Thread: 'New' Escher Hone

Well, I've been getting consistently good results honing on 4k/8k Norton so I thought I would take the next step. This hone arrived this past Wednesday. I haven't had much time to play with it, much less to mention it here but the time has come. Thursday morning I took the next razor out of my rotation and ran it over the Escher. It was a 7/8 WB and I have to say I was very pleased with the results. As much as the str8's are a giant improvement over the Twin Blade Gillettes I had been using (I did try the 4 and 5 blades I received from Gillette for free) this WB was like taking the plunge all over again. My shave was silky smooth. I did get a couple of nicks and stopped myself just before I took my chin off (no blood here). Guess I have to change my shaving style again, but I am very pleased with the results.

I was reluctant to take this step because with all of my past metal working experience as a Tool and Die Maker the very fine stones clogged with metal very fast. The metal on the stones not only slowed the cutting action and required frequent cleaning of the hone, the metal on the hone scratched the metal being polished and reduces the finish. Metal lapps had a similar result. during my apprentice years one of my mentors taught me to go from a surface ground finish to paper (copy paper) charged with lapping or diamond compound. Not only did this method cut much faster but the finish obtained was greatly improved. In my later years I had some oiled stencil board available and a a lot of polishing on die edge. To make a long story short, I was able to go beyond a mirror finish and bring the flatness to .0002 in. very fast. I believe this was due to the Diamod chips being sharp cut the metal but the metal removed was not as sharp and was pushed below the surface of the stencil board.

Well anyway, I am impressed with my new Escher stone. It did arrive with some chips on the edge along the 2 inch side and one along the 5 inch side and only one side of the hone is finish but I am still pleased. If you have any tips on usiing this hone I'm all ears. Your tips will help me reduce my learing durve with this new hone.

Are these the new eschers recently discussed on another thread, the reopened mine in former east germany? I am very interested to see how this turns out.

Does anyone know how these Thuringian hones from TimberTools compare to the Chinese 12K? I'm thinking about getting a stone going up from a coticule, but don't know if I want to spend the money on this hone if the Chinese 12K will do just as well at $44 vs $130 (for comparable size).

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scott.

Here's the link to the web site Escher Water Hone - Thuringian Sharpening Stone I forgot to post it earlier.

These are the hones from this guy in Germany.

MST - Müller Schleiftechnik You need to look under "neue produkte". The hone is reboxed by the Canadian supplier.

I have the same hone, but mine is green in color not blue/grey. The blurb says there are color differences but I'm sure they all cut the same.

The hone is smoother then a coticule and softer.

Like Joed, all I can say is that I am very satisfied with edge it produces. I've stopped looking at hones after finding this hone. It's as sharp as I need a razor to be. Not all coticules are the same, but my Escher sharpens and polishes my razors to a sharper level than my coticule.

Is it better than a chinese 12k? Well I think both hones will bring you to the same end result.

The Escher however is a natural stone, it is fast cutting/polishing, it gives great feedback and it is a pleasure to use. The Chinese hone is significantly cheaper and bigger and clingy in use and not so much fun in use.

I use my Escher first with a heavy slurry and then with just water.

Joed, you should lap the hone. I used 1500 grit wet and dry paper on a flat surface. You use the paper wet.

You can easily put a nice bevel edge using the same paper once you have finished lapping. The hone will let you know when it is lapped, as it will feel as if it is stuck on the lapping sheet. The bevels can be put on the edges by holding and rubbing each edge at 45 degrees to the paper. The lapping and beveling will remove the slight nicks on the stone and may improve it's efficiency a touch. You should give the rubbing stone the same treatment.

To call those stones Thuringian would be a true statement. For the company to call them Escher is inaccurate and simply a marketing tactic. I'm certainly open for debate on that.

Thuringian hones I've seen first hand and owned have a rough cut underside and is to be expected or at the least is common.

Bottom line, as you've found, if it works well, that's really all that counts since no one truly looking to collect authentic labeled Escher stones would give much of a glance at a non-labeled stone, the collector value of your stone and a few unlabeled Thuringian stones I have is nil.

Chris L

You should make sure to follow what English said and sand off the corners and round the edges of the stone on the side that you use to hone. Rough or chipped edges can damage the blade as you are honing.

Chris,

I believe that Escher stones are also from Thuringian, but just an old branded label. So technically you are correct.

This is a different brand of the highest quality water stone from Thuringian. This is a MST Mueller Thuringian stone. You can compare the grain quality of the MST stones with your collectors items from the photograph below. The photo is of my stone and it has been lapped and edged.
As to value, the MST stone costs $130 in Canada.

Escher was a company name. Calling these new stones eschers is false marketing unless this company has bought the escher company or trademarks.

Bruno,

I think you are correct. One proviso.....

I have assumed that Timber Tools have purchased their stock from MST in Germany. May be I have jumped to conclusions and maybe I am wrong. It just seems the stone sizes are the same and the cardboard box they come in look identical apart from the branding on the front.

But don't blame MST. MST describe the stone that I purchased as "0riginal-Thüringer Wasserabziehstein". They do not use the word Escher anywhere in their descriptions.

The only point I would make is that mine is a very fine and a really good finishing hone.

In the past I have used either a Yellow Belgian Coticule or a Spyderco Ultra fine or the Thiers Issard paste to finish my razors. I have used the MST hone for five months now and I find it works much better.