Hello, Yesterday I found a Boss Barber Hone in a bag of sharpening stones that I bought at a yardsale months ago. It looks as though it has been thoroughly soaked in oil. It is coated with some gunk, which I am assuming is from being oiled and sitting in a shop. Otherwise, it appears to be in great shape. No cracks or chips. The man I bought it from was a wood worker and I imagine he probably used it on his tools. My question is whether or not, after a good lapping, it would still be suitable for use on a straight razor. I can post photos later if it would be helpful.
Would strongly recommend not using that stone to sharpen your straight!!! I have been a professional wood turner and wood worker for over 30 years and the stones used in our profession are much more aggressive than is needed for straight razors. I was tempted to use some of my stones in the shop until I received a huge caution like this. Unless you plan on buying lots of ebay razors that are chipped and in bad shape, I'd recommend sticking to stones with grits from 1k to 12k. The 1k is usually used to set the bevel, with the other stones used to define and polish the bevel. Try using your "found" stone on sharpening a knife not your razor.
Thank you for your word of caution. However, this is actually a straight stone (barber's hone) that was used for wood tools. My question is not whether the stone itself is suited for straights, but whether or not the oil would damage a straight somehow.
You can clean the oil off with an oven cleaner, like Easy-Off. Barber hones are very hard and non-porous and the oil has not hurt it at all. It may not even need to be lapped, but you can determine that after you've cleaned it.
I would get some plain old dawn dish soap and clean it first. Then come back and lap it with a really fien sandpaper (1000grit). Just rememeber that Barber's hones were meant for touch ups, not full honing. I am not trying to scare or contradict you, but rather make sure that its not going to be good for trying to set bevels or even inital polishing. However, it might work great for razors just starting to pull. Good Luck
Thanks for the help guys. I'll try the dish soap first and move to the oven cleaner. Don't worry LRD. I would not attempt to set a bevel with this hone. Chimensch has been following me from thread to thread answering all of my newb honing questions. When I do decide to start honing, I'll pick up a Norton 4k/8k and maybe even a 1k.
Hit the barber hone with dish detergent and a toothbrush. Cleaned up pretty well. I think I'll go ahead and lap it. If anything just to get the leftover nasties out of the pits.
