I've acquired an old hone, I think it was my Great-Grandfather's. However, I'm not sure how usable it still is. On the edges it's pretty banged up. Chinks taken out, some bigger than others. The middle of the surface is fine, it's just the edges and corners that are so messed up. My question is, could this be detrimental to the honing of a razor? Should I just purchase a new one and put this up as a display piece with some of my grandpa's old razors or can it still do the job?
Chips on the edge can affect the razor since you would be moving the razor's edge over the edge of the hone while honing. This could throw your balance off and end up causing you to dip the razor a bit if the chip is large/deep enough. If they are small chips, I'd be inclined to try it using a steady hand and see what the results are. But I love old barber hones anyway so I'm not very objective
Pics! The key is what kind of hone is it? If its a small barber's hone then it might be hard to get those edges rounded off enough adn still have a hone worth while. If its large, then you can lap those chuncks off and still have plenty of hone to work with. Plus, you need to make sure it is a true razor hone or natural stone used for razors. Plus, if its too bad to use, it woudl still be great to display as my grandfather didn't use straights and his father got shaved by a Barber a few tiems a week.
Frankly, I'd be inclined to try to use it. You might want to lap it first by using some wet-or-dry sandpaper on a glass surface (or any other surface you know to be perfectly flat) -- I use a piece of granite that I purchased for just that purpose. I have a number of old barber's hones and most of them have banged-up and chipped edges but work just fine.
It's maybe a quarter inch thick, and if I understand what you guys are saying, I'm not sure lapping will be aggressive enough. Some of the dings are fairly deep. I'll see if I can take some pictures tonight, and hopefully show the dings well enough with my little point and shoot!
