Thread: How many classic barber hones do you have?

I only have a couple. A three line Swaty and a Pike Koenig.
They both work real well.

Pete <:-}

Originally Posted by sharptonn

It seems to me they were come-about with the advent of hard American steel?
Some are really fast.
Modine knows more than anyone about these.
Where IS Modine?

I've been wondering where a few guys were. I was going to ask you!"

I've had many and to be honest I never liked their edges, too coarse for me.

right now I have a three line swaty which I never use and an old kraftman hone which is a lot finer than the swaty but still not good enough.
IMO jnats and coticules are much better.

A seller on eBay recently posted a few NOS S.R. Droescher 3-line Swaty barber hones. The boxes look lovely:

Just one, a 3 line Swaty, don't need anything else.

I know..its a few months old. Had to make my contribution.

I've got four.

1. Ahconite.

2. Fast & Fine. For Barbers Use.

3. Champion

4. Franz Swatty, 3 line.









Their quite impressive in their own right, but the Swatty has been the most impressive. Very comparable to my B/G Escher, in comfort. Albeit a bit of leather.

Forgot all about this thread. I had gotten a few more hones, but to scrape together some money I sold them recently.
I doubt Barber Hones would do any better than my Thuri, so I'm trying not to have sellers remorse!
I still enjoy the history and aesthetics of the old barber hones. Hopefully I'll find some more down the road.

Ive got one.
Apart barber hone. Havent really put it to much use as i havent had many razors yet that need a touch up. Guess i should break it out and give it a go.

I've got about 6 at the moment. I like them well enough they're not going anywhere.

Favorite is a tough one though...I'm probably gonna have to go with the 3 line Swaty, since that's the one I actively use the most. The rest rarely see action, but that's not because they're inferior by any stretch of the imagination. The Swaty is just the one that lives in the bathroom.

The Swaty makes an edge about like my Norton 8K, and it does it pretty darn fast. The Raven and Celtes hones give my Shapton Kuromaku 12K a run for it's money. The 2 sided pike is a bit small for my liking, but the coarse side is nice for a quick small repair and the fine side feels about like the Swaty. My AHC 2 sided hone is about the same, just a little bit bigger thus easier to work with.

The glass hone is just fun to play with. It has a sort of textured/frosted honing surface meant to be used with soapstone pencil or a slate to make a slurry according to it's directions. The results I've gotten from it can mimic the slate stone, or if you do your final strokes on pure clean glass the edge gets extremely crisp and sharp - again giving my Kuromaku 12k a run for it's money.

So far I've not met one I don't like.

When I started with a straight 20 or so years ago barber hones were all the rage. I had quite a collection of them, probably 25 or so. I wound up giving them all away years ago except for 1 a swaty.