Thuringian straight razor hone raffle in supprot of SRP
Time to fulfill a promise I made earlier.
I am offering a Mueller Thuringian straight razor hone NOS for a raffle in support of SRP. I feel Lynn would be the man to organize it but as he is too busy he asked me to do conduct it. Proceeds will be paid to Lynn to keep SRP afloat.
Raffle tickets are 5 USD. Winning ticket will be drawn Saturday afternoon September 29th local time. The hone will be sent to the winner by registered mail with insurance at my expense. If winner wants it lapped I'll do it free of charge.
Tickets can be bought by paying the amount for the desired number of tickets into my PayPal acoount: c.rietsema@planet.nl
Mueller Thuringers have been discussed here in the past. They are from the same source as the vintage Thuringian razor hones that were quarried in the Sonneberg region of Thuringen before the 2nd World War. Thuringian razor hones were exported to many countries outside Germany by amongst others Escher and Co. and became famous as “Eschers”. The quarry these stones come from was filled with rubble during the communist era in Eastern Germany. The few large blocks that were still in storage at the quarry are now being cut to bench hones by the quarry’s new owners. This hone is one of them.
This stone looks coarser than the vintage Thuringers and Eschers. Grit wise these stones are rated by experienced honemeisters that reported back to me between the coticule at the lower end and vintage Eschers/Thuringians at the higher end of the scale. I personally do not notice much difference between my razors’ edges whether honed on a kosher coticule, a yellow/green Escher or one of these. The less slurry you use the finer the edge. Use with no slurry at the final polishing stage.
The hone ( approx. 6 7/8" x 1 15/16" x 5/8" / 17,5 x 5 x 1.8 cm ) comes with a rubbing or slurry stone. Both come in their original cardboard box.
Label on the box reads on the left: Mueller's Water Grindstones for razors and particular sensitive instruments. -Using with water only- "Reep away oil!"
(Grindstone IMHO being a poor translation of the German word Abziehstein which means "hone").
Label reads on the right: Mueller-Wasserabziehstein fuer Rasiermesser und feine Werkzeuge. -Gebrauch nur mit Wasser- Oel fernhalten!
Thuringen hones are of sedimentary origin like coticules and contain small garnets sized 5-20 µ. Rubbing the slurry stone on the slightly moistened hone releases the garnets into an abrasive slurry and helps to keep the hone flat. As these are natural stones their size will vary slightly and all stones do have minor inclusions that do not adversely affect honing results.
