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Thread: German FASO wtaer hone test

  1. #1
    Preserver of old grinding methods hatzicho's Avatar
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    Default German FASO wtaer hone test

    Sebastian (Doorsch) sent me this hone for testing.


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    It is quite an interesting hone. I have seen these Faso’s quite a lot in former years but less the last times. Reports on the type of stone and the performance of Faso labeled hones in different forums showing no uniform picture of this hones. Also there are hones with a quite comparable label from the view but calling “Faco’s” or different. Seems that this label has been changed or copied somehow in the past.

    Aim of the test was to evaluate if this labeled Faso hone is of thuringian origin or type and if yes, one of the ancient mined one or a so-called new “thuringian”, means hones which are presently mined (but not in Thuringia) and sold by different companies.

    First impression when I got the hone was very fine hone, scratches on my testing iron devices show scratches that also draw the conclusion of a fine hone. First thoughts were of a “normal” dark blue thuringian. When I compared the hone visually to my other dark blue ones it turns out that this hone is different. It is much more really blue than any of the blue thuringians I own. They all look dark grey or black compared to the Faso.


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    Did an endfinishing of a new honed razor, finishing was good, smooth feeling, hairtest no problem. Shave test was very good, sharp and smooth. Not as good as with a yellow-green thuri but quite comparable to the dark-grey or blue thuringians.

    Then I took my best and most favorite razor of the last 2 years. It is a Rosemary razor, would say more than full hollow ground if this could be possible, but very thin grinded, simply perfect. The edge is really so fine that I feel any wrong honing stroke during shaving. Well this razor has nothing seen than a yellow-green thuringian as an endfinsher since I am shaving with it.
    So I did about 20-40 strokes in total each side (following straight, circle and x-strokes) on the Faso. Hairtest after stropping no problem. Began shaving - sharp and smooth. Stopped after shaving half of my face.

    Then I took the razor onto the new sold “Thuringians”, about 25 strokes each side. Hairtest very fair only after a lot of stropping. First movements in my face with the razor were awful. Not comparable to the Faso. Stopped shaving after some movements.

    Went to my best yellow-green thuri. 30 strokes each side, stropping, shaving still awful. Another 50 more strokes on the yellow green thuri brought the razor back into a region, I like shaving with.

    Conclusion: The Faso from Sebastian is a good endfisher that is comparable even with blue-green or blue thuringians according to my experience. It is of much better quality than the new “Thuringians”.

    I suppose this is an ancient thuringian. Also the comparison under microscope shows, that the Faso is in the same league with the well known thuringians and Escher labeled hones.
    Hones were all lapped to same degree, wet sandpaper 600 at last. The pictures were taken under microscope with magnification of 200, than copied together.

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    The white dots you can see is mainly quartz, the abrasive material. Clearly visible is the difference between total number of abrasive parts and upper size of the quartz particles in the different hones: light green less particles and smallest upper size of quartz, new "Thuris" much more and larger quartz particles. That’s what makes the difference in honing. Faso is comparable with dark blue Escher here.

    Where does the name Faso come from? I still don’t know, can only speculate. Most thuringian hones were sold to the knife and razor companies in Solingen. They used the hones but also sold them under their own name or a fantasy name. So you may know Boker hones and there are a lot of other companies. “SO” in Faso may stand for Solingen, “FA” for fabrication or the company name? Only guessing! Someone may find the secret some day.

    Finally found a hone in my collection that comes close in color and performance to the Faso. It is a small Penknife hone that also comes from the original thuringian mines.


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    Two final remarks:
    Test is only to be seen for this one Faso hone. Other hones with same label might be different because of reasons I pointed out in the beginning.
    I don’t want to disparage the so-called “new Thuringians”. I know where the hones are from and I know most of the sellers personally. The hones are quite good when set in the honing sequence at the right place. They are not endfishers in my opinion. This was just to show the difference to the Faso hone. For the price the new “Thuris” are sold, they have quite a good cost-performance ratio!

