Thread: New Escher hones

Hello everyone. Its been awhile since i have posted. I was wondering if anyone has tried the new Escher-thurigen hones offered by Escher Water Hone - Thuringian Sharpening Stone . If so, how do they compare with the older Eschers?


Regards,
Jim E.

Wow, thanks for sharing the link. If the stones are good quality, those seem like some very good prices. I'd also love to hear if anyone knows anything about them.

I thought this was interesting and somewhat amusing.

[QUOTE][Its extraordinary fineness and hardness is not met by any other natural stone — 10,000 to 12,000 grit. /QUOTE]

I can think of a number of people who would disagree with that statement.

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

I thought this was interesting and somewhat amusing.

Its extraordinary fineness and hardness is not met by any other natural stone — 10,000 to 12,000 grit.

I can think of a number of people who would disagree with that statement.

I am curious about this statement in his description,"The Escher is NOT recommended as a final hone if you have used the natural Belgian garnet stone in advance. We are often asked about this combination use and can, at best, offer the advice that Belgian hones produce an edge without burrs, therefore that edge is already drawn to a more ideal finish, not gaining any advantage using the Escher".

I imagine a lot of knowledgeable people would disagree with that?

Originally Posted by JimmyH-AD

I am curious about this statement in his description,"The Escher is NOT recommended as a final hone if you have used the natural Belgian garnet stone in advance. We are often asked about this combination use and can, at best, offer the advice that Belgian hones produce an edge without burrs, therefore that edge is already drawn to a more ideal finish, not gaining any advantage using the Escher".

I imagine a lot of knowledgeable people would disagree with that?

Jimmy, I do disagree with those statements myself. I do own a old Escher and also own the blue and yellow belgian coticules. i was asking if anyone has knowledge of these hones so that I could recommend one to a friend on a budget. That is if they do indeed hold up to being similar in quality as the old Eschers.


Jim

With so much incorrect and misleading information by the seller, I would not be willing to be gambling with my money. There are old blocks of thuringian stones that are being cut into hones these days, but Kees and others who sell such honed occasionally have noted that often there are inclusions and they need to inspect each stone individually and return quite a few.
As far as the fineness as with any natural stone it depends on the particular piece, but the consensus seems to be that the new ones are not quite as fine as the old ones. Whether it's good for your friend, or not, only he can tell and only after he tries it.

Oh these are NOT Escher, just as if make a coffee it's not Starbucks.

Originally Posted by CaptMdnght

Jimmy, I do disagree with those statements myself. I do own a old Escher and also own the blue and yellow belgian coticules. i was asking if anyone has knowledge of these hones so that I could recommend one to a friend on a budget. That is if they do indeed hold up to being similar in quality as the old Eschers.


Jim

Based on my experience I also disagree with the statement but I haven't been at it long enough to be confident in my assessment. I have gone to a Blue Grey Escher after a Coticule with many razors and have had good results.

Originally Posted by CaptMdnght

Hello everyone. Its been awhile since i have posted. I was wondering if anyone has tried the new Escher-thurigen hones offered by Escher Water Hone - Thuringian Sharpening Stone . If so, how do they compare with the older Eschers?


Regards,
Jim E.

Very strange... I did a search on escher stones to purchase and this vendor showed up in 3 of the searches, including this thread.

I placed an order online, the site responds that my transaction has been completed and they sent a receipt to my email... I waited about 2 minutes, no email, so I tried to print the invoice screen using their link and the screen disappeared. I called the number, expecting to get an answering machine and woke a man up. I had to ask three times if it was "Timber Tools" and he finally said "What... oh yeah this is Timber Tools."

I've already called my bank to report the incident and potential ??? information gathering ??? Thank goodness the account is not linked to any important source of funds.
It may be nothing, but IMHO the flags are there for a potential scam.

For what it's worth, I've known Gary from TimberTools for many years and he knows - through long experience - both belgian stones and eschers. On his site he differentiates between higher grade belgians and lower grade belgians. This is key, in my opinion, to understanding what he's saying about not following a high grade belgian with an escher. There is, I have found, a big difference between standard grade coticules and Select grade. I don't know if it's true about all of the newly named coticules from particular veins but there are differences between standard grade and select grade that go beyond cosmetics. I'd like to hear Gary weigh in on in this as, like me, he's handled hundreds of coticules.

I also have a number of eschers in my study collection ranging from the blue-green ones to the yellow-green. I don't think an escher following a Select coticule will get you anything measurable in the way of results on your face. The big difference, as I see it, is the difference between quartz crystals and garnet crystals. The structure at the micro level shows up as differences at the macro level. Tiny cleaved corners off of a rhombic dodecahedral garnet (nothing cleaves like a garnet!) in a slurry will give a smoother cutting edge than hexagonal, long c-axis quartz crystals. That's what I've found.

The differences we're talking about here are probably overshadowed though by factors like differences in the wiriness of your beard and shave preparation. A quality escher and a quality coticule are excellent finishers when used correctly.

To make matters a bit more complicated, I find that Shaptons in the 16k to 30k range will finish a razor off even better! I know that may sound like heresy to some but let me assure you I have not lost my love of natural stones and still use a combo coticule on my razor and it's still in my medicine cabinet and used on my razor every week. However, when playing with a new razor, I rehab with the Shaptons because it's quick, organized, and gives me consistent and reliable results every time.