Thread: Barber Hone Ingredients

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Thanks for the update! My info came from Tilly and second hand sources. Tilly said she had bought the hones and linen but had passed on the barrels of shellac and the pressure molds. The recipe/process info came second hand and I think it was in Bladeforums.com.
But...if you talked with company then you have the straight scoop.

And one final note - the people at Success told me that after their hone maker died, they tried to reproduce the hones themselves, but they were unsuccessful. Too bad.

I thought it might be worthwhile for them (or even someone else??) to do some serious research and, based on the ingredients involved, and the equipment used, attempt a stronger effort to reproduce the hones. But apparently there is no real desire to do so. Once again too bad as I fear that the true synthetic "Swaty" style barber hone may now be a lost art.

Scott

Originally Posted by Utopian

Since I live in Iowa, someday I intend to make a pilgrimage to Monrovia just to see what I can see!

Please do, Ron. I for one would be very interested in hearing about and seeing pictures from such an excursion!

Originally Posted by honedright

I thought it might be worthwhile for them (or even someone else??) to do some serious research and, based on the ingredients involved, and the equipment used, attempt a stronger effort to reproduce the hones. But apparently there is no real desire to do so. Once again too bad as I fear that the true synthetic "Swaty" style barber hone may now be a lost art.

Scott

I agree, too bad Scott. At this point, if anyone did successfully recreate one of the American Hone Company hones or a Swaty, at best they'd get a sense of accomplishment but find very little demand for such a specialized product.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

I agree, too bad Scott. At this point, if anyone did successfully recreate one of the American Hone Company hones or a Swaty, at best they'd get a sense of accomplishment but find very little demand for such a specialized product.

Chris L

The NEW Franz Swaty could be made in the bigger 6x2 size too.

Hmm...I wonder how much it would cost to play...

Me

Utopian...if you can set up a tour of the facility I would like to go along. I mean this , for real stuff. I would love to see the pressure molds etc.
Let me know if your serious.

I lapped the two barber hones ("The Swaty Three Line Razor Hone" & Itsapeech) today. The Swaty has small silvery grits, but the Itsapeech has...well...peach-colored grits. Is that why they named it Its-a-peech?

(By the way, the Itsapeech has no identifying mark on it. But I'm taking the seller's word that it's an Itsapeech.)

Thanx,
Christopher

sorry to resurect this thread, but its a pretty interesting one.

I bought a barber hone from Tilly (redtrader99) a few years ago. I was wondering what micron the particles are in the hone.

My hone is small and black (not red/pink). Do I have a Swatty? I'm sure it is a Lithide hone now I come to think of it. Is this what people are calling a swatty?

Anyone know what grit size it is?

Thanks

No it is not a Swaty The Swaty is the Franz Swaty Barber hone and it has the name Embosed into it, it is also red.

THe Lithide is a different barbers hone altogether. Small, 4x3 or so and flat black. It is a fine finishing hone, used in progression after the 8k but before a 16k level. The Lithide hone is quite capable of putting very nice comfortable final polish on a razor, or of refreshing an edge that is uncomfortable to shave with but still cutting prtty well. As an experiment I would use it for about 20 to 30 strokes as the final stone after your 8k and then shaving with it, see what it does and how you like it.

Originally Posted by smythe

Those "maroon" colored stones are made from a naturally occurring ore called Bauxite (Red Dirt); it is a mixture of Aluminum Oxide and Iron Hydroxide (rust or rogue). Though aluminum oxide is white in color, the ore is red because of the Iron Hydroxide.

Both aluminum and iron oxides are abrasives. It is milled to a powder and mixed with binder, pressed, and fired just like pottery... (and then you have a Swaty)

yea Bauxite is aluminum ore however the concentration of aluminum in it is really small which is why they scrape it up in really big operations. I would think to make a hone from it they would need to concentrate the aluminum unless there is something else in it in larger amounts.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

yea Bauxite is aluminum ore however the concentration of aluminum in it is really small which is why they scrape it up in really big operations. I would think to make a hone from it they would need to concentrate the aluminum unless there is something else in it in larger amounts.

Well… I stand corrected… they wouldn’t simply use the bauxite in its raw state.
They do however get the aluminum oxide from bauxite… it is mixed with clay (pottery clay) as a binder; the binder (the one used in the Swaty type hones) gets its reddish brown color iron oxide impurities (and a few other minerals).
This process was pioneered by the Norton Company making its verified grinding wheels and the technology was passed to making razor hones.

I have been reading a few interesting books on the subject…
Have a look at this link
Google book Abrasives & abrasive wheels, their nature, manufacture and use:

Abrasives & abrasive wheels, their ... - Google Books

Do a search in the book for "sharpening stone". Or go to page 83 (chapter 4), Title Artificial Sharpening Stone... though this deals with Carborundum stones, the same applies to the Swaty type stones (slightly different ingredients).
In fact the whole book makes very interesting reading on how they made abrasives back then.

The above link does not give you much to read.

This one gives you the whole book:

Internet Archive: Free Download: Abrasives & abrasive wheels, their nature, manufacture and use; a complete treatise on the manufacture and practical use of abrasives, abrasive wheels and grinding operation ..