Thread: Is this a natural two sided couticle

The Swatyn is a synthetic barber hone that is extremely fine and hard. I've got one but can't take a picture of it right now. It is longer and narrower than a Swaty--maybe 7"x1.5" but that's just a guess. It looks nothing like a Swaty under the microscope and I highly doubt the hone had anything to do with the Swaty company.

May be my suspicious nature, but it sounds like someone was trying to ride the coattails both of Swaty and of coticules. They sure got in all the key search terms, like Belgian and the letters s-w-a-t-y.

Is there any history of people mining coticules and carving their brands into them?

My two-sided Frictionite has a very uneven, natural-looking margin between the two grits.

Originally Posted by roughkype

May be my suspicious nature, but it sounds like someone was trying to ride the coattails both of Swaty and of coticules. They sure got in all the key search terms, like Belgian and the letters s-w-a-t-y.

Is there any history of people mining coticules and carving their brands into them?

My two-sided Frictionite (figurative nephew of Swaty) has a very uneven, natural-looking margin between the two grits.

I don't know if the Belgian reference was a search term ploy or a confusion about the hone, but I certainly cannot fault the seller for listing the term "SWATYN" given that is the imprint on the hone.

I've never seen a brand named carved into a coticule.

Some of my Frictionites have wavy margins and some have straight margins. I suspect it is a random effect from the pressing of the hones.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I don't know if the Belgian reference was a search term ploy or a confusion about the hone, but I certainly cannot fault the seller for listing the term "SWATYN" given that is the imprint on the hone.

I've never seen a brand named carved into a coticule.

Some of my Frictionites have wavy margins and some have straight margins. I suspect it is a random effect from the pressing of the hones.

My suspicion isn't of the seller, but of the manufacturer. Like Kriegar---sounds German, but it's still junk trying to absorb some German reputation.

Originally Posted by roughkype

My suspicion isn't of the seller, but of the manufacturer. Like Kriegar---sounds German, but it's still junk trying to absorb some German reputation.

I don't seen any reason to jump to that conclusion. Swaty is an Austrian surname. Swatyn appears to be a Slavic word or name, not German or Austrian. I also have a Swotstein hone. I have no reason to believe that either of the latter names were rip-offs of the Swaty name. For one thing, the Swatyn looks nothing like a Swaty hone, and in fact is a better hone.

I stand corrected. My natural suspicion has probably deprived me of some informative experiences.

Originally Posted by roughkype

I stand corrected. My natural suspicion has probably deprived me of some informative experiences.

It IS a valid suspicion. There WERE companies that made rip-offs of the Swaty. For example, any hone that is labeled "Swaty Three Line Hone" is not a genuine Swaty.

Considering the seller is from Bulgaria or somewhere thereabouts I think we are misinterpreting the symbols as letters and they me be letters but of a different language. it looka like something that would have been manufactured in a communist country around the turn of the 20th century. JMO

I have no idea where the hone is from or when it was made. What is the basis for your comment? I'm not challenging it, I just want to know more.

Its just the impression I get by looking at the sellers location and the "font" for lack of a better word that is used in the lettering of the stone. As I said from what I see its jmo.