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Water of Ayr, Tam O'Shanter, and the Scotch hone

timwcic

"Look what I found"
Found a grease black brick this weekend. A day in the dip and a Tam came out. The gunk preserved the stone nicely. A thick hunk, 5 x 2 1/2 x 1 3/8, saw marks on all four sides and chisel marks on the bottom. A light colored vein running across the surface. This was a nice rescue

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Found a grease black brick this weekend. A day in the dip and a Tam came out. The gunk preserved the stone nicely. A thick hunk, 5 x 2 1/2 x 1 3/8, saw marks on all four sides and chisel marks on the bottom. A light colored vein running across the surface. This was a nice rescue

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Nice one Tim. It reminds me of my Tam bout I got. If it performs anything like it you got a great stone there.
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But not with pricing. I found a Tam O in the wild several months ago, but the price inspired me to leave it. Still not sure I made the right choice, since you don't find natural stones that often here.

I've found a few Scottish stones here in the last few months that cost almost nothing. Though admittedly they were in cheap job lots so I couldn't tell what they were til I got them. (Bottom is a Dalmore, other two are TOS).

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But not with pricing. I found a Tam O in the wild several months ago, but the price inspired me to leave it. Still not sure I made the right choice, since you don't find natural stones that often here.
Yeah It does tend to be either one of two things ... You want what!!!! or damn thats cheap. I also picked up a Thuri. for a stupid price as well. It's like your little anvil, great or stupid here in Aus.
 
Bought this as a buy it now for a price that seemed fair compared to what I see them going for. I've used a pocket knife on it, seems interesting. I plan on trying using it's slurry on a charnwood as I've seen other members do. I look forward to learning it.

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Slurried Tams are very nice @6k.
I just flattened mine on a washita and afterward used the slurry to sharpen a knife and diluted down. After I cleaned everything off and was running on water only I'd notice that Tam slurry was still slowly kicking up from the pores but it was very fine,I guess from grinding on the Washita. It put a very sharp and polished edge on a knife very quickly.
 
I had a massive 14"+ x 3.5" + tam bout many years ago. But was less than 1/4" thick, so not much use. Put it on eBay expecting a collector would bid it up... Wound up selling it for less than the cost of shipping. That one hurt. I almost never trust auctions for rare stones since that day.
 
I had a massive 14"+ x 3.5" + tam bout many years ago. But was less than 1/4" thick, so not much use. Put it on eBay expecting a collector would bid it up... Wound up selling it for less than the cost of shipping. That one hurt. I almost never trust auctions for rare stones since that day.
Yeah etsy or a private sell would've possibly brought better. That's a huge stone.
 
I've been trying to figure out this grey-green, lightly speckled stone for a while, but I'm still not sure. For some reason I have a hunch it's Scottish, but it's finer than any Tam I've had, and quite notably harder: Mystery hones... Let's see what you have - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/mystery-hones-lets-see-what-you-have.567924/post-11608423

@SliceOfLife this sounds and looks a bit like your 'New Vein Ayrstone' thing... what do you reckon? Did you manage to find out any more about that one...?
 
Arrived home this eve to a couple of recent deliveries.

This little ebay number adds to my burgeoning collection of weird-shaped Tams... The Celebrated TO’S Safety Razor Blade Hone.

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Which I understand aren’t really used anymore, because blades now cost tuppence ha’penn you just replace with a new one, rather than faff around trying to sharpen them.

However I bought it for the flat side. 3 x 2.5 is going to be big enough for me to use for final micro-bevels, and also as a slurry stone.

I haven’t completely cleaned it yet, but this appears to be a White Tam I think, which would make sense for something marketed specifically for razor blades. It certainly feels harder and finer than any of my other (known) ones.

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This afternoon I was taking nip of sack in my comfortable chair while watching the tennis, and my mind turned (as is its wont) to the subject of sharpening stones. In this instance to a blue example of the Tam O'Shanter which I rather liked, though its worrying thinness had been cause for concern, both when travelling, and in use...

"Great god in boots!" I thought to myself. "I wonder if The Scottish Stone might not be exactly the same size as that nice little piece of Belgian Blue I picked up last year...?"

So I took myself from the comfortable chair and went off to find them, and look:

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A new alliance?

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Bit of sanding of the undersides, epoxy 'em together, tidy up, and now I have The Celebrated Tam O'Shanter - Belgian Blue Whetstone Dual Hone:

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I'm rather pleased with my little purple n blue Tam x BBW combi, here it is with my other weird-shaped Tams. Wonder what I should do with the White Tam safety razor thing...

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Legion

Staff member
This afternoon I was taking nip of sack in my comfortable chair while watching the tennis, and my mind turned (as is its wont) to the subject of sharpening stones. In this instance to a blue example of the Tam O'Shanter which I rather liked, though its worrying thinness had been cause for concern, both when travelling, and in use...

"Great god in boots!" I thought to myself. "I wonder if The Scottish Stone might not be exactly the same size as that nice little piece of Belgian Blue I picked up last year...?"

So I took myself from the comfortable chair and went off to find them, and look:

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A new alliance?

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Bit of sanding of the undersides, epoxy 'em together, tidy up, and now I have The Celebrated Tam O'Shanter - Belgian Blue Whetstone Dual Hone:

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I'm rather pleased with my little purple n blue Tam x BBW combi, here it is with my other weird-shaped Tams. Wonder what I should do with the White Tam safety razor thing...

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"What did you do, Ray?"
 

Legion

Staff member
I'm rather pleased with my little purple n blue Tam x BBW combi, here it is with my other weird-shaped Tams. Wonder what I should do with the White Tam safety razor thing...

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It is a bit of an odd size and shape for SR's and kitchen knives. I'd probably give the back a spin with smaller pen and pocket knives. I'd guess the size and "grit rating" would match those well.
 
It is a bit of an odd size and shape for SR's and kitchen knives. I'd probably give the back a spin with smaller pen and pocket knives. I'd guess the size and "grit rating" would match those well.

Aye... I probably wouldn't use either of the stones for razors, because of finishing grit level. Though I can use very nicely for kitchen knives.

I imagine it's probably just a matter of experience / practice. In the same way - I'm still not very good with small razor hones, but might one day become alright. (In fact I imagine I could probably freehand a chef's knife on a 5x1 better than I could hone a razor!)
 

Legion

Staff member
Aye... I probably wouldn't use either of the stones for razors, because of finishing grit level. Though I can use very nicely for kitchen knives.

I imagine it's probably just a matter of experience / practice. In the same way - I'm still not very good with small razor hones, but might one day become alright. (In fact I imagine I could probably freehand a chef's knife on a 5x1 better than I could hone a razor!)
Most people are the same. When I was learning it was with big synths, and even something the size of a barber hone would trip me up with a razor. Now a 5x1" isnt an issue. Just a matter of learning various techniques and muscle memory.

But I still couldn't do a chef knife with a little razor hone.
 
That'll surely do friend. I love seeing new innovation. My Pyrenees/bbw combo stone has been outstanding for knives and if followed it with a Tam most of the time. You should have some beautifully done knives from this one. I imagine your will make an insanely good chisel stone too.
 
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