World Curling Federation - From Island to Ice: a Journey of Curling Stones From Island to Ice: a Journey of Curling Stones Loading... By Mike Haggerty September 2013 Ailsa Craig. Down the ages it has stood in magnificent, rugged isolation - a one-mile long volcanic plug island rising out of the Firth of Clyde, ten miles off Ayrshire on Scotland's west coast. Ailsa Craig Photo: Richard Gray/World Curling Federation It is, according to the RSPB, one of Britain's most important bird sanctuaries, being home to a colony of as many as 75,000 gannets at certain times, as well as other species, including a rejuvenated settlement of puffins that are gradually re-instating themselves following the eradication of rats from the island. It also stands as an iconic backdrop to the Open Championship and other major golf events when they are staged at the famous Turnberry links course. But more than this, the granite that makes up most of the island is the source material for the stones used in the game of curling.

The prized high-density blue hone variety is found nowhere else in reasonable quantities apart from the island's north quarry, and it is used as the running band - the section in contact with the ice - on every curling stone in the world. Known affectionately as "Paddy's Milestone" because it sits at the halfway mark of the sea-ferry route between Belfast and Glasgow, Ailsa Craig has been uninhabited since the middle of the last century, but in recent weeks, its isolation has been disturbed by a team of craftsmen from Kays of Scotland - the world's leading manufacturer of curling stones - who have been harvesting 2,000 tons of the precious granite to be used in the making of the next ten years' supply of curling stones. In a painstaking operation, Kays have been gathering seven-ton boulders from the two quarries on the island, shifting them to a temporary loading dock and then transporting them on the open boat 'Jodiann', some 75 tons at a time, to Girvan harbour, from where they have been transported to secure storage near the Kays factory in Ayrshire.

A family business, Kays have been making curling stones for almost two centuries, and years ago they negotiated the exclusive right of access to Ailsa granite with the island's owner, the 8th Marquis of Ailsa, who, incidentally has put the island up for sale, with a current asking price of one and a half million pounds. Up until the 1950s, the Girvan family, and other relatives involved in Kays, lived and worked at the island's quarries, but now there are no permanent residents and the old houses and facilities, which incredibly included a commercial tea-room, have been left to their fate. Even the lighthouse is automated and solar-powered now. The last time Kays lifted granite was in 2002 and the timetable of this year's operation - being carried out under the watchful eye of the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage - was adjusted for fear of disturbing fledging gannets during what has been a late breeding season. Ian Morton was one of the last quarrymen to live on the island, and he recalls a working regime there that would have made current health and safety officials faint. In those days, the quarries had to be dynamited.

"We used to blast the granite pillars down and then work on them in the quarry", he explains, recalling, "I got blown five yards away onto my backside once". One of his jobs was to transport explosives round the island. " We'd be moving round 300 pounds of gunpowder, gelignite and detonators, but the danger didn't bother us " he said. Curling - called "chess on ice" by some - is an ancient Scottish game whose written history goes back as far as 1541. It shot to prominence in the UK when Rhona Martin's team kept a bleary-eyed Britain up well after midnight as they battled for gold medals at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Now, with the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia just six months away, curling is set for centre stage again, with the British teams - yet to be formally announced - liable to be led by current women's world champion Eve Muirhead from Pitlochry in Perthshire, while the men are likely to be skipped by two-times world champion, Lockerbie's David Murdoch.

And they will be using Kays-produced Ailsa Craig stones, which have already been despatched to the curling venue. Each of these stones weighs 20 kilograms, is 278 millimetres wide and 136 millimetres high. To buy one would cost around £400, while a complete set of 16 matched stones - the number needed for a game between two teams - is priced at almost £6,400. Kays' Field Sales and Service Manager Mark Callan gives some background to their production. "we have six craftsmen in our factory and we produce five stones a day, meaning that it takes almost two hours from start to finish to make a stone". He estimates that this harvest will eventually yield 10,000 stones. Ailsa Craig stones are exported to places as far apart as Canada, Iceland and New Zealand, as well as more unexpected locations, including Hawaii, Brazil and Dubai.

