Thread: Escher skills

Hi, i need some advise please.
I have 3 Hart Steel razors. One 7/8 Mirrored square point and two 6/8 "Not a Replica" blades.
Personally i think Hart Steel make the best blades.
I also have the Shapton hones 1k/4k/8k/16k and 30k. My honing skills are coming along and with my stropping i'm getting very nice edges. Also i use that optical powder to polish it up at the end.
Like a fool i dropped one of my "Not a Replica" blades and managed to chip it. This happened before i had the shapton stones, so i sent it off to america for Hart Steel to repair it, which they did.
I know they finish on Escher stones.
The edge on my returned blade is on another level and im gobsmacked by it.
Can i achieve such an edge with my 30k shapton or would i need a natural stone for that kinda finish?
Or is it just down to skill or both?
Thanks for your imput.
Happy New Year Also

Different stones finish differently, and the edges feel differently.
30k Shaptin edge will not feel the same as Escher or Coticule or Jnat edge.
You will achieve the greater sharpness with the 30k Shapton, but probably the edge will not feel like Escher edge.

I don't have the 30k shapton but have the 1,2,4,8,16 shapton glass! I take the razor through the SG progression then go to the Escher/Turingian. I don't get more sharpness from the turi, but gain the smoothness from it. What I'm looking is to change the scratch pattern along the edge, to get that turi buttery feel, with light strokes.

You don't need a big stone for that. One of my favorite edges is from a 1 1/8" wide X 5" long light grey turi, that I use after the 16k SG.

Double O

"Buttery Feel" thats what im missing. That effortless cutting through hairs with no noise.
What kinda stone do i need to buy?
I did look into the Nakayama stones but they are a bit too expensive and i cant even understand the web site really.

Originally Posted by JOB15

"Buttery Feel" thats what im missing. That effortless cutting through hairs with no noise.
What kinda stone do i need to buy?
I did look into the Nakayama stones but they are a bit too expensive and i cant even understand the web site really.

The noise you refer to is not dictated by how the blade was honed,is all about the grind.

Would this do the job? The job being that ultra smooth finish.
BLUE GREEN ESCHER WATER HONE STONE RARE | eBay

Seriously ???

$250 for an unknown chunk of rock

If it doesn't have an Escher Label it isn't an Escher, it might be a Thüringen but it isn't an Escher unless it can be proved


Just my Opinion:
If you hand me a Hart razor and my choice of hones, yes I do own a B/G Escher, I would choose the Shapton GS system or the Naniwa SS System every time over my Escher ...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Seriously ???

$250 for an unknown chunk of rock

thanks

The Escher grits seem to be 10k-12k.
How could i go from a shapton 30k to finish on a Escher 10k.
dosnt make sense to me.
excuse my ignorance plz

Originally Posted by JOB15

The Escher grits seem to be 10k-12k.
How could i go from a shapton 30k to finish on a Escher 10k.
dosnt make sense to me.
excuse my ignorance plz

You don't. most people would shift to the Escher at either the 8k or even the 16k level, it depends on your abilities and face,, If you can get a close comfortable shave off the 8k Shapton then you could shift there, if not then you might need to go to the 16k and shift or even perhaps practice at the 8k level more...