Thread: Swaty hones... again

Have a Swaty...

FRANZ SWATY
WAHRING BEI WIEN
(AUSTRIA)

that measures 7 7/8 x 2 inches.

Had some metal coating on one side (cleaned off with cleanser). In very nice condition. May have been used for wood chisels. Anyone know anything about a larger Swaty? This would not fit in the barber's pocket. Did Swaty make hones for other tools as well as razors?

I did a few laps with a dull straight and with stropping, it seemed to help. I would send a picture but my photography skills are deficient.

Any info welcome

I have the longer 3 lined swatty. Dont know if it was made for anything special. Just longer. I made a nice wood box for mine.

They are not as common as the shorter hone but I have seen a few around. As far as I have heard they are the same as the shorter ones.

Originally Posted by Gasman

I have the longer 3 lined swatty. Dont know if it was made for anything special. Just longer. I made a nice wood box for mine.

Mine is in a carefully made, but slightly short box. It is made with thin, 2 layer plywood and very fine nails. Perhaps making boxes for the stones was a popular project.

The stone is in excellent shape and I was pleased to get it. I do a few laps with lather once in a while. Seems to help.

Now that I'm at home, Here is mine...

A standard size and a long one. Boxes made from the same wood. Too bad my memory sucks or I'd remember what wood I used (Popler, maybe)?

As Outback taught me, You can finish on these hones. It takes a lot of light-handed laps, but you can get an edge that will give a lot of comfort. So don't think it's just for a touch-ups/few laps when the edge starts to pull.

Thanks, Mike!

And like Shaun said, Its the same material used to make the longer one. Just a bit more acreage.

I have a plain Dovo from 1968 or 69 that has never seen anything but the standard 3 line Swaty and it shaves like a dream. I reckon there's a reason barbers used them. Other than that my razors are gently stropped. The old ways worked well.

Here's a question that has stumped the entire internet, at least when I search it. Since the Swaty is known as a synthetic hone,it seems that the recipe for what it actually is has been lost. At least I can't find a single simple answer. What the hell are these things made of? You would think that's a simple question but it's not. Mine has a really small ding on the side, which doesn't affect the performance but drives me nuts, and if I knew what it's made of I could whip up a batch and fix it, but no such luck. Does anyone know what these things are made of? And as an aside, all of you that have one or more, try using the circle motion, it seems to give me the best results, I give it a few regular strokes, then ten circles and my edge is back. This works the best for me, give it a try, I'd like to hear the results.

Yes, small barber's hones are made for circles, I feel. Lots of things have been lost, sadly.
IIRC, Randydance has some recipes from American Hone Co who made many brands of them.
Might be some clues there?

If it's just a cosmetic patch then you might be able to use a piece of a different barber hone, a broken one found cheap on eBay maybe. Grind it up and mix with a binder, epoxy I would guess...

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Yes, small barber's hones are made for circles, I feel. Lots of things have been lost, sadly.
IIRC, Randydance has some recipes from American Hone Co who made many brands of them.
Might be some clues there?

Yes, the American Hone Company did make hone labeled "Three Line Swaty" but it was far from the Swaty's made in eastern Europe. The abrasives used by the AHC were the normal aluminum oxide and silicon carbide.

I suspect that the abrasives used by the original Swaty were quite different. They may have used a natural abrasive formed in the same manner as Frictionite ( of Frictionite hone fame). There are only 3 deposits known. One in Zimbabwe, one in Peru, and one in Eastern Europe. These deposits are made when one large land mass slides over another and the friction generates so much heat that it fuses the different minerals together. The Frictionite from Zimbabwe was quartz plus other minerals. What the composition of the other two deposits is I do not know.
There was an artificial Coticule made ( I have one) that used fine sandstone and cement. When you pour vinegar on a small spot it will generate small bubbles ( fizz). Sham demonstrated that to me and later I found a text in German, which I translated, and it was 10 % sandstone and 90% cement. I do not remember if by weight or volume.

To the question of repairing a hone. Most were made, basically, from shellac and abrasives plus a couple of other small ingredients.

Food for thought.