Barbers Hones Reviews and comparisons.

I'd disagree. Twice the price is a pretty big difference, and mind you most of these 1.50 cent Coticules are glued combo's with a few mm at most of coti... that a barber, potentially honing after every shave, would have to replace... unlike a a synthetic hone. I think the cost difference is actually quite massive.

Moreover, again referencing a recently posted guide for barbers, they describe Thuri's and coticules, then caveat the synthetics (swaty's in particular if my memory serves) by saying essentially that "some barbers can not get good results with these and should instead use coticules"

And nothing against your associates, but I'd not go to a barber, in Germany, who preferred a Frictionite to a Thuringian. Just like I wouldn't go to a barber, in Japan, who preferred a Norton to a Jnat.

Shave ease: 6/10
After-shave feel: 6/10
Hours of shave: 21
Above avg for a swaty. The edge was very sharp, but didn't hold up very well to the shave, had a wave to it after. New razor (No stamps, rescaled in vintage scales, may be a recent cheap make). Going to have to give this stone another try with a different razor later and see if the edge holds up better.

SliceOfLife said:

I'd disagree. Twice the price is a pretty big difference, and mind you most of these 1.50 cent Coticules are glued combo's with a few mm at most of coti... that a barber, potentially honing after every shave, would have to replace... unlike a a synthetic hone. I think the cost difference is actually quite massive.

Moreover, again referencing a recently posted guide for barbers, they describe Thuri's and coticules, then caveat the synthetics (swaty's in particular if my memory serves) by saying essentially that "some barbers can not get good results with these and should instead use coticules"

And nothing against your associates, but I'd not go to a barber, in Germany, who preferred a Frictionite to a Thuringian. Just like I wouldn't go to a barber, in Japan, who preferred a Norton to a Jnat.

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Ian i would totally agree that my vote would also be a Barber using a Thuri for shure !! You know that i love them ;-)

But why should these have been sold in all the Big Catalogues if "nobody" or as most of the Barbers would have "preferred" a Coti or a Thuri....

I looked thru all the Sears and Roebruck Catalogues and Stuff was sold really a lot. Just under a capital thinking it wouldnt make any sense having these in the catalogues and they wouldnt have been sold and then used. Shure there is no statistic saying how much of these were really used....

And i find it nothing special that there is or was a Barbers Guide referencing to use naturals (mentioning Cotis/Thuris). Why not?
We do not know whos written the manual, probably he was a Coti/Thuri lover ;-)

Also we have to see the imports of thuringian Hones have been stopped over certain periods (fex. Worldwar). During these years no thuris were sold in US in the catalogues due to import stop....

Have any of you guys tried that Brazilian one that uses the coti slurry stone?

It'll be at the end of this review. Probably the very last hone posted.

I don't know about ascribing much to stuff staying in catalogs. Have you ever flipped through a skymall catalog? You've never seen so much useless junk, and some of it's been there for decades. But I don't doubt that plenty of people bought synth hones. I suspect more than most, they were sold to relatively inexperienced home users, who expected it could save them money on shaves or honings from their barber... and my guess is that very often, the results were so bad, these homeowners threw the stones in a tool box and went back to the barber for either shaving or honing. For instance take a look at the DE blade hones. There are probably millions of them out there. Why? People bought them thinking they'd save money (war-models excepted, where it was actually necessary to reuse blades for extremely long periods of time), yet, I doubt anyone thinks they work particularly well. I mean how many DE users have even tried them (despite many who willingly try vintage blades)?

Among barber stones there are ones that work decently, but these seem to be exceptions, and that's what I'm looking for. But I think the point you started to address was just that I don't find that "Barbers hones" were used as much by barbers as their advertising likes to imply. Similar to how Emeril or some other celebrity chef will stamp his name on flimsy pans or knives, I expect a large portion of the marketing of barbers hones (good and bad) was creating the impression in people that these were what barber's were using... meanwhile, most barbers (again based only on the kits I've purchased) were in fact using natural stones that gave much better shaves than these stones did, and/or were further refining edges after these stones on pasted strops.

Any time I have been able to buy a disused hone from a barber it has been a coticule. It makes sense if you think about it. If you have one with the right properties, it is quite easy to top up a nearly fresh edge with one on water only. I've seen that and some paste charged strops.

Yes, the primary advantage from synth hones seems to be that they are able to recover edges further gone than coticules (easily and consistently across veins/particular stones) can on water, and if the barber was going to a pasted strop afterwards, the fact that most barber synths are pretty coarse for our tastes wouldn't make much difference.

