Thread: Franz Swaty hone, Austrian

Originally Posted by Gibbs

Back on track of the OP, me, the Franz Swaty might be alright as a touch up stone, but that would be about the limit of it's use? What about the Pike Emerald Green stone I also got in this deal? It is about the same size as the Swaty, but says "Emerald" on it and it defenitely is green. Are both the Swaty and Pike used with water? They both have some minor chips around the edge of the hones in places, should I pay them no heed or do I need to do someting about rounding the edges a bit?

Barber hones were made to touch up a razor's edge. Not to finish a razor in the same way that a Naniwa 12k does. OTOH, when I got started I had a the Norton starter set and a Swaty. At that time in SRP a lot of guys rated a Swaty at 10 or 12k, I have no idea if that is accurate. One way or the other I would do pyramids and 'finish' on the Swaty with water only. Seemed to be alright but as soon as I got a high grit sure enough finisher I relegated the Swaty to a touch up stone. A Swaty, according to the instructions that came with the hones, can be used dry, with water or lather, or with "Swaty Oil". Probably a thin honing oil.

I always round edges but chips can be ignored if they don't make contact with the edge of the razor. I don't know anything about the Emerald Green stone. Pike made good synthetics so it is probably a decent touch up stone. All you can do is try it and see what your results are. If you are lucky it will be the equivalent of a $100.00 bottle of wine instead of a pint of Night Train.

Originally Posted by Gibbs

Back on track of the OP, me, the Franz Swaty might be alright as a touch up stone, but that would be about the limit of it's use? What about the Pike Emerald Green stone I also got in this deal? It is about the same size as the Swaty, but says "Emerald" on it and it defenitely is green. Are both the Swaty and Pike used with water? They both have some minor chips around the edge of the hones in places, should I pay them no heed or do I need to do someting about rounding the edges a bit?

You CAN do more extensive work with a barber hone. In fact, you can go all the way from setting a bevel with one, but that is not its intended purpose. Its strength is in maintenance of an already sharp edge. That pretty much applies for most barber hones.

I have no experience with the Emerald hone. Most barber hones are to be used with water or lather, though some do better when used dry. The Swaty is not porous, so water beads up on it and is easily pushed off the hone. By adding just a little lather to the water on the hone, surface tension is broken and water is evenly distributed on the hone.

Chips can be problematic if they are on both sides of one face of the hone. If chips are only on one side then they will not impact honing if the chipped side is positioned away from your honing hand. If chips are on both sides, then you might need to deal with them. Using sandpaper, just chamfer the edges of the hone along its long sides and chamfer the edges of the chip as well. For smaller chips, wrap the sandpaper around a pencil, using either the shaft or tapered part of the pencil depending on the size of the chip.

Edit: Sorry for the post redundancy with Jimmy's. I started to respond and then walked away for a while. Jimmy, if you send me both bottles, with the labels removed but coded by you, I will test both bottles for the sake of science.

Thanks Ron, and Jimmy! Ron, you forgot I have a 1" X 30" belt sander, so I can probably put on a 120 or 220 grit, and kiss the edges of the stones. They both have those small "flakes". Kind or reminds me of when I flint knap, and I purposedly try to strike a flake across the stone face.

I'll try and find some more info on that "Pike Emerald" I can take a picture if you want. when wet it is really green.

I also have a Belgian yellow Coticule slurry stone. It makes a milk white slurry when I rub it on a stone. A light skim of garnets wouln't hurt anyting now would it?

Sure, you can smooth the edges with the belt sander. On the edge of the belt, you can probably smooth out the interior of any chips so no need for the pencil.

If it's convenient, pictures are always appreciated.

Are you asking about slurry on top of the barber hone? Honestly, I've never tried that, so I'm not sure how it will go. Barber hones are already fast for touch ups, but I suppose it might help if you really wanted to play with one for bevel setting.

Here you go Ron, pictures. The top one is a close up of the Pike Emerald. Notice that there is a Northern Pike fish in the TM. Second picture is of the Emerals Pike next to a 8000 grit honing stone that is 2" x 4" as a size comparison. I took off some on the edges that had chips along the edge so that there were no more chips.

Originally Posted by Gibbs

I got in the Franz Swaty stone today, nice shape, nice and flat. Also, along with it was an Emerald Pike. Very nice flat stone, but defenitely emerald green. Anyone ever heard of them?

Vern I can't help with the Pike either I am sorry. I have a red one called a 'Pike Handihone' that I have seen sell occasionally for quite high prices but I do not rate it much higher than about 8k.

Just purely out of interest, have you attempted to lap your Swaty yet?

When I lapped mine it felt a lot like this

Originally Posted by MykelDR

Just purely out of interest, have you attempted to lap your Swaty yet?

When I lapped mine it felt a lot like this

By lapping you mean using my razor on it? If that is the question, then yes. If you mean have I put it on a flat stone with a lapping screen to get it absolutely flat, that answer is no. If you are meaning, did I "lap" it, like like it with my toungue, that is yes.. it is chocolate.

Originally Posted by Gibbs

By lapping you mean using my razor on it? If that is the question, then yes. If you mean have I put it on a flat stone with a lapping screen to get it absolutely flat, that answer is no. If you are meaning, did I "lap" it, like like it with my toungue, that is yes.. it is chocolate.

Yum yum how lucky you are! Mine tasted mostly of oil and grease on the lower notes while trumpeting a distinctive metallic upper tone toward the ceiling of the palate.

I was, in fact, referring to the second type of lapping you mentioned.

Tough going would be an understatement.

How did you find the performance of the Swaty?

I like it well. It's hard and seemed to work very well with what little experience I have with razor hones. I have even tried it with Belgian Coticule slurry and figured it and the Swaty would play nice.
Looked nice under 20x loupe but I suspect it was always meant to be just a touch up stone post honing and after stropping and shaving.. just to "refresh" it a bit.

I have both a Swaty and a ChiCom stone. My experience with both is the Swaty is a good touch up hone as said. After going through a progression from 1k, 4k, and 8k I find that I get a better shave bypassing the ChiCom hone and going to a paddle strop with .5 micron diamond paste and another with CrOx, followed by stropping on linen and leather.

That said, I've never been able to get a nice slurry on it and it almost literally drinks water. I'm not giving up on it, just setting it aside for use another day.