Crown stone

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Vicv

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Aug 22, 2011
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I found this taped to the bottom of a used sewing machine my wife bought. I haven't found anything on line about the brand. It's 5 1/4" x 2" x 3/8"
 
That's a barber's hone similar in manufacture to a Swaty. I believe they have a solid reputation, though that one looks to need a little TLC before honing a straight razor.
 
Ya I'll flatten it and true it up. Maybe with plate glass and 90x sic. That may be too coarse though. I'm not really sure what a Barber gone is besides that it obviously is a hone used by a Barber. Man made or natural? Grit equivalent? Can they even be graded? Thanks
 
they are manmade, some have a fine gravel substrate inside them to save on cost I guess. when lapping go no farther than absolutely needed just in case. as far as I know they were just coarse and fine. they were straight razor hones, usually very aggressive only a couple of strokes each way then the edge started to degrade. the swaty four line was probably the finest common hone
 
Vicv said:
Ya I'll flatten it and true it up. Maybe with plate glass and 90x sic. That may be too coarse though. I'm not really sure what a Barber gone is besides that it obviously is a hone used by a Barber. Man made or natural? Grit equivalent? Can they even be graded? Thanks
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I wouldn't use anything larger grit than 320 or 400, and then maybe condition it with some light work with another piece of steel. It will take a bit of work to recondition the surface to its potential. I believe these are mostly used with shaving cream and water or just water, not oil. I have come across references to using oil, but I never used anything but water with a small amount of dish soap on my Swaty.

They are made from a fired AlumOx with binder, I don't know what it is, but a similar process was used by Swaty and number of other mfgs. These stones all have a light to dark brownish cast and look like a fairly dense, thin stone. Actual grit value can be all over the map but generally pretty fine. From what I have read, the Crown can be used as the final honing stone before transitioning to a pasted strop and on to plain leather.

Used on modern stainless I would expect it to be slow, but make a pretty good polish.
 
I just finished an o1 edge on 5u sic film. Maybe I'll try it on this Barber hone and see if it improves or not. I really don't have anything else to lap but the 90x loose grit. I can try my 220 naniwa ss. Can't think of anything else it's good for
 
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