Thread: escher for maintenance honing.

Escher's make great finishers, as a matter of fact, it's my favorite finisher. I love the edges I get off mine. So buttery smooth.
I routinely go from an 8k to an Escher, You can also use it as a touch up hone in lieu of a Barber hone. If I have a blade that's dulling, tugging, pulling, I'll generate a milky slurry and do 10 lapps, then 10 with water...Good as new....

I use my Escher after the Naniwa 12k...is that unnecessary ?

Here is my progression: 1-3-8-10-12-Escher... so I could just go with 1-3-8-Escher with similar or better results?

For touch up I do 10 laps with light slurry, and then 20 with water: HHT4 again or better. One question: I generate slurry with a DMT card (1200grit)...is that ok? unfortunately I do not have an Escher slurry stone...

I agree that the Escher is a great finisher. As far as using it for maintenance or one stone honing ..... look at the average price of an Escher as opposed to a Norton 4/8 or a Naniwa superstone. Like hi_bud_gl says, you're just wasting an expensive and rare stone to accomplish the same thing that you could with a less expensive and more readily available hone. I reserve my Escher for final finishing only.

Just buy a barber's hone for 30.00 and you'll be set, such as a swaty or a Carborundum.

I wouldn't use my YG escher as a barber's hone even though it'd work VERY well in that role, but why waste my $600.00?

ive never worked with a naniwa 12k, and for all i know i couldnt tell the difference between it and my escher. i do however prefer escher edges over my 8k, so if i stepped down to the 8k, id finish on my escher anyways.

if i work with slurry i guess i'd use up some stone. if i work with just water i'd hardly use up any at all. most ppl seem to recommend a few laps with slurry then a few laps with water. if i could maintain sharpness with an escher and water i wouldnt worry about using up the stone. as far as using the escher alone it almost seems like id have less honing to do as i wouldnt have deeper scratches from a more coarse hone to polish out.

my escher is thick, didnt cost me an arm and a leg (almost nothing), will last more than a lifetime. my escher rubbing stone will wear out before the hone will, but still probably not in my lifetime. i hope in the future some one somewhere will cut down an escher for those of us who need slurry stones.

ive got a swaty, what im pretty sure is a 00frictionite (looks like frictionite colouring, has some other imprint on it, but came from an antique store in a 00frictionite pouch which it fits perfectly) and a dubl duck razor hone. when it comes time for a touch up i might start with the swaty to bring it back, and see how i like that. if i get it sharp enough but not smooth enough ill head to the escher.

if i can use my finest finishing hone for maintenace, accomplishing everything in one step, i dont see why i wouldnt unless it took much more time. because im honing a smiling wedge i figure it might take a little more than 10 laps slurry, 10 laps water, but it seems like it shouldnt take an unreasonable amount if time.

one of the things im taking away from this thread is this: if i want my escher to cut use slurry. if i want it to polish, use water. sound about right?

disburden: okay, so i looked at your post again after.
and im still scratching my head a bit. wondering if you meant replacing the progression:

escher w/ surry -> escher w/ water

with

barber hone -> escher w/ water

or if you meant replacing my use of the escher entirely with a barber hone. having an escher without using it at all seems like a bigger waste to me. at that point your not wasting _some_ escher stone, you are wasting the whole thing by not using it at all! with the possible exception of the highly sought after norton razor hone ive never heard anyone saying they prefer the edges off their barber hone to the edges off their escher. so why not use the escher? thanks, just curious.

I respect the fact that the Escher is rare, but unless you're professionally honing razors i.e. more than touching up several razors, you'd have a very hard, if not impossible time 'wasting' the Escher. Considering both how long we live and that the Escher is there to be used, I say use it. A moot point besides is that most of our Eschers have had at least one owner before us.....though I know some of us are lucky enough to have NOS!

I have used my Barber's Delight Escher for a couple of years for one hone maintenance. It works very well. Nowadays I use the Escher first followed by the Nakayama.

Originally Posted by ezpz

disburden: okay, so i looked at your post again after.
and im still scratching my head a bit. wondering if you meant replacing the progression:

escher w/ surry -> escher w/ water

with

barber hone -> escher w/ water

or if you meant replacing my use of the escher entirely with a barber hone. having an escher without using it at all seems like a bigger waste to me. at that point your not wasting _some_ escher stone, you are wasting the whole thing by not using it at all! with the possible exception of the highly sought after norton razor hone ive never heard anyone saying they prefer the edges off their barber hone to the edges off their escher. so why not use the escher? thanks, just curious.

Usually when you need to touch up with a barber's hone, you need work done to bring the edge back because of pulling on your beard. I wouldn't use an Escher with slurry to sharpen a blade back from pulling, but that's just me. I would much rather use the 4 strokes with a Swaty and then polish on the Escher, otherwise you can take 300 strokes on an Escher to do the same thing depending on the color and how dull the razor was getting, etc.

I never use water on an Escher, only slurry, like the label said.

I disagree - you are saying that a razor that begins to pull would need 300 strokes on an Escher? And a barber hone, then an Escher is preferable?

If this works for you then that's great, but I highly doubt manufacturers of these hones ever intended for them to be used together in such a progression, or that barbers in practice ever used them as such. Reading has taught me it was one or the other.

The above is trivial, but I can confirm that if one of my razors is pulling, then FOR ME, USUALLY, 20-30 strokes on an Escher with slurry brings back that edge. As regards to wasting the Escher, I'll reiterate, it is what they are for.

If this merely polishes the edge and doesn't quite bring it back, I'll go to the coticule or the 8K.