Thread: Escher advice needed

Sounds like you're zeroing in on a great edge. Light strokes with diluted slurry.

That's the spirit Tim, you'll get there!
The most difficult part of honing is 'reading' the edge, i.e. knowing whether you're done with your current hone and need to move forward, or you need to go to a corser hone, or just keep going on the current level.

Once you get the hang of it, (and it sounds like you are) I think you'll really like the edges you can get off an Escher. It's been my go to hone for some time now.
I'm very pleased with the finish off it, and it's versatility when used with light slurry.

Too many good replies for me to contribute anything other than reiterating the use of slurry on an Escher. It does say on the instructions to 'produce a fine slime' or similar, I'm don't have it at hand. I have had better results with a very light slurry. It does puzzle me somewhat because Escher and Co. directions advise the use of slurry and provided slurry stones or 'rubbers', that boxed vintage Thuringians came without slurry stones.

I also agree they are to be use with the lightest pressure, per Sham's 'half in hand' technique. Yes, they are too expensive to drop and I'd never risk doing so, given the horror of cracking an Escher on my tiled floor, which is why I do it inches above a towel.

Some do prefer coticules. Gary Haywood for instance, a UK barber and afficonado of coticules did not prefer a YG Escher's finish to the coitucles he had or more accurately he did not believe they justified their price. I don't either given my disposable income and am fortunate to gave acquired mine before they reached the price of a short holiday. As a moot point it is hilarious that a tool barbers once used to sharpen their razors and in all likeliness never thought about other than during use, is here akin to a gem with people saving money to buy and prior to receipt thereof, anticipating with excitement the joy of using one! And the price they go for. Sheer madness.

I think I played a part in talking Gary into an Escher. What it boils down to, is your own preference. We have Coti guys, J nat guys, Charnley guys and so on.
It's like Pizza, It's all good, Some are just different than others. Are Escher's exepensive, Yes, given the market and availability, but also, Look at Ardennes. An 8x3 Selected grade is now, just around 500.00 usd new. It was only 2 years ago, they were 300.00 usd...Like Escher.

All the finisher's are good. You need to find one you like, stick with it, and master it.

I still own a escher , I got this one from sham, after seling my others, i decided i wanted to own a escher. I have used coticules for quite a few years and i'm satisfied with the edges i get . To me a maxed out coti edge is just perfect. I have to say that yes coticule is my favourite hone, not because its the best out there but to me i no what there cabable of, i also no they can hard work at times, it took me so long to work out the slurrt etc. So when i got the eschers, It was a case of working out slurry to water or just water etc. I though i realy could'nt be doing with working all this slurry thing out, same with j nat.

either way i have used the escher, I found finishing with x amount of laps on a light misty slurry worked fine, left me with a nice smooth edge . slurry to water was very much the same . I tryed 100 laps on water after coticule and i found the edge was still very nice, not crispy like other times, all though that can happen of any hone . i think i'd just finish with light slurry, test shave and then do 30 laps on water and test of water . Compare.

i did the same with j nat. I would say the slurry is the key to giving a smooth shave then finish with water if you wish.

I found the j nat to be a very good finisher , they seem very popular now. the escher is a good stone and the feel on this stone is a joy to use. i'm glad i have one. I 'll have to give it another whirl. the good thing with escher is the slurry does not dull the razor , unlike coticule slurry. i've used heavy slurry on escher, shaved from there and the shave was fine, maybe not quite as sharp as a finer slurry, but very tame edge .

gary

To update my results, the shave I got off the latest go on the Escher was very good, as good as I've had.

In the case of the lack of success with the stubborn razor I was honing, I think that the difference was simply that the edge wasn't as keen as it should have been when I took it to the Escher, so the Escher couldn't help it further. I was so determined to "use my Escher" that I was trying to force a razor edge without doing the necessary prep work on lower-grit stones. Once I had re-done the edge a few times and finally got it right off the Coticule, the Escher very definitely improved it. I'm not recommending everybody run out and re-bevel their razor and go through their entire progression before using their Escher, but I really think this specific razor needed that.

So perhaps Eschers are like Charnley Forest stones for me - a waste of time unless the edge is already quite good. Most JNats are more forgiving in this regard, in that they can take an edge that's good but not great, and make it great. The Charnley is so hard and smooth that it's more intuitive that it's a final finisher; slurry would be difficult to raise, if at all. My Escher feels much softer, so I guess I assumed it behaved more like a JNat.

Now that I've had a small success with my Escher, I'm motivated to learn how to use it better and hone my skills to the stone's potential. I have very high regard for my Charnley. No matter how sharp the razor, I can always seem to get it just a bit sharper when using the Charnley. I've shaved right off the Charnley without even stropping, and got a great shave before. But it won't make an OK edge a great edge.

This is all true regarding the EScher stones.

Now let the fun begin!