Thread: Black Tam O'Shanter or Water of Ayr ?

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Is it very hard and glassy? Hard to lap and to raise a slurry on? It looks almost like some sort of LI variant....

Yes, indeed! It could be Novaculite
LLYN IDWAL, beautiful lake in Wales

One of the problems with IDing Scotch hones is that there were more than one quarry selling them and calling them by whatever name they thought would get the stone sold. So there are some out there that came labeled but one company called them one thing, and another called them another ....... Anyway, not my stone but here is a WOA that belongs to an inactive member who last posted in '08 ;

thanks for the picture Jimmy. Looks like slate, but I think it isn't slate. Seems to be a rare stone, because I got no answer on my "WTB" post

Looks like a dark Tam to me. I have a smaller one that is almost that dark. The WoA that I have is a solid dark color with no spots.

Just my 2¢

Originally Posted by Bavaria

thanks for the picture Jimmy. Looks like slate, but I think it isn't slate. Seems to be a rare stone, because I got no answer on my "WTB" post

It is a rare stone. Took me 5 years to find one. I had to give it up to get another rare stone. So it goes ....... on to the next ......

And somewhere out there, someone has just passed away; leaving a pile of strange old sharpening stones for their kids to get rid of. They're not too good with the kitchen knives, and too slow with a pocket knife. "Let's just donate them to the local Good Will, or Salvation Army store".

Beautiful stone at the top of the thread.