Thread: Covenant hone

Interesting concept. I would feel completely comfortable thinking my covenant is around 9k. My surprise was that my work with the covenant ended with a more polished edge than I have achieved with my Japanese natural stones from Alex. It is pretty much all subjective I feel, different hands I believe will produce different
results even with stones being equal. Ultimately I think this stone would be the equal of many of the stones
razor honing afficionado's look to because they have proven to be ranked very highly. A highly polished edge, absent any stiations, does not necessarily correlate to a better shave but that was my goal in getting to know
this particular stone.

Originally Posted by mainaman

When Tsil (the owner of TCblades) posted his video review of the stones the highest one was rated at most 8k I wonder what a head to head comparison to Escher or a quality Jnat is?

Your stone looks like the first one in this video. Being a natural stone it's entirely possible you're getting a smooth shave from a 8-9k stone. Although it might as well be significantly finer than the 8k most of these Covenant stones were rated as.

heres my covenant stone it's around 8k with blue and tan stripes!

Originally Posted by eleblu05

heres my covenant stone it's around 8k with blue and tan stripes!

That a beautiful stone. How is it to work with?

very nice it feels like a really hard coti

Originally Posted by eleblu05

heres my covenant stone it's around 8k with blue and tan stripes!

WOw what a beautiful set up!! coffin and slurry fit to a tee well done!!

Thats a sick stone and definately has my interests peaked

Since there are quality stones there, I don't think that the TC blades owner is the only person who is looking for them. Do we have any SRP members there to take a look? I might be wrong, but I believe that the monopoly of those stones is what keep their prices so high. I would very much like to get my hands on one of them, but, 500$ for a fine hone (the price is random), for me, it's a high price.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

I might be wrong, but I believe that the monopoly of those stones is what keep their prices so high.

I may also be wrong, however I doubt their prices are the result of a monopoly.

I believe their prices are subject to the time taken to locate, extract, transport, cut, flatten and then test the hones. Considering the work outlined in producing a hone in addition to making a coffin box to house it, I estimate the aggregate of doing so could be anywhere from 3 to 5 hours if not more. If a tradesman such as a plumber or electrician charged $100 dollars an hour, would it then be so unreasonable? What if an accountant, lawyer or doctor's rates were to be applied? Or that or an archeologist?

What do Ardennes charge for a similar sized hone taking into account that their samples are far more localised, there being continuous veins of coticule, rather than what we know of samples being isolated and somewhat distributed in the vast Negev desert?

Taking into account the above it may stipulate the very reason that there is no competition: it is simply not that lucrative. I'd imagine TC blades was doing it more for a hobby/interest rather than purely for the money. It is very far from the case that they are going into the desert, picking up a rock and removing everything that doesn't resemble hone. It is nowhere near that simple.

You do have a point there. The coffin box is unnecessary, for me at least. Same goes for the flattening, if I could order a stone, no matter its shape if it's a hone, I wouldn't mind flattening it myself. I don't think those samples are isolated through the dessert. If there is one somewhere, there must be more near, possibly a vein. Still, collecting random stones for the whole purpose of finding a hone, and then selling it... If they where not sure that there are more stones around, I don't think they would start selling them in the first place. You might be right, if they search the dessert without a clue for a hone that may or may not be somewhere, then, it's a risky job, and their prices are fare. But we cannot rule out the possibility that those stones are overpriced.