Water of Ayr Stone
326 g
7.0 x 1.7 x 0.6”
Original box and labels.
When the TOS hone works was starting out, they referred to the spotted stone we know as TOS today as both TOS and WOA.
Later on, in the 1920s, the type of stone you see on this page was being quarried for the first time, and it became, officially, the WOA.
This stone you see here is black with black “ink-spots” running through. There is another variant that is more blue-purple, which isn’t as fine or consistent. When I have time I will post pix and a description of one.
This type, the Black Ink-Spot WOA, is sort of an indurated mud stone. The prolith deposit was baked from below by an igneous intrusion. The result is a fairly fine stone that is a little soft.
Where the TOS was usually considered to be a medium fine stone, this type of WOA was viewed as being Very Fine. It is a relative comparison, not a reference to other finishers.
Many people try to put grit assignments on these stones, which is a mistake. These are not man-made stones full of screened abrasives gauged to have a particular particle size. Instead, it’s better to just work with the stone to see where it will take your edge. In my own experience with this example, I found the finished results on Sheffield and Solingen blades to be shave-able, and better than OK. The finishing qualities were good but not truly remarkable. These WOA stones will not replace an authentic Escher, for example. They do leave a unique fingerprint and they are easy to use. While this stone did exceed my epxectations, it did not push any other stones ‘out of the box’.
The stone in the pix has been sealed but that was not necessary. I had extra cashew lacquer to use up and put it on this stone just because. They do not need to be sealed. At most you should be using a WOA for maybe 20-30 laps, barely long enough for the stone to get wet. While there is nothing wrong with sealing one, it’s not really something that ‘needs’ to be done. If you do choose to seal a WOA, be sure to use a lacquer that soaks into the stone and build up layers slowly. Just putting a layer of paint on top of the stone’s sides and bottom won’t add the strength a seal should provide.
Use of slurry on these stones will set a fine razor edge backwards. When sharpening heavier blades, slurry can speed up sharpening but finishing on plain water is still advisable. I found using water to produce better results than when using oil.
