How were Thuringians used?

[HomeAwayFromHone]

I've just gotten my first slate hone, which I suspect is Thuringian although there isn't much information about this particular branding ("Oh, wie herrlich"), aside from a thread in German where someone thinks it might have been Fassbinder & Co. Solingen.

It's glued into this cute little box which would be a shame to wreck, but somehow I don't think the wood will hold up well to being soaked as I do tend to finish with my water stones under (gently) running water, and definitely lap them that way. I'll probably just go ahead and waterlog the poor thing anyway because it seems like I'll be unlikely to get the stone out with damaging it even more. Does make me wonder how it was meant to be used given that it does say "to be used with water only". Was it typical to just splash a bit of water and go but never really lapping or rinsing off the slurry? Or I'm just underestimating wood's water handling ability and it'll still function fine as a container after repeated drenching unless it gets unreasonably moldy and I'm just lucky to have one that hasn't seen a lot of use yet?

[Euclid440]

Look in great shape, if it is old, (almost looks too good) it is probably hyde glue, so try some heat.

Heat the bottom and the stone with a heat gun, or hair dryer. It should not take too much heat to loosen it up. I have also had good luck, tapping down on the edge of the box, where the clasp is with a small hammer.

Old hyde glue gets brittle so a few taps can shock it loose, especially if you want to save the case, and you should.

You don’t need a lot of water to hone on slate, I have some SRD Thuringian hones that are mounted on wood and the back side is a leather strop. You just need enough water to wet the stone. Yours does look like it could do with a lapping and the corners rounded or beveled.

I should come out with some tapping or heat. If you don’t trust your tapping skills a small block of wood higher that the stone will protect it if you tap the block. You want to hold the case in your hand so the shock will transfer to the case and pull away from the stone. The sound of the tapping will tell you when it is coming loose.

[Brontosaurus]

This being your first post, welcome to SRP.

I have a Celebrated Water Hone like that. To use it, I fill up a coffee mug with water and dip my forefinger into it, transferring water to the surface of the stone with my forefinger. Once the surface is covered, I start to hone with the stone on my outstretched hand and the opened lid resting on the inside of my forearm and wrist. After use, I wipe off the stone and leave the box opened to air-dry.

[Euclid440]

Back in the day Thuringian stones were rated by grit or stone layer, for different use, tools, knives and razors. Small boxed stones like you have were generally an indication of a fine grit stone suitable for razor honing.

Yours says “Genuine Water Hone for Razors. So, you may have a very good stone for razors there.

It should be lapped flat before use. There is a lot of information in the Hone forum and some good Sticky of the forum in the first thread of the Honing forum or in the Library. Tons of information available by Search, on Thuringian stones.

[Gasman]

Welcome to SRP. No need for running water. Itz not a Cotie. Just keep it wet. Be sure to check out our library. Lots of great info and be sure to read the rules of the forum once. Enjoy your time here and let us know about your experiance with straights and wet shaving.

[Kees]

Welcome. Very nice one, looks like the push thingy to open the lock is still there. Mostly they have broken off long ago.

[HomeAwayFromHone]

Thanks for the warm welcome and everything I was hoping to learn. I opted to try keeping it glued in the box for now as it's so small I can see appreciating a bit more to hold on to. Lapped it with an Atoma 400, wiping away the slurry occasionally with a cloth. Then honed the razor I'd used earlier this morning with a 10k edge as a baseline. Used minimal water, occasionally refreshing. Now there is a bit of random noise on the previously pristine mirror synth edge and while it still cuts an unsupported hair, I have to get a bit closer to my fingers. Of course I won't really know until I shave with it and try it on a few more razors. Will report back in some months once I get a sense of how it does, the absolute lack of urgency being one of my favourite aspects of this as a hobby.

I did find it lapped very easily, which fits with what I've read about these stones. But I also wonder if maybe running water wouldn't be entirely pointless as it does seem like being that soft it'd auto-slurry a bit, though I didn't notice much. Plus, while I expect some variation from natural rock and this is probably entirely fine and reasonable, seeing it add scratches has me worried that what I consider a clean cloth might have slightly contaminated the surface when I wiped away the slurry. So running water to rinse would reassure me there too. Maybe I'll take it out of the box yet...

[Gasman]

I have not spent years playing with Thuri's like some of the guys here, but I find the bevel to be slightly scratched when put to the 3 different stones I have. In the end, after stropping Im getting very nice edges. I find a Thuri to be easy to use for finishing. It just takes many many many many final laps on the stone so that the scratches are very close together and uniform.

[Steel]

Stropping after honing and before a HHT is key.

[Euclid440]

Slurry is a whole different ball game. Most finish well on thin/fine slurry, a Thuri stone slurry, (rubber) starts off finer than Diamond slurry, but you can work Diamond slurry to crush/thin it. It just takes experimentation. For example, there is a difference between fine/crushed vs thinned/less slurry. And then there is refreshing, adding or making new slurry.

Do not expect uniform stria pattern or mirror finish from naturals, the random grit composition and grit size are what give a natural edge the comfortable non-surgical shaving edge. Working slurry takes some experimentation. How the slurry is created, thickness, thinning, pressure and number of laps all vary from stone to stone.

Take a look at Coticule.be for honing with slurry tips. Much of honing with slurry translate with naturals, though some are more friable than others. Most folks think of slurry as a heavy paste or super wispy thin, but there is a lot in between.

It is a lot easier using fine grit naturals as finishers, post a good 8k edge.

This is all part of learning a stone.