The current project has received the backing of the World Curling Federation and their President Kate Caithness said, "we are pleased to support this project as it has ensured the supply for years to come of high-quality granite for curling stones that can be used by Olympic champions and club players alike". Once the project is finally completed, the Kays team will remove everything that they have brought onto the island - the diggers, the dumper trucks, the porta-cabins, and even the last crisp packet. They will also reinstate to a natural state the temporary roads and landing slip they created to shift the granite slabs from the quarries to the loading point. Then, Ailsa Craig will return to its isolation for at least another decade, having played its part in securing the future of what is acknowledged to be the world's fastest-growing Winter Olympic sport. By Mike Haggerty an edited version of this article appeared in the UK’s ‘Mail on Sunday’ newspaper on Sunday 1st September 2013 World Curling Federation ©1991-2016 - All rights reserved.

Powered By reThink Platform Sochi Olympics 2014: The Scottish isle where curling stones are born - LA Times Sochi Olympics 2014: The Scottish isle where curling stones are born Ailsa Craig off the coast of Scotland is ground zero for the granite used for curling stones. Mary ForgioneDaily Deal and Travel Blogger Ailsa Craig is a wee North Atlantic isle off Scotland that looks like a big curling stone. If you don't know what those are, you probably haven't been watching the sport of curling at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It's played with brooms and a shiny stone that's made exclusively from rare granite mined on Ailsa Craig. (For the uninitiated, here's how L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke describes the game: "It's the Olympics' most relatable and honest of endeavors, an odd mixture of shuffleboard and chess featuring unassuming athletes seemingly lifted from your next-door neighbor's porch.") Guide Mark McCrindle of Girvan, Scotland, takes visitors to Ailsa Craig on his small boat.

He says some come to climb to the top of the volcanic isle while others want to see where curling stones come from. "It's the toughest granite in the world, and ideal for curling," McCrindle says via email. Others come to see vast numbers of seabirds like gannets and puffins. A company on the mainland called Kays of Scotland manufactures the Olympic stones. It has rights to mine three types of granite — common green, blue hone and red hone — that are used in high-quality curling stones, according to the company's website. Recently, the island has been up for sale too. London's Guardian newspaper calls it the "granite jewel of the Firth of Clyde." The paper reported in December that it may be taken over by a conservation trust and that the asking price had been reduced to $2.4 million. Olympic curling preliminary competition continues this week. Women's finals will be held Feb. 20 and men's finals Feb. 21.

Sochi 2014: The island providing Olympic stones of destiny - CNN.com Sochi 2014: The island providing Olympic stones of destiny By Matt Majendie , for CNN updated 2:54 PM EST, Fri February 21, 2014 Birds fly above Ailsa Craig, the Scottish island that supplied all 64 curling stones used at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The volcanic plug boasts granite thought to be unique on this planet, which is quarried and marked up. In September, 2,000 tons were removed from the island. Mass piles of granite are lined up on the island's stony beaches and lifted onto a boat to be ferried back to mainland Scotland and turned into curling stones. The granite excavated from the island is cut into 15 cm circular rocks and stacked up at Kays of Scotland, the sole company allowed to quarry Ailsa Craig for the Winter Games stones. Every stone is shaped to ensure they are all identical in size for their ensuing sports competitions.

A machine cores a hole into the base of the curling stone, in this case the common green stone, and a mold of separate granite is added to make an even higher quality product. The highly-sought-after blue hone granite is cut into small circular chunks which are then glued into the main stone hub. The blue hone is used on the underside as it is harder wearing on the ice. A machine then polishes the stone to ensure it has the required shiny finish. Quality checks are carried out on every stone. Kays factory manager Billy Hunter says the checks for those used at Sochi are perhaps even 1-2% greater in terms of quality. Finally, the stones are topped with their handles and ready for the ice in Russia. Canada won the women's Olympic title in Sochi, avenging a defeat by Sweden four years ago on home ice in Vancouver.

