Thread: eBay swaty

After reading all of Joe Lerch's praise of the swaty hone, I'm looking to get one myself. There's one on eBay I found just by searching for "swaty" and it is located here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...6436&rd=1&rd=1

Is this the correct hone? The picture is pretty low resolution, so I can't tell if it's flat or not. Should I bid on it, and if so how much? I trust that you experienced honers won't snipe me since I'm just starting out and it won't go into a big box of shaving stuff never to be used again Thanks!

I'm not sure, I think there are a variety of Swaty's. I think mine (in storage) is maybe a Pike Swaty. But that looks like a pretty good hone. I'm not crazy about them the way others are but there pretty good.

I won't tell you want to bid for a hone (or anything else) but in my opinion, when I looked at it it was reasonable (5:40 pm EST).

You can get some very nice barber hones on Ebay from Tilly (Redtrader99).

Hi Matt,

To me it looks like a nice looking stone with just a couple of nicks on the edges. The other thing is it has the three line logo which by all accounts they supposedly are better than the ones with only the two line logo. I think some one said they were father and son models.

I myself have just got one, but I think that one is in better condition going by the photos. I payed about $19.50 for mine but it was right on Xmas time so perhaps people had more important things to worry about rather than swatys. Typically of late they have been going for between $40-$65, so they are very popular, especially the good ones. I waited ages to finally get mine, I kept getting out bid, and lets face it who wants to pay that sort of money for one. I even asked on here in the trading forum, but there were no sellers, so they must be good.

Good Luck

John

Originally Posted by arbiter_dev

After reading all of Joe Lerch's praise of the swaty hone, I'm looking to get one myself. There's one on eBay I found just by searching for "swaty" and it is located here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...6436&rd=1&rd=1

Is this the correct hone? The picture is pretty low resolution, so I can't tell if it's flat or not. Should I bid on it, and if so how much? I trust that you experienced honers won't snipe me since I'm just starting out and it won't go into a big box of shaving stuff never to be used again Thanks!

I got mine back in October for $15.50. Mine is a two line and went so cheep because it came in a lot with a ancient strop and a DE blade hone. The DE hone was listed first, go figure. I use mine as my finishing/refreshing hone on all my razors, works great, and a huge value compared to an Escher or Coticle.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help! I'll see if I can score it for a good price. I'm looking to buy one of those carbide flattening kits from Lee Valley, can those be used to lap this stone? This new hobby of mine is definitely becoming more expensive than I intended

Good luck on this. If you don't win it, contact me. I have a three-line swaty in very good condition, same size as this (but with a slipcase) that I'll sell you for a comparable or better price. I'm just not crazy about little ceramic hones.

40-60 for a Swaty?

Hm, I got mine (worse condition, but very very usable) for 10, I think... Even then they were going for 25 or so and I thought it's too much.

FWIW - for 60 you better get a Thuringian from Tony. Or for only a bit more - Belgian from Howard.

I don't want to tell you what to spend. Right now I would not pay more than 30 (but I already have one. also - I don't use it as much as I lately prefer to work the Belgian and / or Escher)

Cheers
Ivo

X- "FWIW - for 60 you better get a Thuringian from Tony. "

I second that. I'd go twenty or so for any Swaty but no higher. There are NOS hones from Redtrader99 (Tilly) for less than that that will do the same job nearly or as well. Once you get to $60 you are in the realm of the big guns, a new Norton or Thuringian even a coticle sometimes comes in this low if you get lucky.