Thread: Getting the Most out of an Escher

Hi SRP. So I have been having some trouble getting the famed "smooth and keen" edge out of my Escher. My shaves with the edges so far have been alright, but not great. I have had some harsh shaves, especially on my neck, which is the most sensitive part of my face. This is not a problem I have with edges coming off of my JNats or my coticule.

Does anyone have any tips or technique advice for honing with an Escher to get the smooth and keen result that they are famous for? So far, I have been going from a medium amount of slurry down to clear water laps. Then stropping on linen and shell. Any help would be appreciated!


Thanks in Advance,

Matt

In my experience with honing in general, a harsh shave indicate one of two things, either it does not have a full bevel set or it is over cooked. I good look with a loupe should indicate which.
When using my Escher blue/green, I approach it from a 10K edge, and go with very light dirty water slurry, hardly any at all. I wait for it to start to feel smooth or slippery on the hone and check it then, and sometimes I stop there, other times I go just a little further. The nice thing about the Escher is that the longer you go the less you get from each stroke, you will nit easily overdue and edge, if you are not hanging on the edge of too far to start with. I have went at it with a super keen 12k edge and gotten the edge to become a harsh shave. On my old Sheffield blades I go from and 8K to the Escher, with very nice results. There are likely many was to approach this.

I don't think it's the bevel. I have set the bevel the same way as I always do and have not had any problems. I use the Chosera 1K to set bevels. Then when I'm gonna to finish with an Escher, I go from the 1K to a coticule and use dilucot to get to clear water. From there I have been going to the Escher starting with a medium slurry. I may be using too much slurry to start or too much pressure on the Escher. I'm going to try again to use the Escher on a dubl duck tonight with very little slurry and very little pressure to see if that is the issue. The DD I will be using is more or less shave ready Already. That will eliminate the bevel issue, as it was set by a very good professional honemeister.

I would love to get a good shave off the Escher, as I hear such good things. But as of right now my JNats and coticule are getting me better results.

Not all Eschers unfortunately live up to their reputation. As you are getting good edges with your other hones you may have a subpar Escher.

BTW, the gap between the 1K and the coticule may be a bit too much, I would add a 5K.

Being a long term coticule hone I tried several Escher after my coticule. I used the 1 k chosera then the coticule dilucot which was no probs. Infact I would shave of the coticule and if I was happy �� then I would try the Escher. Basically to see what if any difference could be gained from using the Escher. If I was you I would use the Escher after with water only. See how that feels. Me personally I did not feel much difference nor any negative efect.

Then I used light slurry to water and so on I tried what the labels recommended just created a lather I.e slurry and to be fair there was no improvement, I felt I lost some keenness .

I was convinced a good coticule edge seemed very similar to a Escher edge . I also think a Escher would work much better coming of a synthetic progression, I don't think the Escher worked that well coming of my coticule for that reason I sold mine.

If was you I would make sure your coticule edge is shave ready then try water only on Escher see what happens, then start tiring in a little slurry to water and compare.

I would make sure that your razor is ready for the escher. Maybe the blade needed more time on the other hones.

My Eschers were 'water only' hones. Following up a coticule got me a little sharper, keener edge but not a lot smoother. I use Eschers to smooth out a crisp synthetic or arkie edge.

Contrary to others, water only on my Thuringer hones has rarely worked for my preferred type of finishing.

I use mine with a dilution method, same as with my Coticules. I guess I have my own way of using these type of hones, but when I get that "sticky" feel on my Thuringer stones after dilutions, I know I'm getting close to my preferred finish (same for that sticky feel on a Coticule hone). Granted I use my Thuringer with quite a lot of slurry at first. To each his own though.
I do as many dilutions as I must to get that certain feel. It's a pretty slow stone, but the slurry to plain water progression was my eureka moment. YMMV

Good luck!

In terms of getting the most out of my eschers ..... I waited until ebay prices were very high in completed listings and then put mine up for very high buy it now prices. Worked very well at that time.

In my limited experience I dont like finishing on water with the Escher. I dilute it to thin slurry and end there. I make sure the razor is super sharp prior to switching to Escher.