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Thuringer stone?

It looks like one of the newer mueller stones which arent true thurigian stones.

Yep. It says they're from Muller at the bottom of the ad.
The original mines in Thuringia were closed and filled as a waste dump by the East German government.
The new stones are more variable in quality, generally not as hard or fine as the original Thuringians.
 
They do serve a purpose, but €37 seems really overpriced IMO. I have a 8x3 that I got off of eBay for $35. I'm no expert on honing, but using the Norton baseline, I'd guess 4-6k depending on the slurry. I have a beater razor that I am learning to hone with and I did manage to get it shave ready off that stone. I set the bevel on a DMT 1200 and proceeded to hone on slurry using ham-fisted dilutions until pure water. I finished on lather, maybe 50-75 laps. I've tried to recreate the success with other razors but this stone seems to only like vintage Solingan steel. These days it mostly acts as a base for lapping film.
 
Looks like one of the Muller grindstones, and the dimensions fit. From the example I have I think it's a decent stone for the price, mine certainly improves the edge from my King 6k but these days I prefer to use it as a finisher for my knives.

Shipping may be a factor but Olivia has a good rep and is selling them cheaper than the place you linked:
http://www.olivia-seife.de/shop/hwherren/steine.html

If you're willing to get something a little smaller it might be worth thinking about a coticule......
 
A shop nearby offers a stone they sell as a Thuringer. It costs only... EUR 37 for a 20 cm x 5 cm stone. http://www.winkelplein.nu/barbersho...Id=1858725&sid=kUKYgtIcUSXkHjUBT1tUIh1K4HFsdf

This seems very cheap to me. Also, this it not the most trustworthy shop I've ever encountered.

Can anyone tell me whether this looks like a true Thuringer stone?

Thanks.

Not trustworthy? Can you elaborate? I've bought several items from the gentleman over several occasions and it's always been a pleasure doing business with him.
I ordered two vintage straights the day before Christmas and called him about delivery, he said he could ship them an hour from then and the day after Christmas I had them delivered to my door. He didn't have time to hone them but I don't mind as I like to hone my own.
You can also go there to get a haircut and a shave the old fashioned way or take old fashioned straight shaving lessons.
Anyway, I like doing business with him, I just don't like his honing stones or strops he sells, I guess they work allright but here at Badger and Blade we're a spoiled bunch...
 
Thanks guys. They are definitely the newer Muller stones. What I understand from your answers is that this is not from the original Thuringer mines, but from a one that is close (?) Is there anyone who can elaborate on this? Anyone who knows where the mines are? Also, this stone is listed as about 8K grit. IIRC, the original Thuringer stones are about 12K grit.

Puerco, I should have been more careful with my words. The guy definitely is trustworthy. He just ones sold me a razor he was convinced came from Solingen. After a lot of research it appeared it was fake. But he didn't know that himself and he gladly took it back.
 
Puerco, I should have been more careful with my words. The guy definitely is trustworthy. He just ones sold me a razor he was convinced came from Solingen. After a lot of research it appeared it was fake. But he didn't know that himself and he gladly took it back.

Yeah that is a bummer, glad he made it right, it's nice to have a shop like his in our small part of the world with not only new but also vintage shaving gear.
It's hard to find stuff around here sometimes, you don't wanna know how long I've been looking around for a 100gr ball peen hammer (for pinning). I've had a wholesaler order one for me after going through four (!!!!) of his catalogs...
Funny thing is I could buy brass rods for €1,00 a meter and washers for less than €2,00 for 100 in a model building shop a few streets from my home :D
 
Mueller themselves have confirmed these stones are from a couple miles away from the original Thuringian mines. They are NOT sold by Mueller as Thuringians. In fact Mueller still sold Thuringians in very small sizes next to this stones and made a point to distinguish between the two the last time I checked. These stones were sold as "German Natural Waterstones", while Thuringians (old stock from small rocks that hadn't been sold but were sitting near the mines if memory serves) were sold as "Thuringians" for something like ten times the cost per square mm. (I wanna say it was ~16 euro for a 100x20 Thuri vs ~11euro for a 300x60 German at the time).

I've had a few of them. They're mediocre stones, inferior to the generic Jnats I got from Dicks and some japanese knife shop (for about $50-60 each), and inferior to both of the 330mate randoms I've tried (though a better shape/size of course). They have their uses, but they were worth it at ~$20-30 each (cost of a CNAT about), at $50+... I would avoid them.

And yes, it is very unethical to call these Thuringians.
 
I have a Mueller's water grind stone and like it. It's soft and was sold to me with an estimated rating of 4-5k+, not 8k as claimed here. Very easy and agreeable to use. I've used it with pastes and the edges are fine. Somewhere between a BBW and a coticule perhaps, although softer than a la grise vein stone.
 
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Mueller used to have a catalog online. It was phone/email orders only, but prices were listed.

edit: found it: http://www.mst-mueller.de/

One of the random jnats came from dicks, I want to say the other was from JapaneseChefsKnive or a site with a very similar layout. Both were marketed the same way. An ~3x5x1" stone with a generic picture given. Explained as being a finishing stone, may be different from picture, etc. Kind of a poor mans intro stone to jnats but with (hopefully) the benefit of being confirmed good (though not great) by a reputable seller. I remember I did a 2-man private group buy with a member here on the stones from dicks (shipping was very high, like $30 or so) and there should be a thread about it somewhere. Wasn't an amazing stone, but had I not used many much higher dollar stones before I tried it, I would have liked it a lot more. Neither those jnats nor the Mueller really compared to a coticule though, and tread an awkward place in cost and utility between CNAT's and Coti's. Maybe a bit better in some respects than the CNAT, but at a higher price the question of why not spend a bit more for a Coticule and have a much better stone is hard to avoid.
 
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