Thread: Three line Swaty

Originally Posted by Mikeinri

I knew I had 2 of these but only one is the 3-line. They just sit in a box.. Nice to see other people like hones as well. Not many people in my area or any of my friends like them.

The best is the "am Wein" the other is the American Hone Company 3 line Swaty which is not of the same quality. About a two line one.
The other Good Swaty is the Marburg Austria one. Just the difference in the placement of a national boundary same company and same grits. A "Pike Swaty" is a good one also. American Hone company but a quality one for certain.
Have fun and only a few..like four, strokes on it to refresh the blade edge.
~Richard

Snarfed my first (and probably last, if I don't drop it) hone off ebay for under ten clams last week. Pictures were terrible and it looked like it had chunks of dried eggs and bananas and stuff stuck on it from before I was born. Turns out, for the Swaty-literati, to be a three-line, WAHRING bei WIEN/(Austria), no box, in pretty good shape. The back is nice and the front, except for a couple of small, shallow tool marks, was fine. Dawn soap and water got off the grunge which made the stone appear it had been used with oil; more scrubbing, some medium-fine emery paper to smooth out a couple of very small edge-chips and to chamfer the edges then Ajax cleanser and a brush to finish.



First try, eight laps on a razor due for a little refresh, returned the blade from end to end to a hair-popping monster. Will shave-test tomorrow but, from the arm-hair feel, it ought to be just right. Heretofore I've been living happily with a 250/1000 King, DMT325, Norton 4000/8000, CrOx on nylon, white paste on linen, linen and leather. The shaves off the 8000 have been very good especially since I developed skills with sequential periodic post-honing mega-stropping and a daily linen/leather routine with 25- and 60 laps. It's so funny how I write sometimes - cracks me up. Not sure if it is concise or crazy sounding.

I am interested to see if:
a. Franz ups my game any by improving on refresh mega-stropping; or

b. will Franz equal the mega-strop refresh in less the time; or

c. is mega-stropping going to outlast and outshine Franz with all razors?

Anyone offering odds?

I confidently choose "a."

I maintained a set of razors with nothing but a Swaty and a Carborundum 102 (with pretty much random use between the two) for over a decade.

Absent an edge catastrophe, a Swaty and a strop is all you need to keep your razor shaving sharp forever.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I confidently choose "a."

I maintained a set of razors with nothing but a Swaty and a Carborundum 102 (with pretty much random use between the two) for over a decade.

Absent an edge catastrophe, a Swaty and a strop is all you need to keep your razor shaving sharp forever.

Well.... that's encouraging.

Barber hones I've so far -

1 x 3 Line Swaty ("am Wein")
1 x C-Mon (2 Sided)
1 x Lakeside

Haven't put them to the test yet...

Originally Posted by Utopian

I confidently choose "a."

I maintained a set of razors with nothing but a Swaty and a Carborundum 102 (with pretty much random use between the two) for over a decade.

Absent an edge catastrophe, a Swaty and a strop is all you need to keep your razor shaving sharp forever.

The Boys from Währing bei Wien ("veh-hring bye", the Währing district in-, alongside or near, and "veen", Vienna) made a pretty good little rock. With nothing to go on except clean it, bevel the edges, smooth the chips and try it dry, lathered, watered or oiled. I went with dry.

After the Swaty hone, linen and leather the Torrey gave easy HHTx3 results and a superb shave on a three-day beard. Two passes: with a little neck-scythe thing on the down stroke and some guillotine things on the upstroke; chin was smooth as it gets in two passes and a touch up on the jawline. I am pretty amazed and very pleased with this hone. I never got it. Now I get it.

The "a"'s have it.

Welcome to the fold!
It actually is amazing just how easy maintenance honing can be.
Now just repeat what you did whenever you notice any reduction in the quality of the shave. Personally I prefer to use water with just a touch of the lathered brush to break the surface tension of the water. About 5 strokes is all you need to bring the edge back year after year!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Welcome to the fold!
It actually is amazing just how easy maintenance honing can be.

This is true.

Honing-honing is another story entirely. Had you, Lynn and Randy not shared your experience, enthusiasm, time and gear so selflessly in Asheville last year I might have called it quits. I was far too preoccupied trying to hone ebay basket cases instead of starting out with maintenance on known good razors in my rotation. A year and a half later, and post-Asheville, I have finally understand the basket cases and turned them into good shavers. I should have just gotten a Swaty and kept up with what already worked.

Yes. Maintaining an edge with a barber's hone is very easy, uh, after I learned what a hone should and should not do, how to do a rolling-X stroke, how to keep a blade flat on a hone and, uh, how to do it all with a light precise hand. I am....... a-MAZ-ed what a motivated moron can learn in a couple of short years.

I have 3 barber hones. A 2 line Swaty, a barbers pet and a Shwarty(swaty clone). I must say I really like them. I use it before the 12k chinese finisher. I have also used it to freshen a blade and finish with .5 micron crox and strop. Can't go wrong putting it in the mix.