Thread: I broke down.

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This has been been relisted several times and each time got cheaper. I finally jumped when it got down to 19.99 I have to assume you guys have seen it and must not think to much of it or it would have been jumped on sooner. I am in need of something small that will work for travel as I am in china at the moment and left my new strop in a hotel in Shanghai last week. I thought this would be cool enough to travel with and save weight instead of bringing my good stuff.

Any one have any thoughts on it? For 20 bucks I couldn't have gone to wrong I hope.

I don't trust that seller's descriptions due to several previously discussed threads, however that is likely to be a Thuringian. Some of them are coarser than others at around an 8K polish, while others are considerably finer.

It's your money. Do what makes you happy. I've looked at it several times myself. I hardly ever buy from Ebay though. Not for lack of trying, but usually I'm outbid at the last second. I hope you'll let us know how it works out for you.

I don't put much value in the seller's descriptions of the stones he sells either. I let the stones speak for themselves. Like Scipio says it's likely to be a Thuringian, a vintage one, which are usually good or great finishers. The surface seems to be bigger than the little boxed Thuringians

The wooden paddle may warp if it gets too wet. I have a small Schwedenstein that probably broke because the paddle warped. I glued it onto slate and it now functions as a slurry stone. If you don't care about the collector's value you could back it with stone or thicker wood to make it easier to hold in your hands.

Just updating this thread.

It finally arrivd today, and it's definitely very similar to my thuri. I am not exactly how to tell if it's finer grit or not. I did rebuild an bevel on an old W&B and finished up on the new one, it shaved pretty good. And I was happy.

It would still be nice to know more about it though. My 100x loup showed very similar material as my thuri.
Is there any thing else that can be done to see if it's a finer finisher than the other one i have or even my norton 8k?

Take some polished metal, a spoon or anything you can find, and see with your loupe which stone leaves the finest scratch pattern. That may not be accurate and tell the whole truth, but it could give you an idea of what's happening.

For fairly small money you got a usable finisher and a strop that probably just needs a little softening with some neatsfoot oil or a little lather. Of course, "probably Escher" really means "not Escher", but that's not material at this price point.