Thread: A Couple of Swatys, a Swarty, a Raven, an H.W.C.G. Co., and an Unknown

I guess it is appropriate that the Anchor would stay at the bottom, right?

Very cool, Mike! Thanks for sharing pics and your willingness to help. That really is a nice collection. I will definitely take you up on your offer to help as I continue and have more questions. Any ideas on that one hone I have with the "W H G H Co" marking in the diamond impression? Have you every come across a hone with that abbreviation?

I got a good laugh out of the "Swarty." You gotta love marketing! Like much I encounter, it reminds me of a scene in the Simpsons:



As far as your unknown hone, I would agree with the others that thought it was a natural combo Coticule/Belgian Blue Whetstone. If you learn to use it properly it's likely to be the most valuable of the bunch. You can find mountains of information on how to use it, but you'll need to do a lot of experimenting yourself. Its beauty will come out even more once you've cleaned it off.

I noticed that on at least one corner the yellow part was somewhat thin. If you lap this stone, take care not to lap that corner down to the blue part.

Best of luck!

Originally Posted by Temno

I guess it is appropriate that the Anchor would stay at the bottom, right?

Very cool, Mike! Thanks for sharing pics and your willingness to help. That really is a nice collection. I will definitely take you up on your offer to help as I continue and have more questions. Any ideas on that one hone I have with the "W H G H Co" marking in the diamond impression? Have you every come across a hone with that abbreviation?

I have to admit that that hone is one I am not familiar with. There were so many made back in the day. I'll do a little research for you and see if I can find any info on it. It's funny, but I've found a couple by searching city corporate registries to see what companies existed around the appropriate time frames. Probably the rarest I have found was made the Wester Stone Co. in New York. It turned out they were only in business for 1 year. So maybe I can find something on this one!!

Rare stone there man. Keeper for sure!!

Mike

I'm sorry man, I've exhausted all my resources with no luck on locating the originator of the HWGH co. hone.

If I had a clue as to what the HWG stood for I might have a shot. My assumption started that the final 2 entries H Co. stood for Hone Co., but I think it is wrong.

One thing I did find that I found very interesting is a barbers manual dated to 1895 that had a lot of information on hones, razors, honing and companies in business at the time. Maybe you would like to read some of it. It gives instructions on usages and honing techniques using barbers hones, the makes, hardness and the types of razors best suited to certain hones. Swaty's are mentioned in there, along with some other hones I am familiar with. I found it enlightening. (one part in particular, about taking a dull razor from 100 to 125 strokes on a single stone to get a bevel and hone it to full usability.)

Here is the link if you would like to read it:

Full text of "Essay on barbers' razors, razor hones, razor strops and razor honing .."

Good luck!! and Have fun with them!

Mike

Thanks so much, Mike, for researching the HWGH Co hone. I spent a little while last night lapping it and it seemed a little harder than the Swaty I lapped last week. Anyway, fun stuff! I will definitely take a look at that document. Thanks again.
Jeremy