Thread: Swaty Questions

My barbers hone arrived at my door today and since the front has chips I'm wondering if the back can be used? They both feel very smooth and flat. Here are pics...

If it's anything like my Swaty, my guess would be yes, you can use the back. Mine feels identical to the front. I'll defer to some of the more experienced Swaty users on that point, however.

Barbers hones are most generally the same all the way through so either side works, I use the back of mine for the same reason, chip in front side. From what I've read Swaty's are to most sought after so they must be very high quality hones. I did have a 2 sided SRD barber hone a while back but I sent it to one of our soldiers in Afghanistan after I received my Swaty.

I had heard once that the side with the writing was the finer side of the hone with the back being coarser. That being said, I used one for twenty years just whatever side happened to be face up and never could tell the difference. I also have a Panama brand hone that is two sided not only can you feel it but it is brown and black colored the black being the finer side.

Swatys are the same all the way through for the most part unless there is a defectively uneven mix when they were poured/molded. Some guys surface the opposite sides with differing finishes and when that's done they will cut at different speeds and levels of finish for a while until they revert to their natural texture.