My new score.

Here's those hones I was bidding on. Although some one last minute was hiking the price on me, I managed to secure them. The pictures were certainly deceiving. The Escher is 1.5"x7"(the stone it's self) than it came with the little thin one which I have no idea about, and than the swotstein which I thought was a Swaty, but I guess is not. Hopefully just as good tho. Added a fairly normal size razor for size comparison, and the larger hone is one I bought from Canadian Tire a way back(needs a good lapping). Going to progress from the crappy tire to make the edge, to the thin one, to the barber hone, than to the Escher. Should be a decent set up for an edge, no?

Nice score!
I keep looking at stones on eBay but I just dont know enough about stones to push the button. Some say Thuringian and they just dont look like others I've seen. I keep looking and hoping that something will sink in. But so far I'm batting "0".

I hear ya man, I just got lucky at seeing these in a local online auction (small city) and knew a barber hone would work at least, but was uncertain of the others. But figured the boxed one was a nice one because it was bigger. The more I researched, turned out it was good. Was going to grab them regardless just to have something to start honing my own razors on (or at least try.lol) I just new I needed one, and fate kind of dropped these in my lap. So I'm very pleased with that. Think these should do me just fine until the future when I can begin to invest and experiment with some new hones. But these will get me shaving with my collection here to give them all a try. Thanks gasman. I'll try to keep my eye out for ya for in the future. Anything cheap enough to get you going is better than nothing eh?

The Swotstein looks to be in pretty rough shape. Maybe it just needs a good cleaning, hard to say for sure from the pics. But I'd cross reference with this and be sure before dragging a razor across it:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...what-look.html

The escher is certainly a keeper, you'd be hard pressed to find a finisher that out performs that at any price. I'm not sure what to make of that little thin hone, as I've no clue what that is. I do have stones like your Canada Tire hones that I use for pocket knives, it's a bit rougher than what I'd like for razors.

Would a King 1k/6k combination stone be outside your budget? Might take a bit more time than a pricier hone setup, but King stones are a known good brand for razor work. The 1K is an adequate bevel setter, and I think the 6K would set you up nice enough that you could easily finish on the Escher.

Very nice score! I’ve been trying for a while to get an Escher or a thuri in auctions but they always get out of the price I’m willing to pay. I’ve been searching the wild while traveling for work too, but yet to see anything of quality there. Make sure to watch the videos by Glen and Lynn before putting your razors to a stone, they are very informative and watch the hand and wrist movements as they are very important. Good luck on your honing journey.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Paul76

Very nice score! I’ve been trying for a while to get an Escher or a thuri in auctions but they always get out of the price I’m willing to pay. I’ve been searching the wild while traveling for work too, but yet to see anything of quality there. Make sure to watch the videos by Glen and Lynn before putting your razors to a stone, they are very informative and watch the hand and wrist movements as they are very important. Good luck on your honing journey.

---

Thanks for the info friend. And yea need to give them a good lapping when I can get some paper for good measure, although they don't seem overly warped. The barber hone cleaned up pretty nice looking with a nice little piece of 1 or 2000 I had kickiñ around, looks good now. Will still lap it on some 320 when I get it. And I'll keep you in mind if I ever go to trade or sell the Escher k? I'm always up for acquiring a nice new razor(to me) ;). And I'm trying my best to get some good edges going. Keeping it flat on the spine and even flush/flat movements. But I deff nead some more practice, and have yet to try the edges on my face, just tried to put and edge on my collection for now, than I'll one by one use them and adjust them and work on them some more if they need touching up after testing it.

And yea auctions always get out of hand for me. Luckily this is a small town local auction and the interest isn't overly large here. I had it at $5 at first for the longest time. Than some one on the last day was hiking it on me. I almost had to let them go, but managed to squeeze them out and secure them last minute. I was getting so bummed they were raising them so much and I thought I'd have to let them go. Especially having them and thinking I'd get them for 5 for the longest time. But that's how it goes.

I appreciate you keeping me in mind if you let it go. And if you would have gotten them all for $5 that would have been the best deal I’ve ever seen. I’ve always heard you really can’t beat the edge from an Escher. To see the progress you make at each level pick up a 30x-60x loupe, its really helpful at knowing when to move to the next stone. But send one to be honed an that will let you know what true shave ready is. Start with just one razor and try for the goal of matching that edge. Tape the spine also to save wear from the stones.

This is honestly probably the best score on a hone I've ever witnessed... Well done! let us know how it puts on an edge

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Butzy

This is honestly probably the best score on a hone I've ever witnessed... Well done! let us know how it puts on an edge

---

Tried shaving with a Kinfolk blue steel special last night (had a noticeably deep edge for a hollow so figured it would be a good shaver). And although I did manage a decent 2 pass shave, I'm goona hone it a bit more still. Could still get a bit smoother and sharper. It's going to take me some practice. And a jewelers loop is a great idea.lol I have pretty good eyes, but would be great to help.

I have to say that stones are the one side of this hobby that I have yet to break into. Partly due to lack of understanding and partly due to lack of funds. That said your haul looks good and as you said the barber's hone is sure to work. I keep looking for a barer's hone myself. So kudos on the win.