This morning, a pair of Monkeys, Thuri vs jnat at the request of Scott, details in the honing thread. Cream was AoS Lemon lathered with a Simpsons 59, and Floris JF (lemon and juniper) AS and EdT finished up a stellar shave.
So who won? As far as I could tell, it was a dead heat tie. Both razors were extremely smooth. Sometimes I’d think that one was a little better but other times/places I’d think the other was a little smoother. But at the conclusion of the shave, I have to say that I couldn’t tell the difference. And I mean the same, in smoothness, closeness, and non-aggressiveness.
For those trying to decide between an Escher (this one is an Escher according to the experts) and a jnat, it comes down to the drawbacks of both stone types and what you’re wanting to do.
- A labeled Escher is actually quite a bit more expensive than a jnat of the same size, even the best jnat
- It’s harder (=more expensive) to try several jnats to get one that is exceptional
- A Thuri is a one-trick pony, all it does is finish, though it does that exceptionally well. You can set a bevel and hone to finish on the right jnat, but finding it is the problem
- Not all Escher/Thuris were sold as razor finishers, but I do not have enough experience with a range of Thuris to offer any useful advice
My advice depends on what you want out of the wet shaving experience. If you want to make the stones/hones a part of that experience, jnats are an excellent option and can offer a full range of honing from tools and knives (I do knives too) to razor finishing. If you want a fine edge and not have to deal with the variability/range of jnats, then get a good set of synths to prep the edge and suck up the cost for a labeled yellow-green Escher.
View attachment 242801
View attachment 242802
Click to expand...
