Thread: Escher/Thuringian??

Sorry for the fuzzy photo's
I got this today at an antique store for $1!!!
It's very soft and lapped very easily with a 750 diamond hone, it has sort of a bluish/gray slurry. There seemed to be glue residue on one side, so I'm thinking it was in a box at one time. It feels very smooth and sort of like a Coticule when honing. It's 7" x 1 1/2" x 11/16". Do you guys think it's a Escher/Thuringian?

95% yes, I'd think so.

Size and color look good.

Excellent Find!! Thanks for sharing. Now I don't feel so guilty about my find. I'm no expert on Eschers so I will leave that evaluation to the others. I'm sure you will get more responses in that regard. Maybe if you post the dimensions of the hone it would aid in putting a name to it.

Good luck!

Based on the pics, size, and soft and easy lapping, it seems very possible.

But my vintage thuringians feel nothing like my coticules. My coticules feel very hard and sort of scrape-y. My vintage thuringians feel very soft, smooth, and velvety with lots of feedback.

How's the edge it leaves?

It certainly does look like a vintage thuringian/escher! You're lapping seemed to confirm the feel of it, as it does lap easily (as least the ones I have) and leaves a slurry. But I agree with pjrage that it does have a different feel that my coticules, but that may just be your personal interpretation.

Try it on an already shave-ready edge for a few laps, strop it and try shaving with it! If you have a microscope it wouldn't hurt to look at the edge under magnification to see how it's affected the scratch pattern.

But seriously, $1???? I'm not jealous...

Originally Posted by StraightRazorDave

It certainly does look like a vintage thuringian/escher! You're lapping seemed to confirm the feel of it, as it does lap easily (as least the ones I have) and leaves a slurry. But I agree with pjrage that it does have a different feel that my coticules, but that may just be your personal interpretation.

Try it on an already shave-ready edge for a few laps, strop it and try shaving with it! If you have a microscope it wouldn't hurt to look at the edge under magnification to see how it's affected the scratch pattern.

But seriously, $1???? I'm not jealous...

It is different than my Coticule, but WAY different than my C12k which has no feedback other than suction of the blade. It seems to have real nice feedback, more than a Coticule with only water. It will give a polish to an edge when I look at it under magnification.

Than woman at the store pulled it out of a kitchen junk drawer when asked if there were any hones in the store. I tried to suppress any OMG look on my face when I saw it. Both top and bottom were covered in 1/64" deep gouges and dirt, it didn't look like much, but all that lapped off in about 10 mins. The $1 price made the 160 mile round trip very much worth it!!

Aren't Thuringians supposed to have a certain scent when wet?

Originally Posted by Pyment

Aren't Thuringians supposed to have a certain scent when wet?

When I lapped it it was like wet river rocks or something, just wet not as much but there a little. My Coticule is the same way.

Some, but not all, Eschers have a rough surface under the label like where they were hewn out of the rock when mined. Also some, but not all, have what looks like saw marks on the sides. Faint but they are there on some of them. Looks like an Escher or Thuringan. If it does a good job for you that is the main thing.