Thread: Dragons Tongue Hone anyone?

Originally Posted by Jason01

Are the Tam O Shanter and Water of Ayr different stones?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is....it's complicated.

Both come from the same area, Ayrshire, and were mined and packaged by the same company. The Tam O'Shanter is mottled beige-gray in appearance. Traditionally it was for jewelers and watch-makers. It's rated as "fine" by the company and most guys here rate it about 6-8K. It is good for gentle honing on microchip-prone razors, and many guys find that if you use it before a higher-grit finisher the end result will be very smooth & comfortable. Not many shave directly off of it.

The Water of Ayr is charcoal-gray to black and homogenous in appearance. It looks and feels like a black escher. Traditionally it was for razors and scalpels. It is rated as "very fine" by the company and in my experience is comparable to the coticule and chinese 12K. I'm not good at estimating grits but you can shave off it very nicely. It feels like silky glass to hone on.

The same company also sold other natural stones including the Dalmore Yellow and the Dalmore Blue. The name of the company was the "Water of Ayr Hone Works" or something like that. The Tam O'Shanter is by far the most famous & commonly found of the stones they made, but it wasn't always called that; hence the confusion. In the 19th and early 20th century what we now call the "Tam O'Shanter" was variously called "Snakestone," "Scotch hone," and "Water of Ayr stone." In the early 20th century, the company announced that thenceforth the famous mottled beige stone would be known as the "Tam O'Shanter," and at that point the name "Water of Ayr" would be reserved for the finer, scarcer dark stone. "Dalmore Blue" and "Dalmore Yellow" were also introduced as names for the medium and course stones, respectively.

I once found the company's announcement in an old trade journal (via Google Books); I'll see if I can find it again.

This is the reason there is sometimes confusion about naming. The Tam O'Shanter still gets called the "Water of Ayr stone" quite a bit, not only in old books referencing it but also by online merchants still selling it. If you're about to buy a "Water of Ayr stone" from an online seller and what you want is the very fine dark finishing stone, ask them to describe it.

To add extra confusion, I believe that at the time of its announcement, the company changed its name to "Water of Ayr and Tam O'Shanter Hone Works."

I read somewhere – again, I'll try to find it – that the origins of the dark Water of Ayr Stone is petrified wood!