What do you think of this Escher?

[heirkb]

Hey,
I just found this Escher today and it suffices to say that I was pretty damn excited. I'm wondering, what type of Escher is this? It's greenish-grayish.
I don't know much about the different types of Eschers and what the differences are (pretty sure they're all polishers, right?), so any help is appreciated. You can see that the surface has some scratches that I can actually feel with my nail. I figure I'll have to lap it, but any tips are appreciated.
Thanks

 

[professorchaos]

Is it as big as it looks? If so, you should be very pleased with your find.

 

[heirkb]

Is it as big as it looks? If so, you should be very pleased with your find.

Oh I'm very pleased no doubt!
And it's pretty big. Not super thick though. Here are the measurements:

10 inches long, 1 and 15/16 inches wide, 7/8 inch thick

This is what I get for going to college in NY and not Philly

 

[professorchaos]

Oh I'm very pleased no doubt!
And it's pretty big. Not super thick though. Here are the measurements:

10 inches long, 1 and 15/16 inches wide, 7/8 inch thick

Yikes! That is a HUGE Escher. Mine is a similar color, albeit half the size (perhaps 5x2). It follows a Coticule quite nicely and produces a smooth edge. However, I've found that I prefer to refine the edge a little more than is possible with it.

 

[heirkb]

Yikes! That is a HUGE Escher. Mine is a similar color, albeit half the size (perhaps 5x2). It follows a Coticule quite nicely and produces a smooth edge. However, I've found that I prefer to refine the edge a little more than is possible with it.

What do you use after your Escher?

 

[DunEdinRanger]

At the risk of increasing my nerd factor, I first thought this was in reference to an MC Escher painting.

 

[dpm802]

At the risk of increasing my nerd factor, I first thought this was in reference to an MC Escher painting.

+1

At the risk of hi-jacking this thread, My all time favorite work of art is this one:

I once stood just 3 feet from the original in the Smithsonian Institute ... it was an awe-inspiring moment.

(We now return you to the original subject matter of this thread.)

 

[professorchaos]

What do you use after your Escher?

Depends entirely on the razor. Sometimes a high grit Japanese natural, sometimes pastes.

 

[danjared]

Timber Frame Tools on their page for new "Escher"s advises against using an Escher/Thuringian-type hone after a coticule except if it is of "low-quality". I'm assuming that yours is probably not of low quality. Do you know why they would make such a claim? I'm curious because I have a coticule and one of the new "Escher"s*. (Relatedly, I'm curious about how the Thuringians compare to the new Escher in terms of the edge they make. Someone tell me if I should make a new thread instead.)

*Or at least this is what I'm told. I got it from Howard at The Perfect Edge, who said that it was described to him as such. I'm assuming that it's from MST but really have no details about its origin.

Yikes! That is a HUGE Escher. Mine is a similar color, albeit half the size (perhaps 5x2). It follows a Coticule quite nicely and produces a smooth edge. However, I've found that I prefer to refine the edge a little more than is possible with it.

 

[heirkb]

At the risk of increasing my nerd factor, I first thought this was in reference to an MC Escher painting.

+1

At the risk of hi-jacking this thread, My all time favorite work of art is this one:

I once stood just 3 feet from the original in the Smithsonian Institute ... it was an awe-inspiring moment.

(We now return you to the original subject matter of this thread.)

Nice
I too am curious about the differences between the old original Eschers, the "new Eschers" and the Thuringians.

 

[Kees]

Don't be fooled: Timber Frame Tools do not sell Eschers! They sell Thuringian hones like the Mueller razor hone which is about as fine as a coticule, genuine Eschers are much finer. Contemporary genuine Eschers do not exist.

Timber Frame Tools on their page for new "Escher"s advises against using an Escher/Thuringian-type hone after a coticule except if it is of "low-quality". I'm assuming that yours is probably not of low quality. Do you know why they would make such a claim? I'm curious because I have a coticule and one of the new "Escher"s*. (Relatedly, I'm curious about how the Thuringians compare to the new Escher in terms of the edge they make. Someone tell me if I should make a new thread instead.)

*Or at least this is what I'm told. I got it from Howard at The Perfect Edge, who said that it was described to him as such. I'm assuming that it's from MST but really have no details about its origin.

 

[mainaman]

I think that the Escher was dangerously close to the edge of your desk, other than that congratz on the nice find

 

[heirkb]

I think that the Escher was dangerously close to the edge of your desk, other than that congratz on the nice find

you don't know how many times I went back and just pushed it a little more in just in case. I was really glad to be done taking pictures so that I could put it somewhere else where it would be more secure

 

[danjared]

Oh, I know that they're not genuine Eschers, hence the scare quotes. That said, Timber Frame Tools sells two types of stones from the same general vicinity. My hone came from Howard, and I believe it is one of the MST ones but not sure which, although looking at the MST site (not that I can read German) makes me think that it's a Thuringian. I just don't have any pictures or other stones to look at in person for comparison. I think you answered my question about fineness.

Don't be fooled: Timber Frame Tools do not sell Eschers! They sell Thuringian hones like the Mueller razor hone which is about as fine as a coticule, genuine Eschers are much finer. Contemporary genuine Eschers do not exist.

 

[heirkb]

Don't be fooled: Timber Frame Tools do not sell Eschers! They sell Thuringian hones like the Mueller razor hone which is about as fine as a coticule, genuine Eschers are much finer. Contemporary genuine Eschers do not exist.

Hmmm...so what's the difference between what they call Escher and what they call Thuringian?
I see you have some Thuringians for sale, so I assume these are the ones that you're saying are less fine than a genuine Escher?
Thanks for clarifying by the way

 

[Kees]

NOS Thuringians are comparable to coticules, vintage ones comparable to Eschers.

 

[heirkb]

NOS Thuringians are comparable to coticules, vintage ones comparable to Eschers.

I see. And all the stones on Timbertools are in fact Thuringians and not technically Eschers even though they call some "Escher" and others "Thuringian"?
Thanks

 

[SliceOfLife]

Assuming both of Timber's stones come from MST...

The ones timber resells as "eschers" are the Old stock of stones that MST is selling (based on internet translation) from the original mine (albeit only in small sizes now) as "grey Thuringians" or something like that.

The ones timber resells as just Thuringians are what MST appears to sell as (based on internet german->english translation) "dark blue natural german hone"

Mueller does not return my emails about these stones. I imagine he's busy or not in the mood to deal with some idiot american that can't speak his language.

There are very divergent opinions about these stones.

Some say that the Grey ones are just as good as Vintage thuringians. Some say they are lower grit (coticule-ish finish). Some say the Blues are just as good (very few say this), some say they are the ones that are coticuleish finish. Some say they aren't even that good. (again, very few... most common opinion seems the center on these stones).

I've got one of the blue boys and a Vintage coming, so I can give my impression on the difference when they get here (few weeks). There's already a NOS "grey" review up here from someone else if I am not mistaken.