Thread: My great-grandfathers old hone?

My first razor was a D. Peres Solingen razor, it was my great-grandfathers old razor. got it from my grandfathers brother when I stared looking in to straight razor shaving. When he gave me the razor he showed me the strop as well, witch is currently used by a relative in his woodworkshop to keep his tools sharp, the strop wasn't in a good condition and not useful for straights. He also said that he remembered his father having a small hone he used to refresh the razor, unfortunately we never found it. But now I believe I have! I suddenly remembered that my dad have a really fine stone he uses to finish of his knives and tools on. As a kid I used this stone when I learned to sharpen my knives. I always just assumed my grandfather had a barbers hone so it had never occurred to me that this might be his old hone. When I asked my father where he had got it from he said from his dad. So it might very well be my great-grandfathers old hone. I have to ask grandpa if he can confirm this next time I meet him! I tried the hone on a razor and I managed to get a decent shave off of it. Not a great shave but okay.

Can some one tell me if this is a Tam O'Shanter hone or something else? From what I read about Tam's this one fits in the description. It is hard, had to work 1,5h on it to get it flattened out when it was a bit uneven. When I put water on it it absorbs some of the water, I guess Tam's do this since they are claystones(?). In grit i would place this around 8-9K, it does not give as fine edge as my Norton SS 10K does which I have most experience with, but still a shavable edge. But of course you cannot really put a grit size on a natural...

Do anyone know if Tam hones where sold in the US in the 20's as a hone to maintain a razor with? My grandfather picked up straight razor shaving when he vent to America to work a few years, so if this is his old hone then it had to be available there at that time.

Any tip on what stroke to use on a small hone like this? I have now used a X stroke or a rolling X-ish stroke.

Jacob

ToS or TaM have been sold during a whole timeframe....they appear in different appearances and different grits, from a normal ToS (6-8K), to a white tos (up to 12K)....there are also blue variants out....

They can also be used with a thin oil, so probably you can push the edge further more. I never tried this out, because all the stones i own were used with water only...

You should read the following Literature if youre Interested in the History of the
Water of Ayr and Tam o Shanter Honeworks...

http://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info%2020...ing_part_3.pdf

You can also try to get the works from D. Gordon Tucker named
Ayrshire Hone Stones which gives a lot of Information

I added some shots so you can see the differences:

ToS fine (above 10k)


ToS:






ToS blue:

Originally Posted by JackeHj

Do anyone know if Tam hones where sold in the US in the 20's as a hone to maintain a razor with? My grandfather picked up straight razor shaving when he vent to America to work a few years, so if this is his old hone then it had to be available there at that time.

you mean this one...
ToS Razor Blade Hone

Okej, so if they where used to sharpen safety razor blades I guess they ehere also used to maintain razors back then. What i read here, most people huse them as a stone in their honing progression... Not as a finisher or to maintain the edge.

I have never heard of using ToS with oil... maby I should try in out...
Thanks!

The producer mentioned to do so, actually i did not found many of the boards here or somewhere else doing so...

So its something you can try out, with the knowledge that you mostly cant go back to water use, because i think the stone absorbs the oil.

You could also try a glycerine/water mixture before and see what happens on the performance side...it wont go inside the stone when washed away after use.

good advice, I don't want it to get ruined if the oil doesn't work out well...

It's hard to tell in the picture, but it could also be a Belgian Blue that was/is mined with Coticules. They are in the 6K-8K range and produce purple slurry when lapped

Originally Posted by rodb

It's hard to tell in the picture, but it could also be a Belgian Blue that was/is mined with Coticules. They are in the 6K-8K range and produce purple slurry when lapped

No thats for 100% a TaM/ToS

Originally Posted by JackeHj

Okej, so if they where used to sharpen safety razor blades I guess they ehere also used to maintain razors back then. What i read here, most people huse them as a stone in their honing progression... Not as a finisher or to maintain the edge.

I have never heard of using ToS with oil... maby I should try in out...
Thanks!

As Sebastian already mentioned, Tam O'Shanter hones appear in different grits and were used for different purposes.

There is one for carpenters usage, one for knives/ penknifes, a fine TOS for razors and finally and white TOS, also for razor honing.



The white TOS you see in the picture is part of a scotch dual hone which has a Water of Ayr hone on the other side. The WOA is the finest hone in this row and is described as very fine on the label whereas the white TOS is called fine.



For maintaining the edge of a straight the fine TOS, the white TOS and of course the WOA is useable. All other TOS could be used in progression.

Originally Posted by JackeHj

Any tip on what stroke to use on a small hone like this? I have now used a X stroke or a rolling X-ish stroke.

Jacob

Hei Jacke!

If you still plan to use it for honing, I would strongly suggest honing hand-held. What I do with small hones like that is lay it in my flat, open hand, one end on/towards the tip of my index finger, the other end just below where the pinky starts. Try to keep the pressure to a minimum, otherwise it may rock (harhar) or slip a bit.