Thread: What have I found???

Thanks everyone. With your suggestions I looked through the Wiki and thought it looks suspiciously like the Escher picture in the SRP wiki: File:J.G. Escher Sohn Water Razor Hones 1.JPG - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I'd be curious to know the dimensions of the small block Escher the wiki describes to see if it marries up to the home I have.

Btw - I think the yellow is staining (probably from floating around in a fishing boat for years) and not part of the natural colour.

I will be giving it a proper try over the next few days and will report back, but an initial go shows that it cuts very slowly with no noticeable metal in the water film after 20 laps each side. It did seem to polish the edge nicely though when viewed with a 10x loupe. Still more testing to go though.

Thanks for helping - still keen to try and understand the provenance of this nice (if a little beaten) stone.

Just thought I'd add, the dimensions of this stone are exactly 5 inches x 2.5 inches by about 5/8 inch.

Thats a light colored thuri, I had one that looked identical to this. The big scratches and the fresh lapped color are both tell tale signs.

If the slurry is the same color as the stone its not a thuringian, they meaning thuris, generate a white looking slurry.

If the others convince you it isn't a thuri, than I will get it off your hands for the price you paid for it and shipping

The slurry was grey, but a very light grey and almost white - definitely a lot lighter than the stone colour. I would have said the same but didn't realise it made a lot of difference. Thanks everyone.

Thanks for your generous offer Jeness - think it might hang on to it for now... :-)

Originally Posted by Bagman

it looks suspiciously like the Escher picture in the SRP wiki: File:J.G. Escher Sohn Water Razor Hones 1.JPG - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I'd be curious to know the dimensions of the small block Escher the wiki describes to see if it marries up to the home I have.

It does. That one is 5 x 2,5 too, a standard size.

A bit of brown 'skin' (as it is called on Japanese hones) does not disqualify the hone as a Thuringian. I have some fine specimens which have it too. There are few pictures about somewhere on this forum.

I agree with Oldengaerde. It both looks like and sounds like a thuringian, even down to the slurry. That staining on the bottom looks like rust staining from wherever it was stored (tin box?) or laid to roll around. May even be residue from what was honed on it. Doesn't look like a skin much.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks again all.

Neil - I think you're right. I'm pretty confident the staining has come from something introduced to the stone. That side of the stone is a bit oily, and I think it might be fuel, rust, fish guts, or most likely a combination of all of the above. Anyway, I am going to clean the stone up with some soap and a brush and see how it comes out.

Some of you asked, so I have included some more pictures. I gave the hone another lap with 400 wet 'n dry, and you can see the slurry is light grey in colour. I included a close up as well. There are some natural grains in the stone. It definitely cuts very slowly and seems pretty hard. I tried to raise a slurry with a Nagura stone that came with a Kasumi 3000/8000, but all I got was a red slurry from the Nagura stone and nothing from this stone - I'm no expert but it seems this stone was too hard for the Nagura.



Thanks everyone for your input on this. From what I now understand, this stone is probably of Thuringian origin and possibly an Escher. Whichever, it now has a place in my line up and came at a good price (free - with just a little bit of effort to lap it smooth).

Cheers again everyone!