Thread: Help with hone... Escher?

Originally Posted by AndrewJM

Yes I know the size is small But I couldn't justify spending a fortune on a larger one.

The one I currently have is the same size, and have only used it to refresh one razor, but the size seemed usable but not preferable. From what Ive read it only takes a dozen or less passes to put the final polish on an edge before stropping? If this is the case, I don't mind doing a few more to cover the blade length, and was able to easily keep the blade flat and flush with the stone whilst doing it.

All it matters is that the stone works for you, a bigger stone wont yield better results, if you take the time to learn what works on this stone you will get good results every time.

Nothing more to add then it is an Escher labelled Stone as it has the Escher Cup....Price was ok, but not that cheap as the Size is a smal sized one....but i wish you much fun with this one !!!

it seems to be an interesting one, as this one has some fine striations or colours (as i look right at the pictures)....

I too have recently bought a Thuringian, of which I do not know it is an Escher, but the label attached to this one is really suggestive. It clearly shows the little hammers from the Escher label(s) and it has "ES" in it's trademark logo, which for me clearly refers to Escher Sohn. It's a nice hone however and it feels and acts like the other small black/blue Thuringian I own.
Why do I believe it is not an Escher? It's because I have never seen this label in any document or web page summing up the different Escher labels, in which the goblet and/or the 2 or 4 people are always present.
Anyone have an idea of the miner or company for this one?

Thanks in advance,
Han.

Originally Posted by handamen

I too have recently bought a Thuringian, of which I do not know it is an Escher, but the label attached to this one is really suggestive. It clearly shows the little hammers from the Escher label(s) and it has "ES" in it's trademark logo, which for me clearly refers to Escher Sohn. It's a nice hone however and it feels and acts like the other small black/blue Thuringian I own.
Why do I believe it is not an Escher? It's because I have never seen this label in any document or web page summing up the different Escher labels, in which the goblet and/or the 2 or 4 people are always present.
Anyone have an idea of the miner or company for this one?

Thanks in advance,
Han.

It appeared several times in the past. And yes its an Escher & Sohn label....

Probably Hatzicho will chime in if he has further information available...

Yeah that's an interesting label that I have seen before.
To be honest - I am not 100% sure that it is an Escher label. It might also be a label of a different company that want to profit from the success that the Escher companies had and simply want to get close somehow with the label. But lets look a bit closer on what we see on the label.
We see the letters E and S and we see the mining symbol hammer and pick. The mining symbol is a general symbol used by most mining companies, so nothing really special for the Escher company. It appears on some Escher labels, but only on labels of the company Escher&Co, not on the labels of Escher&son (as I have pointed out elsewhere - these were two totally different companies with the same roots, but acting totally independend from each other). Also the mining symbol appears most of the time together with the typical Escher cup, in that we found the inscription E&Co.
Here we found the letters E and S which could mean Escher and Son (that doesn't fit to the mining symbol) or Escher - Sonneberg which would fit for both companies up to a certain time. The stone itself looks like a mottled black thuringian hone (not sure - pics that show the stone wet would help). These stones were only mined and sold by the company Escher&son at a time, the company Escher&Co was already taken over by the Deutsche Schleifmittelwerke AG. But they used the Escher&Co logo further for their sales.

What's even more mysterious is the trade mark printed on the label: Ash (the tree) that is translated Esche (so Escher without the "r") - it seems that it should remind on the company name Escher....? Why should the Escher company itself, well known for their waterhones and label, create a seperate trade mark they call Esche?

It might have been a very old label, but if the stones are really the black mottled ones -they were mined proofen only after 1937. So this label is really a bit of a mystery to me. Maybe the same company that sold this black mottled stones under the nam O-Ha Magnetstein also created this label or another company that bought the stones from Escher&son and put their own label on it. So E could stand for whatever company and S for Solingen for example....? Or for the company Ernst Scharff. They sold thuringian hones under their trademark Ernst Scharff & Kober - Juwel. Their abreviation on hairclippers is E.S.F. for Ernst Scharff Frankfurt though. I don't know! Maybe some time we will find a proof.

Regards Peter

Han just for asking. Is this really a mottled Thuringian or does it show only one coloration...its not completely visible on the pictures youve shared

Thanks guys, it gets interesting now.
Peter, I am a newbie so I am really amazed of how much info one could extract from a small sized piece of paper like this one.
I will lap the stone to reveal its true face and post some pictures, dry and wet. At this moment I think the stone is of one color.

(I know not much but I am one hell of a photographer )
Greets, Han

Originally Posted by AndrewJM

Yes I know the size is small But I couldn't justify spending a fortune on a larger one.

The one I currently have is the same size, and have only used it to refresh one razor, but the size seemed usable but not preferable. From what Ive read it only takes a dozen or less passes to put the final polish on an edge before stropping? If this is the case, I don't mind doing a few more to cover the blade length, and was able to easily keep the blade flat and flush with the stone whilst doing it.

Theres a larger one on ebay at the moment, but seller wants AUD$677 (with no label) for it. Thats a little steep for me. If I could get a larger one for a few hundred I'd go for it and sell the ones I have bought.

A stone without label is not an Escher unless proven otherwise.

Originally Posted by handamen

I will lap the stone to reveal its true face and post some pictures, dry and wet. At this moment I think the stone is of one color...

So here they are. The last three ones are wet.
Greets, Han

Hi Han,

that is not a black mottled Thuringian, but looks like a simple black or blue one (of course with some structure). Hones like this black or very dark blue were also mined by the Escher company as I have reported in my old thread here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...er-stones.html

But to be honest - a lot of slate looks like this. There also have been other slate mines who quarried hones like the ones I see in your picture.
So how does the hone work? That's all that counts in the end!