Thread: Tam O Shanter --EBay cautionary tale

I found this Tam O'Shanter on the Bay and was pretty jazzed about it. The thing is, there was only one photo (of 8) that has a picture of the actual stone and it was a far away top view. Just for due diligence sake I emailed the seller and asked the question "Is the stone flat or is there a dip?". They say yes and here are some additional photos. Good thing I asked. Looks like this poor Mauchline TOS has been treated brutally as an axe sharpener.

The first photo is from the Bay. The second two are sent to me privately by the sellers.

When I saw the stone at ebay yesterday I didn't think there was anything left in the middle. Seems to be plenty of use left.

Of course now it's posted here it will sell for twice as much

How would you lap something like this? I have a DMT 220, but I would worry about it getting destroyed in the process of taking down this much material.

Based on the ToS I recently lapped with sanding mesh and paper I think this one will be pretty soft and not hurt your DMT if you follow the guidelines for DMT lapping.

A stone like this I would probably put in the oven first to melt the glue and seperate it from the box.

If you de-box it, you could just use the back.

It is not that hard take the top and the hinge off. Then laping plate/ sandpaper grit about 80/DMT XC and would say in 20-30 min it should be flat.

I lapped a Mauchlineware TOS a couple of weeks ago with 400 grit sandpaper. Takes some elbow grease but it will get you there eventually. I did not take the hone out of the box. Mine wasn't dished as badly as the one on the pic. When I saw it on ebay my first thought was: "That poor thing is badly dished" Pics show there'd plenty stone left for you and probably your kids' kids. Take a good look: the handle is broken off. It should look as on the pic below.

When I first saw it I thought it were a Dalmore blue. However the waves are gunge, if you look well in the middle it is a spotted TOS.