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- Aug 27, 2004
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Forgive the repeat. I posted this years ago. But got asked today about it and some new information I never had before has come up that I wanted to post also. Information on this stone is getting harder and harder to find so I wanted to make it available best I can to google searches and for other cutlery lovers looking for info. Thanks.
The history of the American Hone Company.
The Story goes like this. (Forgive the length but it is worth reading.) This is a true story based on the facts as I recieved them from an employee of the company.
There was a company out of Olean, New York called the American Hone Company. Sometime in the early 1900s a man named Merle Johnson bought the company and moved it to Moravia Iowa shortly thereafter.
The company Merle bought made honing stones for sharpening knives, scissors, and anything else that had an edge on it. Once Merle settled in Iowa he hired employees to run his new company. One of these employees was named Louis Hiatt. Her job was to make and bake the sharpening stones using the recipes that Merle Johnson bought with the company. Louis was very clever but at this time she had the added benefit of being able to contact the original owners to refine the techniques for baking these stones using the various ingredients of each differing recipe. If something didn't work right she could easily correct it back then.
Of all the various stones American Hone Co. made the most famous stone was called 00 Frictionite. Barber shops and beauty salons all over the world began buying them because they simply worked better than anything else available. Perhaps the biggest customers for these stones were lumberjacks who used them to sharpen their axe heads for competitions. (and still do today if they are lucky enough to have one or several as I understand they buy all they find when they stumble on them.)
These stones could be used with water or oil, or they could be used dry. In the industry these stones were referred to as 'hot hones' because they were actually baked to manufacture them using natural ingredients in the form of grit powders from various stones and silica from all over the United States.
Some of the other more famous sharpening instruments were the Sportsmans stick called 'cold hones' because they were not baked but manufactured in a press much as the hot hones were only no baking was needed. Louis saw to it that these stones were made too. These little stones were a hit with fisherman and knife enthusiasts all over the country because they worked so well at sharpening knives, fish hooks, arrows, darts and virtually any other edged instruments carried and used by sportsman of the day.
Customers of this business in Moravia Iowa called simply the American Hone Company included as I said earlier, lumber jacks that still use the products to sharpen their axe heads for competition when and if they can find them. Flute and wind instrument makers used them for sharpening their reed cutting instruments. Violin makers, Barbers, Beauticians, Doctors, Dentists, Outdoorsman and the list goes on and on. My Grandfather had one of these stones and I inherited it from his estate when he died. I can attest to how well they work. If you have one consider yourself lucky because what is out there is all there is.
You see, one Christmas morning not too long ago Louis Hiatt was found dead in her home. And although all the recipes to make these sharpening stones survived her no one has ever been able to make them work. Many people have tried. It soon became apparent to all who knew Louis that the craft of making these stones died with her on that Christmas day. At this time there are no more of the 00 Frictionite stones or 'hot hones' left for sale from American Hone Company. All of the other courser grit stones but less popular stones that were of the 'hot hone' variety have also been sold out.
If you run across a sharpening stone one day that maybe has a little velvet green cloth pouch and says somewhere on the end 00 Frictionite Moravia Iowa. Buy it! If they have more than one buy them all. I would! And I'll go one further. I'll take what you don't want.
STR
The history of the American Hone Company.
The Story goes like this. (Forgive the length but it is worth reading.) This is a true story based on the facts as I recieved them from an employee of the company.
There was a company out of Olean, New York called the American Hone Company. Sometime in the early 1900s a man named Merle Johnson bought the company and moved it to Moravia Iowa shortly thereafter.
The company Merle bought made honing stones for sharpening knives, scissors, and anything else that had an edge on it. Once Merle settled in Iowa he hired employees to run his new company. One of these employees was named Louis Hiatt. Her job was to make and bake the sharpening stones using the recipes that Merle Johnson bought with the company. Louis was very clever but at this time she had the added benefit of being able to contact the original owners to refine the techniques for baking these stones using the various ingredients of each differing recipe. If something didn't work right she could easily correct it back then.
Of all the various stones American Hone Co. made the most famous stone was called 00 Frictionite. Barber shops and beauty salons all over the world began buying them because they simply worked better than anything else available. Perhaps the biggest customers for these stones were lumberjacks who used them to sharpen their axe heads for competitions. (and still do today if they are lucky enough to have one or several as I understand they buy all they find when they stumble on them.)
These stones could be used with water or oil, or they could be used dry. In the industry these stones were referred to as 'hot hones' because they were actually baked to manufacture them using natural ingredients in the form of grit powders from various stones and silica from all over the United States.
Some of the other more famous sharpening instruments were the Sportsmans stick called 'cold hones' because they were not baked but manufactured in a press much as the hot hones were only no baking was needed. Louis saw to it that these stones were made too. These little stones were a hit with fisherman and knife enthusiasts all over the country because they worked so well at sharpening knives, fish hooks, arrows, darts and virtually any other edged instruments carried and used by sportsman of the day.
Customers of this business in Moravia Iowa called simply the American Hone Company included as I said earlier, lumber jacks that still use the products to sharpen their axe heads for competition when and if they can find them. Flute and wind instrument makers used them for sharpening their reed cutting instruments. Violin makers, Barbers, Beauticians, Doctors, Dentists, Outdoorsman and the list goes on and on. My Grandfather had one of these stones and I inherited it from his estate when he died. I can attest to how well they work. If you have one consider yourself lucky because what is out there is all there is.
You see, one Christmas morning not too long ago Louis Hiatt was found dead in her home. And although all the recipes to make these sharpening stones survived her no one has ever been able to make them work. Many people have tried. It soon became apparent to all who knew Louis that the craft of making these stones died with her on that Christmas day. At this time there are no more of the 00 Frictionite stones or 'hot hones' left for sale from American Hone Company. All of the other courser grit stones but less popular stones that were of the 'hot hone' variety have also been sold out.
If you run across a sharpening stone one day that maybe has a little velvet green cloth pouch and says somewhere on the end 00 Frictionite Moravia Iowa. Buy it! If they have more than one buy them all. I would! And I'll go one further. I'll take what you don't want.
STR