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Swaty Barbers Hone History Maribor, Jugoslavien

Does anyone have an in depth history of the Franz Swaty Hone history, I have a few and then ran across this one I can find no info on.

Franz Swaty, Maribor Jugoslavien

My guess is this one is after Franz (the father) died?
$Swaty Ygoslovia 2 line-4 cropped (Copy).jpg
 
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The first Swaty hones were made in Wahring, Austria.
following that - the Swaty dude's son (I think) started making them in Marburg Austria.

Maribor is Mahrberg, same geographic location, it was renamed after the fall of the Austria-Hungarian empire.

I have a Maribor Swaty. Mine is a 3 line hone, and the name is spelled differently; Franc Swaty.
 
I now really wonder how many varieties are there? My assumption is they are the same stone , (with the exception of the 8"), different names.
 
There's a bunch of different naming conventions, off the top of my head;

3 line Wahring
2 line Marburg
3 line Franc Swaty Maribor
2 line Franz Swaty Maribor
3 line Franz Swaty Vormals Marburg
 
Do these work well? How many passes? I am looking for something to use to keep my straights in shape without going broke on lots of stones or films. Thanks.
 
Most of these barber hones work extremely well, especially as "refreshers", There are so many different ones on the market "it's hard to see the forest for the trees". As far as I can tell there is no definitive guide to all that is available so it is easy to get "BHAS" (Barber hone acquisition syndrome). As you can tell from this thread, there are an unknown number or variants for just the Swaty's, (which happen to be a very well known brand and an excellent hone).

Although there is a hone review, There are a lot of good hones not yet listed. It does seem they are adding more hones on a regular basis.

Hope this helps.......
 
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So far, my experience with b-hones in general shows scattered results.
Many, possibly most, of them have not been great. Some are very very nice to use though.

But Swatys - for me - have been pretty solid. They dont seem to pull up a wire edge no matter what you do, which is a plus. I haven't tested a boatload of them but I think, in all probability, that they're all very servicable.
I also find that a lot of their performance relies heavily on them being flattened, surfaced well, and conditioned.

They're not finishing stones - they will not return a Jnat edge to Jnat status.
They're touch up hones made for a quick fix or to keep a 'fair' edge going for a very long time.
With practice, and proper hone-prep, I can eek out a pretty darn good edge on mine.
I have a 3-line Wahring coming, after I lap it (ugh...) I'm going to compare it to the Maribor.
 
The first Swaty hones were made in Wahring, Austria.
following that - the Swaty dude's son (I think) started making them in Marburg Austria.

Maribor is Mahrberg, same geographic location, it was renamed after the fall of the Austria-Hungarian empire.

I have a Maribor Swaty. Mine is a 3 line hone, and the name is spelled differently; Franc Swaty.

Would you happen to know the date range of the first ones? maybe a pic?
 
You're making my brain work OT on this... I forget the bits and pieces of this story.
I am usually good about saving data like this - but I never did compile any info on Swatys so it's all loose info floating around between my ears.
At one time, it was believed that the 2 line Marburg hone was the first, and the 3 Wahring line followed.
It was also believed that Franz Swaty started his business in Marburg.
The 3 line Wahring was always the favored hone.

Then - someone found documentation, instructions with a Swaty hone - stating that Franz Swaty from Wahring died in 1888.
That would indicate the 3 line Wahring hones were the first, and after that - the 2 line hones were made by his son in Marburg (renamed Maribor later on).
The company started in the late 1870s, was still in business in 2005 or so but I don't know if they're still in business.
 
You're making my brain work OT on this... I forget the bits and pieces of this story.
I am usually good about saving data like this - but I never did compile any info on Swatys so it's all loose info floating around between my ears.
At one time, it was believed that the 2 line Marburg hone was the first, and the 3 Wahring line followed.
It was also believed that Franz Swaty started his business in Marburg.
The 3 line Wahring was always the favored hone.

Then - someone found documentation, instructions with a Swaty hone - stating that Franz Swaty from Wahring died in 1888.
That would indicate the 3 line Wahring hones were the first, and after that - the 2 line hones were made by his son in Marburg (renamed Maribor later on).
The company started in the late 1870s, was still in business in 2005 or so but I don't know if they're still in business.

Would this be one of the earlier 3 Line hones?

$Swaty Wahring 3 LN-6 (Copy).jpg
 
The first Swaty hones were made in Wahring, Austria.
following that - the Swaty dude's son (I think) started making them in Marburg Austria.

Maribor is Mahrberg, same geographic location, it was renamed after the fall of the Austria-Hungarian empire.

I have a Maribor Swaty. Mine is a 3 line hone, and the name is spelled differently; Franc Swaty.

When the name is spelled differently, with a "c"in Franc instead of a "z", then you're getting help with dating the hone. (Keep in mind that their might very well have been a delay in the change due to production methods.) The town didn't just change its name, it became a part of Yugoslavia and the German population there were "encouraged" by the Slovenes to leave. The change in spelling of Swaty's name reflects this change in power as it goes from a German to a Slavic spelling. Same with the name of the town. What would be interesting to know is what role the Swaty family played in the town's politics. Were they ethnic Germans who left Austria to help Germanize the rest of the Empire or were they originally Slavic and found Wahring, a suburb of Vienna, too inhospitable? Did Franz change his name because he had to or was it an expression of ethnic pride once free of Austrian rule?

By the way, things did not go well in Maribor during WW2. It ended up being the most damaged major city in all of Yugoslavia.


EDIT: Got curious about this and looked up "Swaty". There is a town in Poland called Swaty. It may be that the family left for Vienna in the 18th century as Poland was being divided by Russia, Prussia and the Austrian-Hungarian empires. This kind of movement due to emerging nationalist government was common in that part of the world.
 
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Wow, this is getting way too interesting.....Love it. I can almost date some of my hones.....

We need a thank you button on the posts....
 
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