Thread: The Celebrated "Water of Ayr Stone" dark blue or violet

It turns out that you can find treasure in your own cellar

If you do not count the larger stone lying in the upper left corner, the rest of them spent the last 25-30 years in the basement of my apartment.
They were brought home by my dad with two Dalmore Blue stones, which I showed here on the forum earlier.
Before they got to the basement these stones were used in the rotary printing process to sharpen the knives that collected the paint.

Only the oblong stone [in the left-hand corner of the first picture] was used for sharpening chisels over the years.

The largest one, the one on the right, has dimensions 210x125x70mm and weighs 5kg

Very cool find. And right under your feet.

Very nice, the WOA stone is a superb stone, puts a brilliant edge on a blade.

I found this NOS hone, Tom O'Shanter on one side, Water of Ayr on the other....sure sign of the WOA is the little rivers/rivulets running through the stone as you can see on this one.



Both sides...and the "snakeskin" of the TOS :-)

Wow, what awesome finds! Intellectually I know for a fact that I don't need another hone, but w nice water of ayr has a certain mythical quality to it, such that I find myself always craving it, even though I'm pretty certain it really won't do anything my thuringian won't. Thanks for sharing, guys!

Originally Posted by ppetresen

Wow, what awesome finds! Intellectually I know for a fact that I don't need another hone, but w nice water of ayr has a certain mythical quality to it, such that I find myself always craving it, even though I'm pretty certain it really won't do anything my thuringian won't. Thanks for sharing, guys!

I've got a couple of Escher's, including a very nice Barber's Delight, and I'll say the WOA stone puts a very crisp edge on a blade. I'd go so far as to say that it's just as nice an edge, not quite as soft and mellow as an Escher, seems to have much more "sharpness" to the feeling, even "crispness" if we're trying to use adjectives to describe it.

Other thing I found with the WOA, is that it took far fewer laps to get a that superb edge, to many and first couple of shave would be very sharp, needed lots of time on the strop if too many laps were done. Either way, a superb stone IMO, same with the TOS, I've experimented a few times on the advice of some of the true Stone Gods on this forum going from WOA to TOS, and TOS to WOA.

For what's it's worth, I've heard the WOA referred to as the "Black Escher" before....haha....if there is such a thing (I have an Escher that is/was thought to be a Black).

They make for beautiful stones. I've heard before that, as you say, the edge is more crisp, but was under the impression that it was also a very slow stone. Good to know your experience is quite the opposite in this regard.

It's funny, one of the reasons I was able to justify to my wife the move to straight razors was the long term savings it would result it. Taking an interest in stones throws that argument out pretty darn quickly!

Originally Posted by ppetresen

They make for beautiful stones. I've heard before that, as you say, the edge is more crisp, but was under the impression that it was also a very slow stone. Good to know your experience is quite the opposite in this regard.

It's funny, one of the reasons I was able to justify to my wife the move to straight razors was the long term savings it would result it. Taking an interest in stones throws that argument out pretty darn quickly!

LOL - I may have got that wrong then, IIRC, I remember the WOA being quick, but now that you mention, I could have gotten it backwards, mind you, I always come off the Nani 12k before I finish on a natural.

Here's one I grabbed a couple of years ago, still untouched, an NOS, never used Escher hone in wooden box, seals still on the stone.

Natural hones are indeed a deep wormhole.....:-)

Dry and wet...

This stone, especially when dry, looks really interesting. Has it been lapped flat? Have you tried any of those out on razors yet?

I keep coming back to look at this thread. Between the WOA you've gotten a hold of and Phrank's amazing dual hone and escher there it's a good reminder that I definitely need to go an get myself many more fancy stones to rub steel against.

I used one stone to sharpen the chisels, I have not checked them with razors yet.
The surface of the largest one was not yet lapped - its original surface