The purpose of the hone tool is to transmit the power generated by the machine to the work piece. Honing will correct the bore for taper, size, finish, and straightness, but cannot normally correct axial alignment or location. The tool consists of a spindle nose adapter, a drive shaft, and the hone body. The hone body contains a cone attached to a push rod. See the drawing of a typical hone tool.
The push rod, inside the drive shaft, is moved up or down in the hone body by a motor or hydraulic cylinder. The actuator is in the head. As the cone moves down, it pushes the expansion plates outward, expanding the stones which is stick on the Honing Shoes. The abrasive stones are used to remove the stock material from the work piece. The garter springs are used to keep the stones in the tool and to collapse the stones when the tool is removed from the bore.
The hone tools may use super-abrasives or vitrified stones for rough honing, semi­-finish and final finish honing. Peak honing typically requires only the roughing operation. Plateau honing (putting a “plateau” on top) requires fine stones to remove the peaks. Some hone tools have both roughers and finishers in a single tool.