5 Attachment(s)
The origin of the so-called „Schwedenstein“ Hones
I spent some days in the thuringian and frankoninan mountains in springtime this year again to visit some for me formerly unknown mines and to try to solve some hone mysteries.
One mystery I was looking for a longer time now was the origin of the so-called Schwedenstein hones.
I have reported elsewhere that I was quite sure that the mountain Schwedenstein, located in Saxonia, Germany, was not the source of the hones with that name. The geology of mount Schwedenstein does not fit to the stones and from the geology groups near mount Schwedenstein nowbody ever heard about mining of whetstones in this area.
The stone matrix and material of the green mottled Schwedensteins is the same than the block mottled Escher stones I have reported in another post.
Since these stones have their origin in the Ordovician age rocks of the so-called Gräfenthal group, I especially looked for the geology of these rocks.
I found a small notice in some older literature that beside the known whetstone quarries of the Escher type waterwhetstones, which were found in the upper Devonian age rockformations, and the older Ordovician thuringian oilstones (i.e. Hiftenberg hones and saxonian oilstones) other good whetstones had been mined in the thuringian area as a byproduct of the quarries that were operated to produce slate pencils.
The thuringian mountains were very famous in the past for producing slate pencils and blackboards and for a long time period the quarries in Steinach/ Thuringia had been the global world market leader for this products.
The slate quarries to produce pencils and blackboards are much larger (maybe a factor of 10) than any thuringian whetstone quarry. And also this industry had been much more important for the thuringian area than the really small whetstone business.
Attachment 206893
To make a long story short – I finally found the source of the Schwedenstein Hones in one of the old slate mines that were used to produce slate pencils. The green mottled material is found in intermediate layers between the slate layers that are suitable for pencil production.
This also explains why a lot this hones were found on these small razor storage boxes, which are equipped with a hone and leather for honing and stropping.
The boxes in which the slate pencils had been sold look quite comparable to these razor boxes.
Attachment 206894
Here are some photos to compare the hones sold as Schwedenstein in the past and some rocks I collected at the slate pencil quarries.
Attachment 206895Attachment 206897
Still a mystery remains the name of the stones. Well at a certain time Swedish steel was very famous for producing razors, also in germany. The term “Schwedenstahl” (translated Swedish steel) get really famous for good quality steel and maybe the producers of the Schwedenstein simply choosed a somehow related and similar sounding term to promote their hones.
Attachment 206896
The origin of the so-called „Schwedenstein“ Hones
Nothing more to add here then...thanks Peter!!
...i really love those stones!! Got some very great shaves the last three times...
Funny is that they create a very light brownish/reddish/pinkish slurry...i remembered the "ROSE THURINGIAN" which was offered on ebay a good year ago ;-)
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/605/2...a614f3_c_d.jpg
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5696/...21542c_c_d.jpg
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/616/2...82407d_c_d.jpg
The origin of the so-called „Schwedenstein“ Hones
Just to add more content to these stones, till yesterday i only had known two or three different types of those stones sold comercially.
One was Otto Hunger from Elsterberg where these stones have been sold as O-Ha! Magnet Elektrostein....
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5545/1...34930c_c_d.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2817/1...6f5d27_c_d.jpg
Then there have been these thin paddle hones unlabelled and sold on the wooden razor boxes Peter has pointed out in his researches.
The third types ive seen were thin paddle hones also sold as Original Schwedenstein mit Abzugriemen ges. Geschützt 1212661 with a Pink Paper label.
Another one, not really identified appeared as Universal Streicher, which looked most likely a Schwedenstein. Its a paddle hone so it well speaks for it could be one...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ddle-hone.html
The origin of the so-called „Schwedenstein“ Hones
Some of the stones have been sold to be used with water only. Actually the interesting thing is that some of the O-Ha! Stones were also sold with a label which said they can be used either with water, lather or oil....
Today i got another Apex Stone which is a Razor blade sharpener. I was well surprised after the stone got wet...size is 8x4x0,7cm.
A very nice Schwedenstein appeared! A very nice banding with different colors.
The Instructions also mention to use the stone with water, soapy foam or oil. So another evidence that they were not only sold as to be used with water only!!
Label (Vorderseite):
Apex Rasierklingen Schärfer
Sehr feinkörnig und mild. Mit Wasser, Öl oder Seifenschaum verwenden.
Label (front):
Apex Razor Blade Sharpener
Very fine grained and smooth. Use with water, oil or soapfoam.
Gebrauchsanweisung (Rückseite):
Bitte den Stein vor Gebrauch gut reinigen. Klinge unter leichtem Druck schnell in Längsrichtung hin und her bewegen, dann die Klinge umdrehen. Normalstumpfe Klingen werden rasch wieder gebrauchsfähig.
Instructions (back):
Please clean the stone well before usage. Move blade with little pressure back and forth, them switch the blade. Normal dulled blades can come back fast to a good usage condition.
Here are the pictures:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4206/3...970228_c_d.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4199/3...4960a1_c_d.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4201/3...cd380a_c_d.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4268/3...f1d005_c_d.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4290/3...0e1c6d_c_d.jpg