    Regards hatzicho

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    25609289 (04-27-2014), doorsch (04-28-2014), Hirlau (05-06-2015), Margeja (04-28-2014), Neil Miller (05-05-2014), RezDog (04-28-2014), Siguy (05-04-2014), Vasilis (04-28-2014), Walterbowens (04-28-2014)

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    Henk Margeja's Avatar
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    According to Friedrich Müller Faso stands for manufactured in Solingen. The seller is the company Herbertz. The stones are cut by the company Friedrich Müller. The labels are still in the warehouse of the firm Müller. There is also a misprint on the label with “Facos”. The tested stone comes from the firm Herbertz and comes from an old store stock.

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    The labelstore of Friedrich Müller

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    My Faso stone

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    Preserver of old grinding methods hatzicho's Avatar
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    Hi Henk,

    was hoping that you jump in with that addition, as you already mentioned this to me. Thanks for this information.

    Regard Peter

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    Senior Member doorsch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Margeja View Post
    According to Friedrich Müller Faso stands for manufactured in Solingen. The seller is the company Herbertz. The stones are cut by the company Friedrich Müller. The labels are still in the warehouse of the firm Müller. There is also a misprint on the label with “Facos”. The tested stone comes from the firm Herbertz and comes from an old store stock.
    Hi Henk, thanks for your addition to this issue here, and thanks for posting the pictures i have already received personally from you.. here in this thread.....

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    Senior Member doorsch's Avatar
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    @Hatzicho:

    Thank you very much for the test you did in this great deepness...

    The main question for me, was as you mentioned, if this stone might be from any of the quarries of the Thuringia Region, as this was often mentioned in the posts were other members wrote about their experiences. as far as i remember there were also different Sizes of these stones around....a 6" and 8"....

    The Faso was also sometimes mentioned as beeing one of the newer named "Thuringian" or "Water Grindstones"...so i am very happy that the stone is a better performer then these newer ones....

    Concerning the origin of this one as it came in a Herbertz packaging i was directly forwarded to Friedrich Müller after starting a request to Herbertz a half year before by email. It seemed that these were cut & labelled by Friedrich Müller GmbH, Ransweiler.....and probably also sold to other companies....to add this here, the first Information was directly sent by Henk (Margeja) before Herbertz answered....

    Friedrich Müller Gmbh, Schleifmittelwerk-Import-Export

    I really like the chart you did Peter comparing the surface under the microscope....this gives a clue how different these stones might perform....

    Also the shaving tests give a picture about the performance of this FASO.....great you did test it on one of your nicest razors.....

    Thanks!!!
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    this is realy interresting, I recently spotted one on a dutch second hand goods website and I'm considering to presue it.

    but as I understand correctly, there could be a multitude of posibilities as to even what type or place of origen of these stones are from?

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    Senior Member Siguy's Avatar
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    Thanks you for the review, hatzicho.

    I find these hone review threads absolutely fascinating.

    Now for the run on Faso stones Magically, they will start appearing on ebay any minute now.

    Regards,
    Simon
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  10. #8
    Senior Member doorsch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Siguy View Post
    Thanks you for the review, hatzicho.

    I find these hone review threads absolutely fascinating.

    Now for the run on Faso stones Magically, they will start appearing on ebay any minute now.

    Regards,
    Simon
    Haha never saw one the past 6 months worldwide, but thumbs up for you Simon!!!
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    Preserver of old grinding methods hatzicho's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Siguy View Post
    Thanks you for the review, hatzicho.

    I find these hone review threads absolutely fascinating.

    Now for the run on Faso stones Magically, they will start appearing on ebay any minute now.

    Regards,
    Simon
    Well it is all very simple. A good and high quality thuringian waterhone is a very good hone, no matter what kind of label anybody at any time glued to it!
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    Senior Member doorsch's Avatar
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    I wanted to bring up some personal thoughts on this one...

    Actually the last week a thread came up dealing with the Company standing behind F&Co. Which sold the Goldfisch Wetzstein and Thuringian Stones...

    Member BartAb brought that up here:

    got a new thuringian.

    My idea was that FASO fits well for FAssbinder & Co. SOlingen and even the named "misslabeled" prints with FACOS fits...

    FASO
    FAssbinder SOlingen

    FACOS
    FAssbinder & CO, Solingen

    Shurely this has to be proven or documented somehow...so keep your eyes open for any evidence...
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