Thread: Who knows David Kein?

In September 2002 there was an article in a local thuringian newspaper about the shochet David Kein from New York, who loves to sharpen his knifes that he use to slaughter animals on hones of the company J.G. Escher & son.





He described in the article that he found an Escher stone 32 years ago on a flew market in Brooklyn and from this time on he used only Escher stones for sharpening his knifes for kosher butchering.
He had a lot of contact with people in Sonneberg and Steinach to research the history of the hones and to get more “material”.
And indeed I met and spoke some of this people who did remember David Kein and his interest in thuringian waterwhetstones and who sent him some hones.

David Kein further explains in the article that he got a different knife for each animal and that he prefers Escher waterhones to all other whetstones, namely Arkansas, Japanese stones and newer thuringians, such as Müller waterwhetstones from Germany. Only the Belgian coticules come somehow close and have a good quality.




He also give stones that he collects to other younger shochets that are in education. At the end of the article he gives a call for Escher hones to all people that read this newspaper and still own one of those fantastic stones. He also left his address in the article, Brooklyn, New York to send him the hones.

Maybe somebody from the States or a SRP member from New York has heard about David Kein or maybe even know him or one of his students.

I think it would be interesting to discuss the usage of Escher hones for sharpening kosher knifes and also hear about his experiences and knowledge about the hones.

I don't have a clue but I'd be willing to bet you could find other professional types who would say the same about other types of stones and swear theirs were the best.

Quite interesting and Thank You for sharing. I'm sure we all know that we're not the only people that use fine hones in what we do, so it's always neat to hear about other and their experiences as well.

Originally Posted by Catrentshaving

Quite interesting and Thank You for sharing. I'm sure we all know that we're not the only people that use fine hones in what we do, so it's always neat to hear about other and their experiences as well.

On the other hand,I have a very elderly Nieghbor, he was a Mohel for over 50 yrs,Blue green eshers were his stone of choice also.
He says Jnats just did not work out for him or his customers.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

On the other hand,I have a very elderly Nieghbor, he was a Mohel for over 50 yrs,Blue green eshers were his stone of choice also.
He says Jnats just did not work out for him or his customers.

I heard the pay wasn't so good, but he got a lot of tips ........

I'd love to be able to ask David Kein how he uses his eschers ....... slurry, or water only, x strokes or circles, back and forth strokes ? How long a hone will last before it begins to dish, wear out ? Does he flatten his hones ? Interesting to know how all that plays out in an application other than straight razors.

I had a 9x2 escher that I eventually sold that when I got it, had enormous sway in it (or at least that's the term for an anvil that is worn very hollow in the middle). It's possible that someone was using it to sharpen knives. I sure didn't.

I had to sell it three times, though, as the bottom half wasn't as good as the top half probably was. My second buyer was an orthodox jewish guy from NY, I don't know what he wanted it for, though - he didn't say. After he bought it, he told me his "wife didn't like it", despite being fully aware of its flaws when he bought it.

All that said, an escher does no more for a knife than $5 slab of biggs jasper. Biggs jasper might be a bit too hard for razors, but it's an excellent edge chaser for tools and knives.