Thread: Barber hone ruined an edge....

So I bought an inexpensive barber hone through the classifieds (I forget the exact name, but it was a 105) It's a very small hone (small square) but I figured it should do just fine

Decided to try it with a razor that needed touching up, did 3 Dry LIGHT x strokes just to see, and after that the razor wouldn't even pop hair, I had to take it back to the 4/8 to get it back to something resembling shave ready,...


So, is this just too aggressive a stone? Is there a different technique with a small stone?

Thanks

If the hone was lapped properly you may want to try it with water or shave cream.
I lap my barber hones with 800 wet/dry laid flat on a marble countertop.

Weird...pictures might help of the hone.

Are you sure its a razor hone? Sounds like you have a Carborundum 105. Keep in mind that not all carborundums are made for razors.

Have you got a hardware store chisel or something of that sort that you can rub the back of on the surface of the stone?

If it's a stone intended for razors, that'll knock a lot of the harshness out of it right away and maybe break down some of the abrasive on the surface (if it's silicon carbide, which fractures easily. If it's aluminum oxide, it should still fracture some, and get duller - which is good).

And use lather so the razor edge is suspended a little and the abrasive lubricated to discourage it from digging as hard.

Please post a picture of the stone. If it's a true barber stone, lapped and in good shape, the stone wouldn't have hurt the razor...could you have lifted the spine when doing your x strokes? Most barber stones, well...pretty much any stone for a straight razor, is meant to have some sort of lubricant on the stone like water or with a few stones oil.

Do you have any form of magnification to use? This will tell you what you need to know without a doubt. The barber stone shouldn't leave any deeper/coarse scratch marks or very little difference from your Norton 8k. More shallow/fine scratches is just fine, but coarser & deeper scratches & you can conclude that your "barber stone" may be better suited for knives...not razors. There is a lot of junk out there marketed on the auction sites as straight razor related, when in fact it's just a knife hone. There is a difference, many of my co-workers have received stones from me that were not razor worthy that I have accumulated for their kitchens.

I dunno, it sounds to me like something else went wrong. If I'm not mistaken, popping hairs is just a sign that the bevel is set, so it shouldn't matter how low the grit of the hone is (to a point.) I sometimes use a 325 dmt to set a pre-bevel and even that pops hairs.

I got it from the classifieds here so I'm pretty sure it's a razor hone, I'll take a picture as soon as I can

My 2 cents;
If you increased the angle just a bit on those 3 strokes, especially if the razor had been honed flat on the 4/8, with or without tape; then you probably rolled the edge over. Yes, that would wipe out an edge applied by that 8000. That barber hone is probably a rougher grit than that 8000.
Barber stones are tricky; so many were made and vary a lot in their performance.

It definitely depends on the barber hone. I know that when I started out I had a cheap barber's hone, and I absolutely HATED the feel of it. It was like glass, and it felt like my blade would skitter on top with just water if I was doing really light strokes. I didn't want to try it dry as I had always heard that stones needed some sort of lubrication, and I didn't want to add pressure to make up for the feel of it, so I ended up getting rid of it. Then again, I was a new honer, but I was able to figure things out with the coticule that replaced it, so hey, different strokes for different folks!

I'd say try it with water or lather to try and cushion the edge a little from the abrasive particles.