Thread: Franz Swaty

I buy 3-line Franz Swaty Austrian Straight Razor Hone Vintage.
I'm not sure is this hone lapped, or flattered.
Which grit of sand-paper I must use?

Thnx for answer, guys!

If it was me I would clean the hone with a bristle brush and Comet cleanser or something like it and try it without lapping. If it feels like it still needs to be lapped 325 is what I would use. Some guys begin with 120 and then go 325 and even finer. As much as up to 1,000 to get the shiny finish back.

Agreed...Swaty's are among the hardest substance known to man. They've been known to eat up and spit out DMT's....I've used the DMT XX, then the DMT C, to get where I want to be. Once done, to make it look new and shiny, you need to progress up to 1000grit sandpaper for a nice finish. Like Jimmy said, some comet, and a stiff scrub brush works wonders on the printed type...

Actually, your's look amazingly good...Like it needs no work at all....I'd venture to say your's needs nothing....You can check it's flatness by holding a straight edge diaganolly across the hone, while holding it up to the light. You should see no light between the metal edge, ( I use a steel ruler) and the hone....

The last time I lapped a swaty, I ended up using 220 wet/dry sandpaper.

Originally Posted by zib

Agreed...Swaty's are among the hardest substance known to man. They've been known to eat up and spit out DMT's....I've used the DMT XX, then the DMT C, to get where I want to be. Once done, to make it look new and shiny, you need to progress up to 1000grit sandpaper for a nice finish. Like Jimmy said, some comet, and a stiff scrub brush works wonders on the printed type...

Actually, your's look amazingly good...Like it needs no work at all....I'd venture to say your's needs nothing....You can check it's flatness by holding a straight edge diaganolly across the hone, while holding it up to the light. You should see no light between the metal edge, ( I use a steel ruler) and the hone....

Well, problem is, I don't have DMT's, only 3M sandpaper P600. I don't think that's helpfull.

I would really just try the hone out first before you try to lap it. It looks to be in perfect condition and I would hate to see you lap it unnecessarily and be left with a less pristine surface. Or do as Jimmy says and just clean it, but I would really hesitate to lap it if I were you.

Why lap it? Barber hones were not meant to be lapped, they were meant to be used as is straight from the factory, right out of the box. I have read a lot of instruction sheets from various barber hones, never have I read anything about lapping them. I have only lapped one and in all honesty I dont think I gained a thing. They work fine as they are.

I wouldn't lap it, I think barber hones are (were) made to be hard enough, and smooth enough that they mosty didn't need to be lapped. I had a Reliance barber hone I tried to lap (for the life of me I can't remember why, because it didn't need it) All I accomplished was to wear away the smooth surface. I suppose I could have fixed it by lapping with progressively finer sand paper (I think that's what I used), but it seemed better just to buy a new hone. They were pretty cheap.

I would lap a worn barberhone however yours seems to have been lapped by the (previous) seller. If you're not sure it needs lapping you could lay it on a perfectly flat surface and check if there's any space in between or draw a grid and lap it a bit on high grit sanding paper.

To save yourself some work, you should first check if it needs lapping at all.
If you decide to lap it, you can do it with wet/dry sandpaper, but make sure you glue the paper into some 100% flat platform. Piece of marble etc will do ok. Also make sure you have enough sandpaper paper.