Thread: Gone hone hunting!

This may be a dumb question but I will ask anyhow.

How do you tell the difference between a Thuringian, Escher, and a hard black Arkansas stone?


I like to peruse the antique malls and I managed to grab a nice coticule, and now I've got me eye out for an Escher. You never know what will sell for cheap!

Anyhow, without lapping them, is there a way to tell em apart? I have a little pocket knife I keep with me to test hardness/finish of a given stone, but I really don't want another black Arkansas stone!

Seems like the colors are awfully similar.

An Escher is a brand of stone mined in the Thuringian region of Germany. So if there is no brand label on the stone, it's not possible to tell an Escher from any other Thuringian (example: Hohenzollern brand Thuringian, etc). There are many Escher stones out there that are unidentifiable at Eschers.

The easiest ways I've found to tell the difference from an Arkansas and a Thuringian is to touch and even smell the stone. What I'm looking for is whether the stone I'm holding is an OILSTONE. Is it oily? I don't use oilstones, so those I kick to the curb.

Buy any gray fine grit silky feeling unidentifiable unlabeled waterstone if it's reasonable, lap and hone with it. That's where the fun comes in. Even if you bought what you thought could be an Escher, albeit unlabeled and even if you compared the pictures of it under magnification to known pictures of magnified Eschers, it would only satisfy you. Imagine the following listing on Ebay:

"Escher stone:

It's not labeled, but close up it looks like an Escher so you the seller should believe it's an Escher".....

Searching for stones for me is more fun than searching for razors. Vintage whetstones suitable for razor honing are more rare than straights in antique shops. Good luck!

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chrisl

...The easiest ways I've found to tell the difference from an Arkansas and a Thuringian is to touch and even smell the stone. ...

Searching for stones for me is more fun than searching for razors. Vintage whetstones suitable for razor honing are more rare than straights in antique shops. Good luck!

Chris L

What's the smell difference between the two?

I get a kick out of lookin' for hones more than razors too. Never know when you will find that diamond in the rough!

Arkansas stones are hard, Thuringians and Eschers are stoft stones like coticules. Only the colour is different. Thuingians and Eschers range from green to grey to blue. Good hunting!

Originally Posted by joke1176

What's the smell difference between the two?

I get a kick out of lookin' for hones more than razors too. Never know when you will find that diamond in the rough!

Used Arkansas stones IME have smelled oily. They often have that household oil or petroleum smell from the various and creative oils that the previous owners used on the stones. They tend to be oily to handle as well. Not like they're dripping oil or anything, but they can feel oily. That's the best way I can think of to describe them. An un-oiled new Arkansas and a dry waterstone probably wouldn't have any difference in smell.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Kees

Arkansas stones are hard, Thuringians and Eschers are stoft stones like coticules. Only the colour is different. Thuingians and Eschers range from green to grey to blue. Good hunting!

That's one of my problems; I have found black arkansas stones that are grey/green in color. One in particular is a deep deep olive drab.

I think the hardness will be the key, I will try and surreptitiously scratch the hones with my handy-dandy keychain pocketknife and see how things pan out.

I think my big problem in getting my mind around it, is the fact that I don't have or haven't handled a Thuringian/Escher before so I am guessing/estimating at it's characteristics.

Originally Posted by Chrisl

Used Arkansas stones IME have smelled oily. They often have that household oil or petroleum smell from the various and creative oils that the previous owners used on the stones. They tend to be oily to handle as well. Not like they're dripping oil or anything, but they can feel oily. That's the best way I can think of to describe them. An un-oiled new Arkansas and a dry waterstone probably wouldn't have any difference in smell.

Chris L

Being oily would certainly make things easier.

Originally Posted by joke1176

Being oily would certainly make things easier.

Don't bank on it: yesterday I got this Escher that had been used as an oil stone.

In the past Eschers even had on the label they could be used with oil or water, one of those labels was posted here more than a year ago.

The answer to your question is not easy because some of the stones will look alike.

In practice however, the Arcansas stone IMHO does not compete in any area. The worst Thuringien hone will sharpen a razor faster and better than the best Arcansas stone.

The Arcansas stone work best with oil IMHO and work best up to about the 6000 grit level which is on the border line with many shavers as being smooth enough to give a satisfying shave.

The German hones depending on the quality have a grit level of between 8000 and 12000 grit.

The German hones are softer. The German hones tend to be more unilateral in colour. The German hones should come with a rubbing stone whilst the Arcansas stone will not.

As said before, Escher is a BRAND of German stone. They are hyped presently on the internet and are therefore expensive. They are the "new" honing discovery that competes with the other "recent" discovery. the Belgian Yellow coticule.

There is no logic to say that Escher branded stones are the best or that old Escher stones are better than newly cut German hones.

Historically, all of these stones have been available for centuries. Both the yellow coticule and the Thruringien German stones have been used in the European straight razor factories to establish the initial edge on new razors.

Originally Posted by English

The answer to your question is not easy because some of the stones will look alike.

In practice however, the Arcansas stone IMHO does not compete in any area. The worst Thuringien hone will sharpen a razor faster and better than the best Arcansas stone.

Yeah, the black Arkansas I have is sloooooow and doesn't leave a comfortable shavin' edge. Not good for much, really. Hell, I don't even like it for knives!

I think I can spot a black Arkansas out of a lineup, so anything close to that color that's natural (and feels/sounds softer) will be fair game!