Thread: Using my first Thuringian Hone

Well I finally got one, a very pretty blue and green Thuringian water stone. Sourced from the venerable Hatzicho.
I just wanted to share my first journey with this lovely rock.


Here it is after lapping and wetting. Was a few uneven spots when I lapped it not much really. I never realized how easy they are to lap with a DMT 325. Nice texture smooth silky feel.

Ok gave it a once over with the rubbing stone to produce a little slurry.

Now I took my least favorite shaver, my nemesis the Dovo 6/8 best Swedish Steel that came in a box marked made in West Germany. I'm wondering still if this was NOS or do they still mark them that way. I digress, so I took my Naniwa 12K my standard finisher and refreshed the Dovo beastie until I thought I had it pretty tree topping sharp.

Ok now to hone it on the Thuri after raising a slurry I decided for lack of any experience to do about 30 careful laps on with the slurry. added water along the way and did about 20 or so more and finished 20 more without any slurry just water. And the edge turned into this.

Very interesting I thought. Well now of course as so many have recommended, to just strop on plain leather and take it to the shave den. My normal routine after the naniwa would of been to hit it on crox linen and then leather strop as normal. I never really liked the shave off the naniwa directly I find it a bit harsh and irritating although it cuts whiskers very well at the expense of my comfort.

After 50 Laps on Latigo strop.

Now I shaved with it. Interesting experience there was no pulling at all it cut whiskers with ease I did not detect any discomfort at all and it drove me to shave in a little more aggressive manner. I felt as if the blade would not cut me I don't know how to explain it really but no matter how I cruised the blade around my face it inspired a sort of confidence kind of like I wasn't really shaving with a sharp razor but in fact it was doing everything it was supposed to and I got a really close shave. I usually get this sort of feeling shaving with wedges but never with a full hollow they always feel dangerous haha, but this time it felt tame and nice. I can see why these stones are a cherished thing in the shaving world. I hope I got the right experience. I enjoyed it never the less and of course will take this stone to my whole collection to get some more impressions. Comments or any help using this stone welcome.

Happy Shaving!

Razorfaust:
I just had a similar experience, I traded a friend for a mint Johann Engstrom 1874 Swedish 5/8th's. The razor looks NOS with a very tiny and unrefined bevel.
I took it through my normal synthetic progression up through Naniwa Fuji 8K. This leaves a very shave ready edge. The steel in the Engstrom is very hard so I did two dilution sequences on my D/B Escher, the edge looked very similar to your pic's. I took that edge to a Neil Miller Horween shell strop (leather only) for 100 laps.
The absolute smoothest shave I have ever had, plenty keen with no irritation what so ever, and like you described the edge just feels like it will not cut skin only beard.
Johann Engstrom razors are known to be very smooth shavers but there is something about the Thuringian edge on that razor which sets it apart.
I think it's safe to say that you are getting the kind of shaving experience that quality Thuringians are known for, and why they are so dear to those of us that desire this kind of edge.
By the way, nice work on the edge photo's.

FrankC

Originally Posted by Razorfaust

Well I finally got one, a very pretty blue and green Thuringian water stone. Sourced from the venerable Hatzicho.
I just wanted to share my first journey with this lovely rock.


Here it is after lapping and wetting. Was a few uneven spots when I lapped it not much really. I never realized how easy they are to lap with a DMT 325. Nice texture smooth silky feel.

Ok gave it a once over with the rubbing stone to produce a little slurry.

Now I took my least favorite shaver, my nemesis the Dovo 6/8 best Swedish Steel that came in a box marked made in West Germany. I'm wondering still if this was NOS or do they still mark them that way. I digress, so I took my Naniwa 12K my standard finisher and refreshed the Dovo beastie until I thought I had it pretty tree topping sharp.

Ok now to hone it on the Thuri after raising a slurry I decided for lack of any experience to do about 30 careful laps on with the slurry. added water along the way and did about 20 or so more and finished 20 more without any slurry just water. And the edge turned into this.

Very interesting I thought. Well now of course as so many have recommended, to just strop on plain leather and take it to the shave den. My normal routine after the naniwa would of been to hit it on crox linen and then leather strop as normal. I never really liked the shave off the naniwa directly I find it a bit harsh and irritating although it cuts whiskers very well at the expense of my comfort.

After 50 Laps on Latigo strop.

Now I shaved with it. Interesting experience there was no pulling at all it cut whiskers with ease I did not detect any discomfort at all and it drove me to shave in a little more aggressive manner. I felt as if the blade would not cut me I don't know how to explain it really but no matter how I cruised the blade around my face it inspired a sort of confidence kind of like I wasn't really shaving with a sharp razor but in fact it was doing everything it was supposed to and I got a really close shave. I usually get this sort of feeling shaving with wedges but never with a full hollow they always feel dangerous haha, but this time it felt tame and nice. I can see why these stones are a cherished thing in the shaving world. I hope I got the right experience. I enjoyed it never the less and of course will take this stone to my whole collection to get some more impressions. Comments or any help using this stone welcome.

Happy Shaving!

What a beautiful natural stone! You describe what I believe to be a natural edge very well and was also my experience with an Arkie edge. You also hear about this same phenomenon with coticule, esher, and JNat users too. Maybe this same feeling is attainable with a synthetic but I haven't heard of it. Great post.

Originally Posted by Razorfaust

...I don't know how to explain it really but no matter how I cruised the blade around my face it inspired a sort of confidence kind of like I wasn't really shaving with a sharp razor but in fact it was doing everything it was supposed to and I got a really close shave. I usually get this sort of feeling shaving with wedges but never with a full hollow they always feel dangerous haha, but this time it felt tame and nice...

Great pictures and explanation of the "natural smooth" effect. (I just zeroed in my first coticule and had similar results - wasn't sure the blade was touching my face. You explained it very well.)

Try a bottle of Smith’s Honing Solution, Ace Hardware, a good Knife shop or online about, $6

It’s a water soluble lubricant, 2-3 drops on a wet stone will give you a bit more cushion for a very fine edge. That and maybe a few more X laps to get the heel and toe, with just a thin slurry works for me.

Try stropping your edge on Chrome Oxide before you go to the Thüringen, put the best edge you can, then finish on the Thüringen and leather.

Smith’s also works well on Coticules… Don’t worry it washes off just fine.

Put some in a small bottle that will release a drop at a time, I use a small plastic, makeup sample bottle my wife had. Works great.

Nice stone, I love that Barbers Delight size, enjoy.

Great description and edge pics. Learning my own first Thuri's and through my loupe I noticed similar scratch patterns and results.
How was the stone suction at the end of the progression? Mine was like a vacuum chamber almost..
Cheers.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Great description and edge pics. Learning my own first Thuri's and through my loupe I noticed similar scratch patterns and results.
How was the stone suction at the end of the progression? Mine was like a vacuum chamber almost..
Cheers.

For me the Suction / Sticktion phenomenon happens on some of the razors that I force geometry correction on in other words I make them have perfect flat surfaces on the hone by taking out high spots from either warping or grinding errors. I find most razors have these no matter how good a brand they are tbh. Taping also can induce this effect when everything snugs up to the hone. I dont use much tape just for wedges and spines that are too pretty to fry on a hone but yeah I like it when it happens mike.