HIDE CAPTION An island 10 miles off Scotland is the sole place to supply Olympic curling stones It has provided each and every stone for all the climactic finishes to recent Olympics The island is for sale for anyone with a cool $2.5 million to spare Nature conservation group has tabled an offer to buy it from the Marquess of Ailsa Craig (CNN) -- Ever wanted your own island? This one is a veritable bargain if you have a spare $2.5 million in the bank. With $1.5 million already knocked off the asking price, Ailsa Craig admittedly does come with a certain amount of baggage. The Scottish island once housed a prison before acting as a warning beacon for passing ships -- its lighthouse had a keeper until it became automated in 1990. In fact, no-one lives there anymore, though it is home to thousands of gannets and an increasing number of puffins, introduced to cull an infestation of rats.

The upside is that any prospective buyer guarantees themselves a place in Winter Olympics history thanks to the island's unique rock, which is used to make the world's leading curling stones, including all of the 64 in action at this month's Games in Sochi. "As far as I know, there's nowhere else on the planet with granite like it," says Bill Hunter, factory manager at Kays of Scotland , which has exclusive rights to harvest it. "It's just a natural phenomenon." The island's sole export has had its fair share of drama over the years. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Turin, one stone in particular became dubbed "the stone of destiny" -- its mystique further enhanced by its current position residing on a pedestal within a glass case of a Scottish museum. With the last stone of the final end of the Olympic final, Scottish housewife Rhona Martin slid Great Britain to gold , a rare Games success for the nation and its first gold for 18 years.

Mastering a medieval winter sport Curling 101 Four years on, Martin failed to get her team out of the group stages but the final was no less dramatic as Sweden captain Anette Norberg proved victorious with an extra end and a tricky double takeout for the win with her last stone. Last time around in Vancouver in 2010, the women's final reached another climax as Sweden once more won, coming back from 6-4 to win 7-6 when Canadian captain Cheryl Bernard fluffed her final stone. Every one of those can lay claim to being a stone of destiny, and remarkably all of them originate from exactly the same pocket of Ailsa Craig, a 220-acre island 10 miles from mainland Scotland. The name literally translates as fairy rock, but is locally known as Paddy's milestone -- being situated in the Firth of Forth virtually equidistant on the boat journey from Glasgow to Belfast. Created by a volcanic plug of a volcano that was last active 500 million years ago, it was once a haven for Catholics during the 16th-century Reformation, a time when a castle was built there to defend against a possible Spanish invasion.

Curling is not its only claim to sporting fame. You can see it in the distance from the Turnberry golf course, which last hosted the British Open in 2009 -- when American Stewart Cink denied countryman Tom Watson the chance to win a sixth Open 26 years after his last and at the age of 59. There are some provisos in buying the island. As well as the lighthouse, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has a bird sanctuary leased until 2050. There is also one other home on the island -- a rundown property bought a few years ago by a man from India -- and the issue of the quarried stone. Is this the easiest Olympic sport? There is more science behind the world of curling than first meets the eye, a sport that may be played out on a rink of 30 meters in length but that is often decided by mere fractions and centimeters . The curling stone is made of Scottish granite and slid along the ice, usually with one to three rotations in its trajectory to curve it past what are known as guarding stones as teams battle for position.

When margins of victory are so tight, scientific researchers from both Sweden and Scotland have argued their research can fractionally help but also give players greater logic in grasping their natural instincts. The purpose of sweeping is done to create friction on the ice, the motion of sweeping both harder and faster extending the journey of the stone, which can be as much as one meter with the use of sweeping. Eve Muirhead's British team is among the favorites to win Olympic curling gold at Sochi next year, in what will be her second Games leading out her side having previously failed to make it into medal contention in Vancouver. Much of the play is dictated by the skip. Here Great Britain's Muirhead is in action as her side take on Sweden in a battle of skill and science judging by the two nations' research. The science of curling >> The science and skill of curling For £26,000 ($43,000) a year, the current owners -- Archibald Kennedy and the eighth Marquess of Ailsa -- allow large slabs of rock to be removed to make the world's finest curling stones.

The Sochi batch was extracted back in 2001, and the next 2,000-ton excavation did not happen until last year. The island's stone has a market advantage because it does not contain much quartz, says Hunter, and it does have riebeckite -- a combination that means the stones won't break up in competition conditions. "As a result it will last you a very long time, a lifetime in fact if you look after it like a baby," Hunter explains. "I wouldn't say we put in more effort with the Sochi stones but we probably double-checked things even more -- maybe an extra 1-2% to make sure it was just right." The curling stones used in Sochi are made of two types of granite: Ailsa Craig common green and blue hone. The green makes up the main body of the stone, with blue filling the middle and providing the base. "Blue hone is the hardest granite in the world and it won't wear and tear -- that's the objective," Hunter says.

