Got this nice brick of Tam O Shanter stone in the other day. Sits at 8" x 3.5" X 2" weighed 2393grams when I got it, but needed flattening. After trying to flatten with a 400 Atoma and not really getting very far she spent an hour out on Sic powder and after that diet weighs 2306Grams. Found the perfect slurry stone to use too.
Water of Ayr, Tam O'Shanter, and the Scotch hone
- Thread starter LJS
- Start date
How fine is it? That looks an amazing kitchen knife stone, and if it's fine a one, a great razor stone too? I almost bought another one last week but I need another Tam like I need more coticules.. my Tam/dalmore blue combo stone is a workhorse, im glad I didn't sell it.
Not sure on razors, but it put a hell of an edge with bite on my Shirogami #2 Yoshimitsu Kajiya Nakiri-bocho. Cutting paper towel clean. I have some great razor TOS and WOA and combos so I think this one will be for knives.
Nice one, Tom. Glad you could finally get one. Out of probably 400-500 stones, that’s one of the few that I keep in the house now. Everything else is in the shop. I’ve never tried it on a razor but it leaves a really nice working edge on kitchen knives.
So I tested my latest (White, labeled 8x2) tam with a razor... and it doesn't even pass my HHT... at all... Shaves arm hair ballpark 5-8k JIS range... which is about what I've always put these stones as. I think I've only got 2 white tams and 1 or 2 black tams here these days; but I'll do a little more testing later.
My experience has always been the black tams are finer. White tams are faster and more even cutting; but coarser.
If you've got a white tam that gives a good shaving edge; that's an odd duck in my experience (maybe 10-15 white tams in total)... don't ever sell it. I suppose someone could call that tiny Ayrstone I had a "white" tam... but it was tan to my eyes... kind of a weird example to begin with. Almost makes me suspect that these are like Turkey hones/Pierre Du Lavant... where there ARE ones that can finish a razor; but they are few and far between.
My experience has always been the black tams are finer. White tams are faster and more even cutting; but coarser.
If you've got a white tam that gives a good shaving edge; that's an odd duck in my experience (maybe 10-15 white tams in total)... don't ever sell it. I suppose someone could call that tiny Ayrstone I had a "white" tam... but it was tan to my eyes... kind of a weird example to begin with. Almost makes me suspect that these are like Turkey hones/Pierre Du Lavant... where there ARE ones that can finish a razor; but they are few and far between.
I like amazing knife stones better than amazing razors stones most of the time.
Yeah; I would say my favorite natural knife stones go:
Washita
Tam
That green slate that I always thought was Charnley till someone from the area corrected me. StenGlenlyddddfiddenblach or whatever. (edit: Snowdonian slate actually... @cotedupy may know more/better name)
And Washita win out because they are hyper cheap and available here... as well as the really good ones being faster and almost/as fine as Tams... But Tams have the advantage of being more consistent... especially when it comes to feel/feedback. I could totally see an argument for guys wanting different things from a knife stone that Tams are the better stone. I mean if I loved India/Crystolons just a bit more... I could totally forgo Washita and make that leap to a Tam in a way I don't like to with hard or even soft arks... But I mean tam price seems to be coming down since that collection got dumped recently and Washita still haven't dried up/spiked in price the way hard arks did... so if you sharpen knives and don't own both; you are making a mistake.
I tend to swing back and forth on wanting knife vs Razor hones... When Thuri/coti prices go nuts; I start to get more interested in Washitas and Tams. Truth is I really don't need any more stones... so I'm always looking for what's not in demand right now to get a deal/not overpay. Snagged a couple Rosy Red Washita's last year at prices I never thought I'd see for that stone. And if I didn't already own a 12.5x3.25" Tam, I'd have bought some of the chunkier tams that got dropped as well.
