Thread: Antique Store Find

Most of the 'Thuringan" hones are less than 2" wide, most American hones are 2" wide. What is yours?

You said it does not lap easily, all of my Thuringen hones lap very easily.

I would say that yours is not a Thuringan because it looks to wide and does not lap easily.

Just my $.02,

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Most of the 'Thuringan" hones are less than 2" wide, most American hones are 2" wide. What is yours?

You said it does not lap easily, all of my Thuringen hones lap very easily.

I would say that yours is not a Thuringan because it looks to wide and does not lap easily.

Just my $.02,

+1 on the issue of hardness. Coticules come in a huge range of soft to hard; vintage Thuringians not so much. The yellow/greens and light greens are a bit softer than the dark blues, but only a bit, and I've never seen a Thuringian that was hard to lap.

I'm not as struck by the size thing. True, they're usually narrower, but 2"-2.5" wide thuringians aren't super rare. Droescher and other companies made barber-hone sized thuringians (5"x2.5"); and I have a 6"x2.5", which is what this one looks to be.

All things considered though, I'd be very surprised if this turns out to be a Thuringian. It looks to my eyes like any number of coarse-to-medium generic artificial oilstones I've come across. If once you've gotten it flat you find it's fast enough to set a bevel efficiently, you'll have gotten your $15 worth 4 times over (a DMT 1200 is $60+).

Hi, I don't think it's an Escher or Vintage Thuringian. I have old Norton Oil Stones in work that look kinda like that, not exactly, but kinda. If your gonna use it for straight's, it's going to be hard to get the oil out of it. We had a member who bought a Coticule that was used with oil. I'm not sure what he finally did. As hard as you say, It almost sounds like some kind of huge barber hone. The only way to lapp them is with a D8XX

Hi Zib,

Do those old stones have two seperate sides? (like the new nortons ex. 220/1000 stones) As I soak this beast it seems to have seperate grits, and bonded together. Still a lot of crud after 24 hrs. in warm soapy water and much scubbing, but getting better. Rough side very rough, fine side thuringian fine. Obviously a false alarm for an escher/thuringian, but now it's kind of a mystery.

Thanks again for all input!!

Yup, They do have two seperate sides, A coarse and and a fine. It's just about impossible to figure out what the grit is. The box definitely looks homemade to me.
You can pick up, (but it's not cheap) a D8XX (extra extra coarse) They help chew through hard stones. You also might try soaking it in some degreaser, that might help.
Even Oxyclean. The only thing I'd worry about is the two stones coming unglued, so it's chancey, Worse case scenario, you'd have to glue em back together. Here's the problem, it's old. All stones are porous, some more than others. That oil has probably soaked through. It's gonna be hard to get it all out.
Also, From what I see in the pic, now, unless you did it scrubbbing, Those oval scratches in the middle look like knife sharpening patterns. I've been sharpening knives for years and years. That's one of the methods I use when I do it, I rub the knife, 20 degree angle in an oval pattern on the oil stone...The extra space in the box looks a lot like a space for a rubbing or slurry stone, doesn't it?

P.S. Check out the box again. it's uneven on one side and looks like it was hollowed out with a chisel, like he chiseled it out to make the stone fit. Whoever did it, was in a hurry, or not to concerned with how it looked. In any case, You got a good deal, even if you use it for knives, plus it's like a piece of history, another hone to your collection....In the mean time, We'll both keep looking for those Antique store 15 dollar Escher's. Maybe one day, we'll get lucky.....Happy Hunting....Rich

LOL!! Yeah good luck with that, they are out there though. Even razors are getting hard to come by. I had to travel 6 hours to find this old "norton". Oh well nothing to do but keep trying.

Box is definitely home-made. Pics were taken untouched. Scratches were a combination of old oil and extreme glazing. After 3 days stone is finally getting somewhere.

BTW... Oxyclean is helping alot, will post new pics soon....

Thanks,