Swaty owners sound off

[JPDyson]

I picked up a Swaty on BST (not here yet) and I'm looking for some tips on caring for/maintaining and using this bad boy. I've read a few threads, but some inconsistent info (or at least, not clear to me):

Do you lap these?

Water? Lather? Dry?

What's the approximate grit?

Is this a good maintenance stone for already honed razors? About how many passes would you start with to "freshen up" an edge?

 

[Slartibartfast]

I would do 5 strokes, strop, then test.

If it is clean and flat allready, you will probably never need to lap it again.

You can use it with just water or lather.

 

[Utopian]

Do you lap these?

Only if you find it necessary after trying it. However, you probably should chamfer the edges anyway in order to reduce the likelihood of an aberrant stroke damaging your edge. If your hone has chips in it, they can be fixed by just rounding out the area where the chip transitions into the plane of the hone surface. You can do this by wrapping sandpaper around a pencil, larger dowel, or your finger, depending on the size of the chip.

Water? Lather? Dry?

You can use it with any of those options as per the original Swaty directions. In fact you can also use oil, though I don't recommend it. I don't like water because it beads up on the non-porous surface and quickly gets pushed off the hone. I prefer diluted lather or any soap or detergent because it prevents the beading. I simply wet the hone and then do one barely touching stroke of a lathered brush on the hone. Then rub the lather around to even distribute it.

What's the approximate grit?

Most estimate it to be in the range of 10k to 12k but that doesn't tell the whole story. The CHARACTER of the grit can matter as much as its size.

Is this a good maintenance stone for already honed razors? About how many passes would you start with to "freshen up" an edge?

Absolutely yes. I have a rotation of razors in my locker at a gym and I have maintained them with nothing but barber hones for the past 6 years. The first 3 years were with nothing but a Swaty and a Carborundum. Both worked, I just alternated occasionally because I had both hones.

Regarding number of strokes, as stated above, start with 5. Then strop and shave and see how it is. If it's still not up to snuff, then do it again the next day. The key to using a barber hone is to never use it to sharpen your razor so much as to use it to keep your razor sharp. That is, as soon as you feel any diminishment in the quality of your shave, that is the time to touch up the razor.