"It will certainly last for many, many years." The only other place that granite is quarried for curling is North Wales, using trefor, which comes in blue/gray and red/brown shades, and is commonly found in competitions in Canada. It is still an active quarry where blasting is allowed, a process banned on Ailsa Craig due to its bird sanctuary. Following the latest excavation, however, Kays believes it now has enough granite to meet demand until 2020. Sweden's curling champion Sweden's curling champion Tech takes speed skating to the next level And regardless of who purchases the island, a lease is in place ensuring that Kays can continue to meet the demands of the World Curling Federation. As things stand, curling's very long-term future looks likely to rest in the hands of a nature conservation body, which wants to remain nameless but has tabled an offer for Ailsa Craig. Farhad Vladi, who runs Vladi Private Islands in Hamburg, Germany, the world's leading private island broker, has tried to use Ailsa Craig's sporting past as a major selling point to prospective buyers. "How many islands can boast its own Olympic gold medal?" he asks.

As for the future stone production in the very long-term, he adds: "This discussion is ongoing at the moment with the group looking to buy it. Obviously it's very special stone and it's a chance of an income of about £30,000 a year to the owner." No other buyers look immediately on the horizon -- the World Curling Federation told CNN it will not make a bid. Other wealthy curling fanatics could yet enter the fray, but whatever the outcome, Ailsa Craig will play a key role on the Sochi ice -- with or without another stone of destiny. Puffins Return to Scottish Island Famous for Curling Stones Puffins Return to Scottish Island Famous for Curling Stones << Back to Page 1 Page 2 of 2 The dense, nonporous nature of blue hone granite prevents it from easily pitting, said Geoffrey Broadhurst, a curler with the Ardsley Curling Club in Ardsley-on-Hudson, New York. Pits occur when water infiltrates a stone's pores and then freezes. As the water expands, it cracks the rock. "Until 30 years ago most indoor curling rinks did not have dehumidifiers to reduce frost on the ice.

Also, when rocks sat on the ice, moisture would condense on the surface and penetrate into the granite pores. When the moisture froze, the granite would pit which is very bad for the bottom running surface," Broadhurst said. Gaelic Football, Hurling are Irish Passions Thompson, of the World Curling Federation, said some curling stones are made with granite from Trefor, Wales, but they are more prone to pitting than Ailsa Craig blue hone granite. "The view of some experts is that in 20 to 30 years time, Ailsa Craig stones will probably last a bit longer," Thompson said. "There are Ailsa Craig curling stones in use today that were quarried 40 to 50 years ago. They have an extremely long life." No suitable granite has been found for fashioning curling stones in North America, according to Broadhurst. Today many curlers are moving toward stones that have striking bandsthe portion of the rock that bangs into other rocksmade from Trefor granites, which are more durable than Ailsa Craig blue hone granite. The same curlers prefer to use blue hone inserts for their stones' running surface. Stone Shortage?

Curling garnered significant television coverage during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, and, as a result, the sport's popularity has surged. The growing interest has increased demand for curling stones, according to Patzke, the United States Curling Association spokesman. Thompson, of the World Curling Federation, also noted a steady increase in demand for curling stones over the past six years. "Becoming an Olympic sport [in 1998] has been considerably effective. Coupled with that, curling is now appearing on TV today in a way it wasn't done in years gone by." Six European countries joined the federation in December 2003, and Thompson cites exposure on the satellite-television sports channel Eurosport as the reason for its growing popularity. There are an estimated 1.5 million curlers worldwide. Both the United States Curling Association and the World Curling Federation help newly formed clubs find used and refurbished stones for their members to throw until the clubs are on their feet and can afford their own stones. It can cost upward of U.S. $40,000 to fully outfit a club with stones.