Washita
Tam
That green slate that I always thought was Charnley till someone from the area corrected me. StenGlenlyddddfiddenblach or whatever. (edit: Snowdonian slate actually... @cotedupy may know more/better name)
And Washita win out because they are hyper cheap and available here... as well as the really good ones being faster and almost/as fine as Tams... But Tams have the advantage of being more consistent... especially when it comes to feel/feedback. I could totally see an argument for guys wanting different things from a knife stone that Tams are the better stone. I mean if I loved India/Crystolons just a bit more... I could totally forgo Washita and make that leap to a Tam in a way I don't like to with hard or even soft arks... But I mean tam price seems to be coming down since that collection got dumped recently and Washita still haven't dried up/spiked in price the way hard arks did... so if you sharpen knives and don't own both; you are making a mistake.
I tend to swing back and forth on wanting knife vs Razor hones... When Thuri/coti prices go nuts; I start to get more interested in Washitas and Tams. Truth is I really don't need any more stones... so I'm always looking for what's not in demand right now to get a deal/not overpay. Snagged a couple Rosy Red Washita's last year at prices I never thought I'd see for that stone. And if I didn't already own a 12.5x3.25" Tam, I'd have bought some of the chunkier tams that got dropped as well.
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The TOS are actually really cheap it's the shipping that sucks. One other advantage to TOS is using water vs oil on a Washita and the TOS don't clog. TOS also don't really raise a burr. I don't know how to even guess at grading they do seem all over the place. I would think labeled white being labeled for very fine sharpening or polishing would be just that. I can say my labeled dual hone the TOS side is a bit darker with some blue, but it will finish a razor to a nice HHT. I still go to the WOA side just because it will bump it up. Like going from a nice Coticule to a Thuri. My best TOS for Razors is not labeled and not that typical looking though. It has smaller spots and is harder with a very polished feel to it. Same for the bout in my pic above. That is a razor grade stone. I have one this is almost black and it is not a razor stone. My labeled axe/hedge knive TOS don't look much different than the fine TOS.
I mean just look at that block I pictured. One side looks very different than the other, but it is the same stone.
I mean just look at that block I pictured. One side looks very different than the other, but it is the same stone.
My go to tam is different looking on both sides. Both leave a nice edge on a razor, but I’d say the darker, less speckled side is a tiny bit finer.
Even though they are really hard to guess based on looks. I can’t even really tell you why, but if you asked me to guess which was finer. I would have guessed the bottom pic. It just says finer in my mind.
I guessed the other way initially, and lapped the top side first. But yes, I think the bottom pic is a tiny bit finer. More like a WOA.
Finest one I ever had was dark and was specifically labeled snakestone
I'll try to take some pictures of the different labels I have on different colored ones. I think my finest one says for scalpels and watch makers tools but that could be one of my hard Arks in thinking of. I don't think color necessarily correlated to fineness, I pbelieve there was a fair amount of overlap. The one I have that's a WoA/ Tam dual hone feels more like a soft ark or fine washita than it does my other Tams but it looks similar. If I had to guess it had a high quartz content. Leave a really toothy edge, probably my best one for knives but it's small so it doesn't leave the box as much.
On a drunken whim I picked up one of those Tam safety blade sharpeners for the collection. It’s not big, but I might give the back a try with a straight. It should be a fine one if they were selling it for DE blades.
Stone color is similar to the one I finish razors on. I've got a slip stone but I'd like to get one of the too.
IRL the colour of this one is close to my 5x1 that came from the print shop hoard. The speckles are a little smaller though. If I get time tomorrow I will compare their SG's.
@cotedupy had one I think his was labeled the same, but looked like a white TOS.
Here's my labels.
These three are finer than the WoA side of the dial hone, which is labeled for razors. I have gotten good shaves from all 3. The dark blue one is much harder than the other 2. The tam did of that disk hone is almost identical in feel and final result as my pike no.1 washita. I'm going to revisit the WoA side on a razor soon. 
The large one is slightly finer than the one on the dual hone. The skinny one and slip stone are the coarsest but not super coarse. Edge feel is similar across all of them regardless of coarseness. The coarse one have a larger tooth that can be felt to the touch, but it's not a huge difference.
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