Help from my Auzzie friends? or others

Austria - Australia

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>It's easy to tell the difference between Austria and Australia - the kangaroos in Austria wear ski jackets, and when they're whooping it up (NOT with Foster's), they're holding steins.

I'll have to look when I get home, if I remember (unlikely), but some of those European finishing stones, especially the clay stones (bit of a contradiction there?), are supposed to be really good.

Clay Stones?

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>Bill,

I wish you hadn't mentioned them. I think I passed on one about a month ago due to shortage of $$ at the time, and this was after the guy who ended up buying it tried to talk me into buying it. Just seemed that it wouldn't be worth the $2 the seller wanted for it. I did pick up two stones while in Maryland last March that appear to be made of brick mortor. They are real whiteish and seem to be on the light side. there is some writing on them but off the top of my head I don't recall what it is. Can you shed any light into the darkness concerning these?

Todd O.

Re: Help from my Auzzie friends? or others

Christian Aufreiter, Austria

>Hi Ernie,

unfortunately I've never heard about this company. Actually, I don't even know where this Marburg should be. There's a Marburg in Germany http://www.marburg.de/ and another Marburg (Maribor) http://www.maribor-tourism.si/slo/danes.asp in Slovenija. This town in Slovenija belonged to the k.k. Monarchy which existed until 1918 so I guess the text on the stown is referring to this town. This would mean that the stone must be quiet old. I'll try to find out more.

Hope this helps,

Christian

Re: Help from my Auzzie friends? or others

Todd Hughes

>Sounds like a stone ment to be used with Straight Razzors , these often have have a name in them.Have to admit to never used one to sharpen anything,[at least i can't remember doing so] but don't see why they wouldn't be OK. I do think they were cast in a mold and don't know if that affects anything......Todd

Re: Help from my Auzzie friends? or others

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>Well, they look to come up on eBay with some degree of frequency:

FRANZ SWATY Sharpening Stone No Reserve

HONE STONE BY FRANZ SWATY AUSTRIA

Old Barber Straight Razor Hone Franz Swaty Box

Also, Jay Roberts posted a similar question last February. Might want to check with him.

From the auctions, they appear to be razor hones. 'Course, we all know the accuracy and voracity of eBay text, don't we?

Chris the Honorary Aussie

Andrew F in Australia

>Hi Chris,

Thanks for this - I've never heard of them.

One of my favourite T-shirts when I was younger was one that I got in Austria - it had a big picture of a kangaroo on it, above the picture was the word "Austria" and below it was the text "please don't ask me about our kangaroos", in English.

Cheers,

Andrew

Re: Chris the Honorary Aussie

Christian Aufreiter, Austria

>Hi Andrew,

that must have been a nice shirt;-)

Which places did you visit in Austria?

Regards,

Christian