Covenant hone

I had been curious about the covenant hones since I read about them some time ago. I was able to pick up Covenant hone #4 from a member here which gave me a chance to try out the hone. I began by lapping the stone with a DMT 325, pencil grid, for about 50 minutes. Progress continued on wet/dry paper through to include 2,000 grit. I picked several shave ready razors and with the minimal of slurry began efforts just to polish these edges further. Feather light circles and finishing with regular X's on water only produced a very notable difference on the edges in terms of
a beautiful polish that did not exist on any of them before this hone. I followed with natural linen and horsehide. I have only shaved with one of the razors polished so far and it was a more pleasant shave than usual, it was more smooth and quieter than usual. These were all full hollow blades. I am looking forward to trying the other razors. I tried to show the mirror finish on the hone with the angle shot. It feels like perfectly smooth cold glass. I am impressed so I thought I would share. This Covenant stone weights 6.2 pounds and is 11" in length. The base is cherry wood. These originate in Israel's Negev desert.

Thats is one good looking stone my friend Enjoy!!

I'm glad you are enjoying it. It is certainly a unique hone.

Very cool Robert. I was looking at the inthe class. Im glad she is working out for you.

I have been thinking about a Covenant for more than a year but haven't taken the bait yet.

I'll probably pull the trigger one night after the fourth Glenlivet rocks.

Jerry
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50 minutes to lap? Not quite as hard as a charnley. I might have to get one and try it out.

Oh wow! it looks too pretty to be a hone.

Where can I buy one of those? I like it!

Yes, they do look cool, and certainly buying a stone from those eastern countries is making it kind of exotic, but for their prices, I'm not even thinking about buying one.

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?

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.

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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?

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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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwk7JgTr1bo

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

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Originally Posted by eleblu05

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

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

very nice it feels like a really hard coti

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Originally Posted by eleblu05

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

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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.

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Originally Posted by Vasilis

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

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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.

I guess it is possible that we may have a member willing to put the long hours in the Negev desert searching for
the indications of certain stones. This would probably be after some serious education about what to look for.
These stones do not meet any criteria as overpriced, at least to me, yes you certainly could spend $500 but you can also spend $100 or less and receive a very nice Negev desert hone. You can spend thousands of $ on Japanese natural hones as well as Couticles. Check the story on artisanshaving.com there is a thread there where TC offers the stones and there certainly is no reason to buy the box if you do not want
the box. There is also a very real account of what is actually involved in searching the Negev desert for hones. These hones have a serious following by some gentlemen who are master honers.
I would hope that members who may have an interest in the stones would take the time to educate themselves as we recommend when considering any wet shaving related purchase. TC and his better half are accomplished artists in their own right marketing beautifully crafted jewelry, various sculptures and even straight razors and superbly crafted knives. For me this is just another hone in the arsenal of the great stones available to us.

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Originally Posted by Vasilis

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.

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Ah, but they have to flatten it in order to test it. Otherwise the would not know if they had a stone worthy of honing. (Forgot to quote Vasilis regarding buying an unflattened sample).

I'd like one of these hones. Perhaps on my next trip to Eilat in the south of Israel, I'll give TC blades a call. He may even let me try out a few.

What I meant is, if you have a piece of rock, no matter its size, with a small flat surface you can see if its suitable for honing. You don't need to shape it in rectangular pieces (8x2?) with a coffin box and a slurry stone to be sure if its a hone or an expensive paperweight.

they dont shape all stones into rectangles. and i dont think they make boxes for every single hone, so if you didnt want one in a box i think that would be a possibility.. i personally like the boxes, and wish that the previously posted one had a space for the other two slurry stones that came with it too.