To keep pace with the rising demand in curling stones, Kays of Scotland, an Ayrshire-based curling-stone company, received permission in 2001 to cart 1,500 tons (1,360 metric tons) of granite off of Ailsa Craig. The company has permission to return to the island on a periodic basis. Lauder, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, anticipates this relationship working to the benefit of the island's birds and curlers for years to come. Don't Miss a Discovery Sign up for the free Inside National Geographic newsletter . Every two weeks we'll send you our top news stories by e-mail. For more bird stories, scroll to bottom. For Sale: Craggy Isle Where Olympic Rocks Are the Stars - The New York Times The New York Times Olympics |For Sale: Craggy Isle Where Olympic Rocks Are the Stars Search Continue reading the main story AILSA CRAIG, Scotland — This stunning volcanic island has been part of Scottish legend for a thousand years, its sugarloaf profile decorating Scottish bank notes and memorialized in a Keats sonnet.

It has no inhabitants, no electricity, no fresh water and no arable land — nothing of value, it would seem, but for this: For a century and more, its quarries have been the source of the distinctive, water-resistant microgranite used to make most of the world’s curling stones. These include all those used in recent world championships and the Olympics, including the Sochi Games that begin in February. But the modest income from the quarrying of the island’s prized strains of blue hone and common green and a lease granted to Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have taxed the dwindling resources of its owner, the eighth Marquess of Ailsa, whose family has owned the island for 500 years. Like many of Britain’s old landowning families, the marquess’s family has been through decades of retrenchment as a result of inheritance taxes. It lost the family seat, Culzean Castle, to the National Trust in 1945, and in 2010 the current marquess decided to part with Ailsa Craig, posting an initial price of $4 million.

That figure was later cut to $2.4 million, and as the waters of the Firth of Clyde have lapped at Ailsa Craig’s rocky shore each day, little has changed in the intervening years. The island remains misty, monumental and for sale. Photo Credit The New York Times When Keats first saw the island soaring 1,100 feet into the sky off Scotland’s west coast in 1818, he repaired to a mainland inn and wrote a sonnet by candlelight describing it as a “craggy ocean-pyramid,” summoned from the deep by some mythic power, and attended for eternity by eagles and whales. Nearly 200 years later, with Scotland approaching a referendum on independence from Britain next September, it remains an icon in the country’s national consciousness, redolent of the rugged, stand-alone character many Scots pride as their birthright. Continue reading the main story Earlier this month, approaching across 10 miles of shimmering open sea aboard his 35-foot lobster boat, the M.V.

Glorious, the skipper, Mark McCrindle, broke the silence of his cramped wheelhouse to say that in 30 years of plying the waters from the nearby port of Girvan, he had rarely seen it looking more majestic. “Aye,” he said, “she’s a beauty.” Would he like to own it? “Twenty thousand pounds is all I’d pay,” he said, quickly adding, “What would I do with it?” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Finding a buyer will require more than the poetic flights of Keats, or “the dreams” the 57-year-old marquess says he would be selling to anyone whose fancy runs to an island that has no modern conveniences, no active forms of employment since the quarrying ended in 1969, and only one habitable structure among the rusting, roofless ruins of the quarters once used by men working in the lighthouse or the quarries. Over the centuries, the island’s 220 acres, much of it in the form of precipitous crags and thick uphill reaches of bracken, have provided Scots, and sometimes their enemies, with an ocean fortress.

Barely three-quarters of a mile from tip to tip, the island has served as a redoubt for repelling Spanish invaders, a sanctuary for pirates and, for the last 25 years, a preservation area for tens of thousands of breeding seabirds, especially gannets and puffins. Photo The southwest side of Ailsa Craig, off the Scottish coast. Owned by the same family for 500 years, the 220-acre island is for sale. Credit Andrew Testa for The New York Times So it is little surprise to find that property agents listing it reach for hyperbole in stating its attractions. “The only island to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games!” says Farhad Vladi of the Hamburg-based company Vladi Private Islands. He claims to have sold more than 2,000 islands across the globe, many of them in more enticing, or at least warmer, locations than the Firth of Clyde. Vladi’s medal reference was to the curling stones used by Rhona Martin, the Scottish champion who threw what became known as the “ stone of destiny ” to win the women’s gold medal at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.

