Tam O'shanter stone?

B

bgremill

Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
28
Hello all,

I've just acquired some Tam O'Shanter stones. Are these worth using? I found them in an old jewelry supply store and bought them in hopes to save some money rather than buying expensive diamond or japanese waterstones.
My sharpening process to this point has been the Lansky system, followed by crock sticks from knifeart.com, then stropping on an old belt.
Where should the Tam stone get used? Is it true that it is about 8K grit? If so, then using it between the ceramic and the strop would make the most sense to me.

Thanks,

Brent
 
They are polishing stones in varying grits. Also known as "Scotch" stones.
They beak down when used with water, like water stones. I don't know the grits, but you can try them on knives and see how they work.
 
Thanks for your replies gents. Wow, the limited replies and the information I'm getting from google searches seems to lead me to believe I have a collector's item more than anything. The only interest in these things seems to come from straight razor users and/or collectors in Europe and Australia. I'll give it a try and see what I get.
If anyone knows if I should use it wet or dry, let me know, please.

thanks,

Brent
 
The few I have would be a poor substitute for water stones, at least for me. I'd still like to get one of old frictionite stones I've heard about, but hoping to get a better deal than they usually go for on ebay.
 
frictionite - I quit watching the last one when the price went over 70 bucks with a couple hours left. I think they were being sold as NOS at a third/quarter the current price just 3 years ago.

ToS - A_S has several threads about stones from the UK, plus there is a hone section in the SRP wiki. If you're going to get more info, that seems to be a really good place to continue searching.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top