Thread: Unusual thuringian

Hello again, I got this stone and I want to share with all SR enthusiasts. It is 5 15/16 long and 2 1/2 wide. It is Y/G ,very soft thuringian stone. It have some remaining sticker but nothing legible . Was definitely some kind of Escher in the past, but lost the name with the sticker. I was looking for some time now for a Barber Delight, now with this stone I think I found my Holly Grail of stones. At least for a while my RAD is cured. I know they are common in 5 x 2 1/2 but I never see this dimensions. It may be a Escher sold under other name in USA and they did not cut the slurry stone? Please enjoy.

Well you are correct this hone is a bit unusual for the standard size at least for Escher labelled hones. In old times there was the Barbers delight with 6 x 2 inch and the Barbers Gem with 5 x 2 1/2 inch beside the regulary hones.
Later there has also been a 5 x 2 inch as you can see in the following catalogue:


However thuringian hones appear in all sizes and other thuringian whetstone companies like Luthardt or DSG delivered hones in other sizes.

Thank you for your fast response, I read somewhere in a thread, was some Barber gem stone sold by Pike , with stickers, this dimensions, and on the sticker was a line where to cut for slurry stone. I have never see that sticker .

Interesting, never came across one of these.
The Barber Gems were sold in the older Escher times in the following box (picture from an ebay sale of a well known american seller):



Didn't have one of these by my own since the Barber Gems were produced mainly for export. I have never found a labelled or boxed one in germany. After 1923 when the company Escher & Co merged into the Deutsche Schleifmittel AG, the Barbers Gem hones in the size 5 x 2 inch were also sold under the name "None Better Razor Hone".

My favorite Escher is a Pike Blue / Green Banded 'BARBERS GEM' that I have had for a long time. It is my 'go-to' Escher. The dimensions are 5 x 2 1/2 x 7/8

Thank you for your info, I read on B&B somebody have one the same dimensions with stickers, I will be curious what the stickers say. One thing is sure : it is a thuringian stone.

Pictures of Pike's Barbers Delight and Barbers Gem, unfortunately no dimensions.

It is my understanding that the pike eschers had a pike box with an Escher label on the stone.

Well the interesting thing is Pike & Escher was a german company. I don't know if they also had a subsidiary or maybe the main place of business in the States- since there was Pike itself that did the business. Also I don't know why Pike and Escher had a separate company in Germany since Pike imported hones from Escher&Co long before that common company was set up.
As written elsewhere Pike&Escher and Escher&Co were both absorbed together with 2 or 3 other companies by the Deutsche Schleifmittel AG in 1923.

I have a stone similar to yours. Mine has no evidence of a label but it definitely seems like a YG thuri. It measures 6x2.5. I bought it a while ago from a member here, but can't remember who it was.

I found this on Ebay, same dimensions: Karl Bracher Jr. Water Hone . Is some kind of thuringian.