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

Hey, guys! I've got six hones there that I'd like to show you and to get your thoughts on their usability and (in some cases) their manufacturers and uses.

First the twin Swatys. You will notice that there is some wear on the edges and a few chips. That shouldn't be a problem for me using them, right? I am just learning how to use a barber hone for touching up.

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I'm not too sure about the Swarty. The surface of the stone is not very smooth at all. There are alot of pits of various sizes and flecks in it. I can't imagine using it on a straight razor with those pits in it, but it is the size and shape of a barber hone. So, I'd be interested if anyone has any ideas about this hone. Also, any ideas about how to get the rust stains off the back side?

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And then comes my Raven hone. It seems to be in pretty serviceable condition now after washing off a bunch of dried on 'goo' with some hot water and soap.

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Next comes the "Mysterious" H W G H Co" hone. I have done a little searching on the internet about the marking on this next hone: "H W G H Co" But I haven't been able to find anything about what the letters stand. Do any of you have a hone like this or know anything about who made it? It seems to be pretty good, I guess. It looks and feels alot like the Swatys.

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And finally the unmarked two-tone hone. I would appreciate it if anyone could comment on this one by looking at it. Does it look like a razor hone? Any idea about its grit? The cream colored side feels more smooth than the darker side. Anyone have something like it?

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Thanks for looking and giving any helps you can! Happy shaving!

Type " lapping " in the search window up top, all of those barber hones should come out real nice with some work. The last one is a natural bbw/coticule combo, very good stone for honing, do a search on that also.

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I have a Raven and it is very hard. A mother to lap even on a DMT8C. That coticule is nice, what size is it?

Nice finds! What are the dimensions of the last one(natural combo)?

You don't any of them except the coticle...

I've succesfully lapped my Swaty by using a DMT325 followed by 800 grit wet sandpaper laid on a hard, straight surface. Be prepared to put a fair amount of work, these are quite hard stones. If you don't have a DMT, you may use similar grit sandpaper. When finished lapping, chamfer the edges of the stone and check carefully that there aren't any chips left - if the blade catches in these... outch!

I'd personally leave that "Swarty" alone, probably doesn't worth the effort. Try to work on the two Swatys and the natural. The natural looks nice, seems to be a "combo" stone - the darker part may be Belgian Blue or unusable black shist; can't tell, honestly, I don't know very much about these. The Belgian blue is rated around 4000-5000 grit AFAIK. The white/yellow part is a coticule, rated somewhere between 6000 and 8000 grit. It should be easier to lap than the barber hones.

Regards,
Adrian

Depending on the characteristics of the coticule, you may have yourself a really nice finisher. I bought a coticule last week, and I'm loving it.

I'll post up some pics for your of some barbers hones I have. Very similar to yours, and all cleaned up very nice with some lapping.

The swaty's are hard as heck, so be prepared to work on them a while.

SMooth out the chips and chamfer the edges.

The rust will come out with lapping. It's only on the surface.

The raven is a great stone and also very hard and high grit.

THe last one looks a lot like a Frictionite to me. I have had several. Lap it lightly on the light side and it will be an amazing touch up stone. I have a winner hone that looks very similar as you will see in the pics I post later.

Great haul there IMO. I love my barbers hones and have owned probably 30+. I still keep several that I thought were my best hones, sold off the rest (Thanks Rene!!) or traded them for razors.

Enjoy!!!

Mike

Thanks, guys, for your information and advice--very helpful to me as I enjoy learning about hones, honing, and these hones in particular!

The dimensions of the bbw?/coticule is 2.5" x 5" x 5/8". I've not tried lapping it yet, but I will soon. I'm glad to hear it is probably a good stone.

You know, I've been getting mixed messages on the need to lap the barber hones, but I went ahead and lapped one of the Swatys last night on a sheet of Norton 400 wet/dry sand paper. I think it worked pretty well. I used the pencil line grid method and found that there was a slight high spot in the middle of the hone. I was surprised by this. Anyway, all the pencil marks were gone after about 10 minutes of gentle lapping. I did the lines again and they seemed to go away almost at once. So, I think I'm good to go with some touch-ups!

Thanks, Adrian and Mike, for the useful information. I had the same thought about the Swarty. My suspicion was that the "Swarty" was at one point an attempted imitation of the "Swaty." Could there be any truth to that idea? Anyway, the quality of the stone is highly suspect, i.e. has little pits on the surface and lighter colored flecks in the stone itself.

I will be looking for the pics of the hones you mentioned, Mike. What grit of wet/dry paper should I use to lap the light side of the coticule (or Frictionite)?

Jeremy

I think you hit the 'imitation Swaty' right on the money. There were several attempts to cash in on the name back in the day.

Now not everyone will agree with me on this, so I say up front: IMO ok? Everything everybody does is to their liking, so you find what you like and follow your heart.

First, I have no problem lapping barbers hones. As with any hone, I'm not going to run my precious razors over a surface that is suspect. Now having said that, on the hones that I have lapped, I did so becuase the surface was 100 years old and looked like a 100 year old surface. Pits, corrosion, etc.. I lap to remove the crap and get to the good surface, then I refinish them as close to the factory finish as possible by taking them from the DMT 325 up to and including 8k grits. I usually don't do both sides of a single surface hone (meaning not a combo) to the same level. I read in a barbers manual back when, that they would finish the front to say 1k and the back to 4k so that they had differing finishes simulating different grits. That way a couple laps on the front followed by a couple on the back usually finished an edge pretty good. It only takes 5-6 laps on a barbers hone to pick a blade edge right up. Don't over do it or you will ruin the edge.

Here are some pics of my favorite barbers hones. Most have been refinished up to 8k, or by rubbing two stones of the same grit together until some dry slurry forms. That usually polishes them up pretty good.

Pics follow:Attachment 90995Attachment 90996Attachment 90998Attachment 90999Attachment 91000Attachment 91001Attachment 91002Attachment 91003Attachment 91004

Please note the absolute absence of chips or nicks on all save one, which is still 'under restoration'.

They are: The best of my collection in total, 2 pics,
My Anchor in original hand made container, the small stone is a safety blade sharpener, a side shot of my American Hone Company 'Winner' hone with a Washita on one side, unknown material on the bottom of much higher grit, my Robeson 'Sure Edge' which goes with my Robeson razors really nicely, a Strop Back hone and Kroner Special, my Satis-Factory and Keen Kutter, A Tonsorial Gem in virtually pristine condition, it is a 2 sided combo hone as well, my 2 remaining Swaty's, one is an original 'Pike Swaty' that still had the sticker attached when I got it,

I restored the ones that needed it and kept the factory polish on the ones that I could. All my remaining barbers hones that I kept (out of about 30) were the very best of the best I had bought, only letting a few go to a friend on the forums here and selling off the rest.

Don't be scared off by the Swarty's apparent poor surface. Lap it up and see what is underneath. You might just be amazed and elated at what you find. I don't think there were any really 'bad' hones made back then. Experiment and decide for yourself.

If you have any other question that I can possibly answer for you, please just ask! I love barbers stones and have done considerable research on them. I know just enough to be dangerous! LOL.

Good luck mate!! and Enjoy your stones!

Mike

p.s. I dont know why that crappy pic is stuck on the bottom here, I tried to remove it, but it just keeps coming back! :)

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

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:

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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!

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Originally Posted by Temno

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

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?

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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