringian I think for the chunky one.The other I am not sure by the by the pics myself. It is some sort of slate I believe.
 
If there is no purple it is Thuringian I think for the chunky one.The other I am not sure by the by the pics myself. It is some sort of slate I believe.

Well, I thank you and the others for the info. Based on that, I was able to direct my research and reading (instead of blindly hunting, which I tried and didn't help much). I'm 95% confident that it is a Thuringian stone and, from some of what I'd read, they often included a slurry stone or rubber. I'm guessing that's what the thin stone is (which was in the same leather sheath) and that they're to be used together. They're both so hard and smooth that I wouldn't see an obvious reason to follow either with the other in progression. Using the thin stone as a rubber makes a nice fine slurry and the thick stone works very nicely as a finisher with just water. Very comfortable resulting shaves. So, that's what I'm going with until I learn otherwise. :)

Thanks again all, for the wealth of information and positive support here at B&B.
 
The thin one is not the rubber for it but is another entirely different stone. The rubber for thuringians is made from the same stone.
 
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