Thread: Swaty surprise

I've always wanted to try a Swaty but every one I bid on got swiped out from under me, so I bid on 2, hoping to get 1...and got them both (!) The first one arrived today & I was shocked by how coarse & aggressive it is. It's almost as coarse as my cushioned strop hones! Are all Swatys like this? And are you meant to shave right off the hone?! Hard to imagine that would feel good.

Is it a 2 or 3 line swaty? I have a 3 line and hear that the 2 line swaty is somewhat coarser.

Update: I got the other hone. One is a 2-line and the other is a 3-line. Are you sure you don't have that backwards? The 3-line (the one I was talking about in the original post) is so coarse, it might just replace 1500-grit sandpaper for establishing a bevel. The 2-line is a lot finer; one could conceivably shave off it (though the Gem & Lithide hones are both finer still).

Backwards? Maybe, I dont havethe2 line swaty to make the comparison.

There is no guarantee of grit size in barber hones. They vary, sometimes a lot.

Carney barker.... "Step right up! Pay your money and take your chances! Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose".

Hones are seldom a loss, you need to figure out where in the honing process a particular hone fits.


Just my two cents,

I had a swaty. It was an Austrian swaty. I sold it. But as I recall it was a good finishing hone. I also remember it improved significantly when I lapped a fresh flat surface on it using 1000 grit wet and dry sandpaper (used wet).