I just resurrected an old junker Swaty that I got on eBay. It had huge chips in the edges and some gouges in the face, but some elbow grease and 400-grit sandpaper smoothed things out, and now it's usable. :y
I have a couple of questions about using it, though. I'm interested in how everyone uses these things.
1. It seems like the consensus is that you can "oversmooth" an edge. Would honing a razor on the Norton and finishing it with a few dozen laps on the Swaty "oversmooth" it?
2. In the same vein, can you maintain an edge indefinitely with a Swaty, or will it become oversmoothed at some point and have to go back onto something coarser?
3. How do you hold your Swaty? I'm using mine in the palm of my hand, with my hand open flat, but I'm finding that on the X-stroke away from my body the end of the hone closer to me wants to tip up as the tip of the razor moves onto it. That seems like it would cause uneven pressure as I'm honing.
4. What is your routine when you're using the Swaty to finish an edge as opposed to refreshing it? I'm wondering about pressure/no pressure, number of strokes, dry, wet or with lather, etc.
5. Do you still use a pasted paddle, or does the Swaty provide enough improvement over the Norton 8K?
Thanks,
Josh