Despite it being said many times it's obviously not obvious since they are selling non labeled stones as "Original Escher".
Not sure about Apex, but the ones you mentioned. Were they selling eschers or other thuringians? Any idea about star brand?Estima labeled ones exist as well. They sold a carving kit with a 4" Thuri hone inside under their own label.
Also Boker (Just sold a Boker labeled one)
I think there's probably a half dozen or better additional US importer labels they were put under too (at least two I've had and sold in the past... can't recall offhand the names... one is mentioned in one of the turn of the century barber guides though)
edit: I think one was sold as "Best Hone in The World" by some importer.
Also "Apex" made reconstituted Thuris... I think they sold natural ones too... does anyone know for sure?
I recently purchase one of the Timbertools Thuringian hones for testing purposes. I do not have an Escher stone against which to compare it, but I do have a variety of other natural and synthetic hones. The stone I purchased was the 2" x 8" stone.
1. The stone was well packaged, but it was not lapped.... not even close on either side. I had to spend about 1 hour going all the way back to 220 grit to remove the saw marks from the stone surface. I finishes the lapping with a Atoma 1200 plate. I am glad I purchased the 2" wide stone rather than the larger one as that would have made lapping even more of a chore. For the price, I believe they should have made some effort at removing saw marks.
2. After lapping, I do consider this to be a "razor grade" hone. There were no inclusions, cracks, chips, etc. that would have affected its use on razors.
3. The stone I received was a dark blue color. It was hard, but not super hard. You can raise a slurry fairly easily.
3. I have a tough beard and need a very sharp edge to shave. I can shave off a 12K synthetic or a natural that provides a similar level of finish. However, I prefer finishing at a finer level, 15K and higher. My typical finishing hones are Greek Vermio, a fine Imperia La Roccia, a Zulu Grey, a Shapton Glass 16K and a Suehiro G20K.
I estimate that the Thuringian was on the order of 10-12K. I was not able to get the edge to pop arm hairs 1/4" above skin level, although it would easily shave hair at skin level. It also was not keen enough to shave my beard, as expected based on the AHT. However, by doing about 40 laps on CrOx followed by 20 laps each on 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 micron CBN and then normal stropping on cloth and leather, the edge gave a nice shave, both keen and smooth.
For those of you able to shave off an 8K Norton or Naniwa or a Coticule edge without using CrOx, CBN or diamond afterward, I believe the Thuringian I received would easily be suitable for finishing razors. However, if you have a tough beard like mine, the Thuringian would only be suitable as a finishing hone if you use pasted strops afterward.
If I use the Suehiro 20K (which is 0.5 micron), I still use the pasted CBN strops to further refine the edge, although the CrOx is no longer needed. CrOx is a lot less expensive than the Suehiro, so I recommend that for those on a budget.
In short, I have a problem with both, but I can understand wanting to use the name "Escher" to assure people what they are getting is actually Thuringian... but calling a rock that is absolutely 100% NOT what your customers know as Thuringian a Thuringian is just dishonest. Maybe I'm just calloused to the whole "Escher" label... because I never expect any "Escher" I see for sale to be a guaranteed "Escher" unless I see the label on the stone myself (even then... wasn't some UK seller briefly counterfeiting labels and saying in tiny print the rocks they were selling had "reproduction" labels).
I just wanted to verify, that anything in this list will "officially" be escher if it's labeled as such, or Thuri otherwise? I thought i had read once "the genuine water hone" was an escher...but as we can see there is a lot of confusionOne of the sites mentions these were selling escher hones as partners, flagship brands or subsidiaries:
I have a star brand headed my way, don't care if it's escher or not as long as I get the edge.
- Escher & Co. (E & Co.)
- J.G Escher & Sohn(s) (JGES)
- S.R. Droescher, Inc.
- The Genuine Water Hone
- The Celebrated Water Razor Hone
- Karl Bracher Jr.(s)
- Fox Cutlery (The Fox No.44)
- Bosenberg Trinks & Co (B. T. Co)
- Schleifmittel AG vormals Pike & Escher/ Sonneberg in Thüringen
- Star Brand
- Biber
Replies so far suggest escher is labelled escher. Otherwise it's a thuri which may or may not be as good as an escher.I just wanted to verify, that anything in this list will "officially" be escher if it's labeled as such, or Thuri otherwise? I thought i had read once "the genuine water hone" was an escher...but as we can see there is a lot of confusion
I just wanted to verify, that anything in this list will "officially" be escher if it's labeled as such, or Thuri otherwise? I thought i had read once "the genuine water hone" was an escher...but as we can see there is a lot of confusion