With that said, several hones (particularly dry hones) seem to suggest that the stone should be touched up with the famous 3-5 strokes (to avoid overhoning), after every single use. What the results of doing this (followed by pasted stropping) several times a day for several years would be could be interesting to know. So it seems like there were either different camps in the purposes of these hones, or else manufacturers were unsure, or back and forth over what the purpose of their product was. In any case, it doesn't seem to be what we'd like it to be (a fast and easy to use hone that provides the quality shaves we like). WHY that is, we may never know.

I think they just used a lot more pastes than are used now. Think livi style. I think even today europeans are a lot more paste friendly than north americans are. A barber's hone that is fast and aggressive can sort of implement the idea of a good edge and then paste can be the crutch to pull it along? I know with the rolls razor if you use only the case and that sorry hone if you charge the strop you can get it pretty disturbingly sharp in spite of the short track.

The b hones were probably more for everyday ppl who used straights. Calling them that instilled a sense of confidence perhaps? I bought a huge lot not too long ago and got a lot of trashed strops. A lot of them had two leather components and one of them was marked hone and was clearly charged with something.

The bulk of them were, no doubt, aimed at civillians. But - old honing and shaving manuals, as well as barber supply catalogs, list them.

I chanced upon some of these recently, got a couple of the Austrian 3-line Swatys, a J.P.H. Co. Everkeen, Champion, OSO-EZE, Boss Barber, one called "The Best $1.00 Hone" and a Zenith Barber's Dry. Haven't tried them yet though - do you have any of the others that I got besides the Swaty Ian?

JPH co sounds familiar, but I don't have one at the moment. Champion, OSO, Boss, and The Best $1 hone all fell in the group that didn't feel fine enough to bother with a shave test. Zenith... maybe I've had... if you took a picture of the JPH and the Zenith I could probably remember them.

Here we go, when there are two hones in the pic, the Zenith is left or bottom, Everkeen right/top. The Zenith is two-sided like a Frictionite 00. From what I can tell with Google they aren't very common. Haven't got around to testing any of them yet but I flattened and surfaced them all.

Had an everkeen awhile back, but as I recall it was in really rough shape. Breaking apart pretty much, also wasn't that exact model, but I recognize the logo. Don't think I've used a Zenith.

Carborundum 101a

Shave ease: 5/10
After-shave feel: 5/10
Hours of shave: 17

I also did a 101 (will be coming up later). The thing I notice with these carborundums is that they leave an edge that cuts well, and is sharper than you'd expect from the feedback, but aren't fantastic. The have a well made feel, don't seem to suffer from breakdown problems, and are sturdy, but just don't seem to even attempt to reach into the levels of refinement some other hones shoot for. That said, the 118s aside, you can shave off them.

Here's a question. Since most of the harder hones seem to produce wildly varying finishes and comfort levels depending on how the stone is surfaced, do you think by altering barber hone finish level on the harder barber hones it would similarly alter the finishing characteristics? I think it would until the stones even out to their natural texture, which might take quite some time being as hard as they are. I'm going to try mine with a 320 loose grit finish and quick burnish first, then take them to 1500 loose grit and compare.

Yes, I recall seeing Swaty packaging posted here a few years ago that directed using emery on one side to create a coarse side, despite the hone being poured from a single mix of material. How well it works, and how long the modification lasts, I can't say.

Most of the b-hones I've tried responded well to surfacing changes, as well as honing mediums.
Dry, water, lather, etc - each choice changes things up. In the past, others have said that stroke technique factors in significantly.

I've just finished doing some quick basic testing on these and there are a few that really aren't much more than burnishers. Boss Barber and O-So-Eze for sure. The Swatys cut like a mother no matter how they are finished, really fast cutters. They can handle straight water without loading as far as I have seen. The Everkeen and Barber's Dry both start to load with either straight water or soapy water. Also of course they load when dry. On oil they both work great, they don't load and they cut nicely. I'll try to get some edges from the ones you don't have to add to your thread if you want. BTW how are you measuring shave "duration" exactly?

eKretz said:

I've just finished doing some quick basic testing on these and there are a few that really aren't much more than burnishers. Boss Barber and O-So-Eze for sure. The Swatys cut like a mother no matter how they are finished, really fast cutters. They can handle straight water without loading as far as I have seen. The Everkeen and Barber's Dry both start to load with either straight water or soapy water. Also of course they load when dry. On oil they both work great, they don't load and they cut nicely. I'll try to get some edges from the ones you don't have to add to your thread if you want. BTW how are you measuring shave "duration" exactly?

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How long until I can feel my beard running my fingers atg on my neck.