Thread: Swaty?

Can someone tell me about this brand? What are the qualities of these? I've seen them on ebay in the past and seen them referenced here.
thanks

Swaty is highly thought of around here! I couldn't tell you anything about them though, sorry.

I have a couple, they are kinda neat but now have other hones I like more...but they are keepers

A quick search on Swaty and here are some threads for you to read:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/searc...earchid=312166

Lots of info

A couple of people have recently told me (phone conversations) that the Swaty stones have been increasing in price lately and now someone here mentions that they are highly thought of. I'd love to know why.

Swaty hones are fast, high grit barber hones. They are used for touching up an edge that has just begun to dull. I don't know what the grit equivalent is, maybe 10K or so. They are a bit unusual among barber hones in that you can quickly overhone an edge with them. Most barber hones are slower cutters.

The prices on eBay Swatys have been out of control for as long as I've been paying attention, which is about a year and a half. In my opinion, they are vastly over priced. If you could get one in good shape for around $20, that would be worth it. I've seen them go for $80 or $100. For that amount, there are much better hones out there.

There is a weird element that I've noticed with straight razor stuff on eBay. The law of supply and demand suggests that a plentiful item will be less expensive than a rarer one. Swatys are among the more common barber hones, but they fetch high prices. I think what's going on is that people don't have any info on the other brands of barber hones. Swatys are easy to identify, and they're common enough that they've developed a reputation. Many of the less common hones are just as good or even better, but they don't get discussed.

The same goes for some of the cult brands of razors, like Dubl Ducks and Wade & Butcher. They are good razors, but there are others that are just as good. Since these brands are relatively plentiful, they have a reputation and thus the price goes up.

Supply and demand assumes that everyone has the information needed to make good decisions, and I think the information component is what is missing in these cases.

Josh

Originally Posted by Howard

A couple of people have recently told me (phone conversations) that the Swaty stones have been increasing in price lately and now someone here mentions that they are highly thought of. I'd love to know why.

For some reason, they were always talked up over the other barber hones. Joe Lerch was a big fan of them as I recall. I bought one about a year and half ago for around $25, but I've never really been able to get it to work any better than my other barber hones (which is not well) - not that I've put much time into them.

Jordan

I've just started honing so take my input in context.
I am using a swaty between my norton 8k and the 3M .5 micron paper.

After some mild lapping with the norton 8k I find it to be a very smooth hard hone (smoother and harder than the 8k). I've been honing with water.

I am finding that it takes quite a bit of honing to bring the edge up from the 8k to the swaty but truthfully it might not have been "8k ready" yet so I may have worked harder than I needed to. - YMMV

Hopefully I should see a chinese 12k in the mail this week so I will be able to get a better sense of where the swaty fits in from a grit perspective but it is definitely a jump up from the norton 8k and requires a little patience.

You also have to be a little careful with your honing. I am developing a small frown on this hone as I don't have the technique for it.

- Bob

It's a nice little barbers hone. They do tend to go for more than they are worth though.

It is my most used hone. I get a razor shave ready on the 4/8000 grit hones and then I use this hone here and there as needed to keep my razors shaving sharp. It only takes about five strokes to improve the edge of a razor that beginning to pull and nevr more than twenty to go from there to over honed. Some of my razor haven't been on the 4/8000 since I got them. They have just been touched up on the swaty five strokes here or there. They are still going after more than a year without any other work than daily stroping.