Thread: Y/G Escher is as fine as...

Today's the big day, we'll find out of my old escher was "good" or "too soft".

I think in the end, you guys will be able to say "we know it was the arrow and not the indian", or maybe "the indian was too impatient".

Originally Posted by Martin103

Zib, are you talking about the "silkvein" stone or is this something totally different?
Whatever it is sounds very interesting for sure.

These stones I'm testing are different. I don't want to hijack this thread, I'll start another...

Rich

Originally Posted by zib

These stones I'm testing are different. I don't want to hijack this thread, I'll start another...

Rich

No objection from me, but if the stones turn out to be interesting to everyone, they'll definitely be easier to find in a new title.

So, the escher that I had sold boomeranged. The person who bought it correctly noted there was some light cracking along the sides of the stone, which presents (obvious) risks to a future user in case the cracking would get worse and release a chunk of stone. Being an escher newbie, didn't notice them even in my pictures until he pointed them out. Definitely different than the glaring japanese natural delaminations and other such sidewalk-sized flaws that are impossible to miss.

The upside is that the stone came back to me, it looks like I jumped the gun about its fineness and between going and coming back (and the use) it has settled down and doesn't release a slurry at all. And now it works exactly like I expected it would work, and I wonder why I didn't keep it long enough to get settled with it - I never would've sold it.

So this is a foot in mouth post, impatience almost cost me the proper experience. It works like a dream now cracks and all, and though I unintentionally wasted a lot of the buyer's time with it, I did find out independently that it is not unusually soft or anything).

I did get it from a book seller, so they'd probably have no clue what the cracks were if they were there already, but if I didn't put them in lapping it, they go a long way toward explaining why it has a random little bit delaminated in one corner. I am the kind of person who buys stones *after* their stamps have been lapped off, though (so I can get them cheaper), so I'll live with it happily as long as I can still use the stone.

Please post pics of the "crack". My thoughts are that if the stone is in danger it might be best to epoxy it to a nice piece of hardwood. I would hate for you to sit it down wrong on the countertop and end up with slurry stones....

Take pics of the label for reference of course...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Please post pics of the "crack". My thoughts are that if the stone is in danger it might be best to epoxy it to a nice piece of hardwood. I would hate for you to sit it down wrong on the countertop and end up with slurry stones....

Thats the ticket! Good call Scott!

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Please post pics of the "crack". My thoughts are that if the stone is in danger it might be best to epoxy it to a nice piece of hardwood. I would hate for you to sit it down wrong on the countertop and end up with slurry stones....

Well, it's not that kind of crack. It's a crack that runs from the top of the stone likely to the side if it makes it all the way there. If you've ever chipped slate or shale rocks, you know what I mean. It's more a threat of having a piece that looks like a big corn flake come off the top. As time moves on here, there's just a tiny tab at the one end that's a little loose, and it is consistent with that, very thin and lateral in terms of the stone surface rather than vertical through the thickness of the stone. There is also a small chip off of one of the other corners that is of the shallow and wide variety (though it's less than a quarter inch wide), versus the narrow and vertical or just plain vertical type.

I may end up attaching it to a board at some point, anyway, just because I'd rather have it on a board like that. The buyer had the same thought (that affixing it to a base won't help) because my reaction was that I would take it back and just glue it to a board.

Originally Posted by DaveW

I may end up attaching it to a board at some point, anyway, just because I'd rather have it on a board like that. The buyer had the same thought (that affixing it to a base won't help) because my reaction was that I would take it back and just glue it to a board.

IIRC Glen glued or epoxied his escher to a piece of plexiglass. The label is still visible while the stone is protected and reinforced.

I was thinking of putting it in something quartersawn (which would make it stable), like maybe cocobolo, and leaving enough of a cutout in the middle of the back so that you could still read the label.