Blue Thuringian Water Hone
This quiet and unassuming bit of slate appears quite humble in its somewhat generic-looking box. However – it’s a rather spectacular blue Thuringian water-hone that hails, I believe, from the Thuringia region in Germany. Wasser Abziehstein means 'water whetstone'.
This is a very hard and fine finishing stone with a matching rubber/slurry stone in what I believe to be the original box. The stone is very consistent across the top, and there are no cracks or inclusions but there is a 1/2" chip in one edge on the bottom. The slurry stone has a non-toxic inclusion that is only a slight visual distraction.
Edges off this stone are enticingly keen and smooth. Honing on it is easy peasy; all it takes is a few swipes with the small slurry stone to make a bit of ‘lather’ and in no time at all, the edge is absolutely brilliant. The feedback is excellent, and the speed is quite good. This is what I call a ‘barber’s cut’ stone, so it’s a little wider than a lot of these types of straight razor hones.
These German razor hones may not be as capable of developing the uber-keen edge that a high-end Jnat can, they are more than capable of bringing an edge to a highly refined state of keen and smooth. They are very fine and reasonably fast, so they also work well as touch-up or barber hones.
The famous Escher water-hones were quarried in Thuringia also. Escher stones are ‘Thuringians”, like many others with different labels; "Escher" – is just a brand name.
Many claim that the Yellow Green Barber’s Delight Escher stones are the "best" of all the Thuringian stones. Personally, I tend to gravitate toward the blue and blue-green varieties, and I position performance way ahead of boxes and labels. It just so happens that this stone has it all.
Approx. Dimension: 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75" / 122 x 61 x 19 mm
Weight: 15 oz / 426 g
