Collecting stones ..........
This small article is dedicated to the small group of crazy people, that don’t regard hones just as a tool for their collected straight razors, but who enjoy collecting the tools themselves.
Collecting stones is a crazy thing.
You might be lucky to find a great hone at ebay or elsewhere in the net for a reasonable price. But it’s even more fun to stand up from your chair, leave your notebook behind and go out to find some stones.
They are there, still there. A lot of people still have them. They are waiting in old cabinet drawers, desks or old boxes, in basements or garages. You simply have to find them. So you got to have ideas, how to get in contact with those people who still have them and might not even know this.
Then you go out, travel miles and miles, searching, hoping, most of the time returning home without luck.
I spent a lot of time visiting old barber shops or antique stores, asking about the old stones. Most of the time you see, how the eyes of the person in front of you are getting wider, the shoulders raise and finally the head shakes from one side to the other. He may think:” What is this, what does he want, crazy person!”
And you are travelling from one shop to another without luck, standing in front of these people, feeling like a fool and thinking:” What in the hell I am doing here?”
But than the one came who’s eyes won’t get wider but a little smile was formed on his lips. And he might say “Just a moment, I think I know what you are meaning ...”. Then he disappears in the back or another room, you hear some rustling and after a while he is coming back with something in his hands. While he is getting closer you think “ oh… let this be the stone I am looking for!”
He arrives and says “Is this what you are looking for?” And it is – that’s a great moment!
Crazy world!
Sometimes I lay awake in the night, thinking: “Something must be wrong with you….!”
Others are collecting fast cars, nice girlfriends, diamonds, …..
You spent your money buying………stones! Stones …..? STONES!!!!
But after a while I think to myself:
Fast cars are getting rusty, parts quit their service – stones won’t !
Nice girls are getting away or getting old – stones won’t !
Diamonds were stolen by thieves in the night – stones won’t !
The worst thing that could happen is that the thief grab one of your stones and throw it through your window – angry that he didn’t find any money – because all of your money is in the stones.
So I finally fall into a good sleep.
Crazy world!