The victory set off fireworks celebrations in Edinburgh and Glasgow; it was the first time Britain had won a winter gold in 18 years. Scots, and others across Britain, are hoping for a repeat at the Sochi Olympics, and they look to Ailsa Craig, at least metaphorically, as a talisman. Two thousand tons of previously quarried granite were taken off the island this summer by landing craft and used for cutting, spinning and polishing into the Sochi stones at the factory at Mauchline, 25 miles away on the Ayrshire mainland, that has a contract for the Olympic stones. A few of those stones will slip gently out of the sure hands of Britain’s best medal hope, its world champion women’s team and its 23-year-old skip, Eve Muirhead. The 44-pound, kettle-shaped rocks will be made, in the body, from the speckled Ailsa Craig granite known as common green, and will glide to the “house,” or target, on a base ring of the island’s inimitable blue hone , whose tight molecular structure makes it impenetrable to melting ice.

Photo Two thousand tons of microgranite quarried on the island were sent to the mainland to be made into Olympic curling stones. Credit Andrew Testa for The New York Times In the meantime, the marquess, who has lost a leg to diabetes, waits for an offer on what he calls his rock. During an encounter at his favorite pub, among a bustle of weather-beaten farmers and bushy-bearded seadogs at the old marketplace in Ayr, he spoke with scant sentiment about the prospect of giving up ownership of the island, which the listing agents say has failed to attract any serious interest. “It’s going to go out of the family,” he said. “But I think of it this way: It’s not going anywhere. It’s always going to be there, and it really doesn’t matter who owns it.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story The same dispassion came when the talk turned to Ailsa Craig as a sporting icon.

With one of the other titles he inherited, the marquess, as Lord Archibald Angus Charles Kennedy, head of the Clan Kennedy, has been a celebrated guest at highland games and other clan gatherings in Scotland and Ireland, and in the United States, Canada and other far-flung outposts. But his passions fall short of caber-tossing, shot-putting and, especially, curling. With a smile and more than a hint of mischief, he summarized his attitude toward the sport that is said to have had its origins on Scotland’s frozen ponds in the 16th century. “It’s the boringest game you can ever watch,” he said. Correction: November 23, 2013 An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to the use in the Olympics of curling stones manufactured from granite quarried on Ailsa Craig. The stones were used in every Olympics since 1924 in which curling was a medal sport, not in every Olympics since that year.

(Curling made it Olympics medal sport debut in 1924, and did not return to the official Olympic program until 1998.) A version of this article appears in print on November 24, 2013, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: For Sale: Craggy Isle Where Rocks Are the Stars. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Ailsa Craig - The best granite for Curling Stones AILSA CRAIG - THE WORLD'S BEST GRANITE Kays Scotland have the sole rights to harvest Ailsa Craig granite for curling stone production. Kays have the sole lease to remove the only known source of the following 3 granites, Ailsa Craig Common Green Granite, Ailsa Craig Blue Hone Granite and Ailsa Craig Red Hone Granite in the world. It is these rich natural resources that allow us to provide the world's best curling stones. Harvesting between 1600 tons of Ailsa Craig Common Green granite and 400 tons of Ailsa Craig Blue Hone granite is an operation that takes place as required.

The granite is then transported to the mainland by boat to be stored in our secure facility until we start the process of transforming the granite boulders into the finished curling stones. AILSA CRAIG - LOCATION AND HISTORY From the mid-19th centuries, the island was quarried for its rare type of granites, Ailsa Craig Common Green, Ailsa Craig Blue Hone and Ailsa Craig Red Hone. Sitting in the Firth of Clyde the profile of Ailsa Craig is easily recognised when viewed from the Ayrshire coast. Approximately 10 miles from Girvan it is nearly two miles in circumference and rises to 1,110 feet (338m). The island was formed as a result of intense volcanic activity 60 million years ago. As a result of being a strategic landmark in the channel between Ireland and Scotland the island has a long history going back to the late 1500s when a castle was built to protect the island from Spanish invaders. The island was used as a prison during the 18th-19th century. The floor of the Chapel of the Thistle in St.

Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh is also made of Ailsa Craig Common Green granite. Ailsa Craig is uninhabited and is now a bird sanctuary and home to large numbers of various species of birds including gannets, razorbills, kittiwakes, herring gulls, shags, fulmars, puffins and black-backed gulls. KAYS SCOTLAND STONE TRADE IN DEAL Full market value for your old stones when traded in against Kays Olympic standard stones. KAYS SCOTLAND - Manufacturer and supplier of the best curling stones in the world made from Ailsa Craig Granite. ©2015 Andrew Kay & Co (Curling Stones) Ltd. All rights reserved. Website design by LAUNCH Getting to the Core of Olympic Curling Stones - Science Friday Science Friday Getting to the Core of Olympic Curling Stones A small Scottish island is now the sole source of Olympic curling stone granite. February 20, 2014 Ailsa Craig. Photo courtesy of Kay’s of Scotland Ten miles off the west coast of Scotland, the Firth of Clyde flows around a small island shaped like a sugar loaf called Ailsa Craig.

In breadth, it’s shy of a mile but rises steeply to more than 1,100 feet, carpeted with grass and heather. An abandoned watchtower recalls a time when people once lived on the island, though today it’s completely uninhabited. Devoid of rats but full of rabbits, the outcrop is also a bird sanctuary where species such as gannets, guillemots, and puffins breed on rocky cliffs during the spring. The island is for sale . Its owner—the Marquess of Ailsa—is asking 1.5 million pounds, or just under $2.5 million. Whoever buys it will have the distinct honor of sharing a part of Winter Olympics history. Ailsa Craig has been a source of granite used in every official Olympic curling event . Kay’s of Scotland, a family-owned curling stone business that traces its origins back to 1851, has exclusive access to the island’s quarries and makes the Olympic stones, according to Mark Callan, the company’s field sales and service manager.

For this winter’s games, Kay’s—which corners about 65 percent of the new curling stone market—crafted 80 stones and picked the best 66 to go to Sochi. Just why Ailsa Craig granite is preferable for Olympic curling stones—as well as stones used in different competitions—over other materials seems to be a story steeped in tradition, necessity, and geological happenstance. An Olympic curling stone. Photo Courtesy of Kay’s of Scotland About 61 million years ago, volcanoes started to spew as the supercontinent joining North America, Greenland, and Europe broke up, making way for the Atlantic Ocean. The magma deep beneath one of those volcanoes cooled and crystallized to create the granite that forms Ailsa Craig. More precisely, Ailsa Craig granite is a microgranite, so-called for its fine-grained crystals, according to Phil Stone, an honorary research associate with the British Geological Survey who co-authored a 1987 study on the island. Among its predominant minerals—quartz and feldspar, which comprise every granite—Ailsa Craig granite also contains a few other rare minerals that bestow a speckled, blue-green appearance to an otherwise creamy-gray stone.

The degree of speckling relates to a distinction made between two “types” of Ailsa Craig granite, says Stone—“blue hone” and “common green.” In Olympic curling stones, the former comprises the running band—the only part that touches the ice—while the body of the stone is fashioned from common green. But “in terms of the chemical composition, in terms of the minerals present, in terms of the grain size, [Ailsa Craig microgranite is] all exactly the same, except that in some parts of the rock body there are more or less of these little clusters of blue-green minerals,” says Stone, and the rock types get their names depending on the proportion of those flecks. Speckling aside, where utility is concerned, at least part of Ailsa Craig granite’s appeal lies in its resilience. Curlers need a stone that withstands impact without chipping or fracturing, and the island rock happens to be excellent at taking whacks. “The stone is very densely constructed; the crystals fit together very well internally,” says Godfrey Fitton, professor of igneous petrology at the University of Edinburgh, who has studied Ailsa Craig granite under the microscope.

“The feldspars are elongate, and they form a kind of mesh with the quartz crystals in between.” This interlocking construction gives Ailsa Craig granite strength, he says. “You can hit it with a hammer, and it’s a bit of a devil to break it.” “It’s very, very uniform,” adds Stone. “There are no planes of weakness within the rock, there are no little micro fractures, there are no little veins cutting through it,” whereas most rocks have these kinds of imperfections, he says, and are prone to fracturing upon a hard impact. Another property that might also make Ailsa Craig granite desirable for curling stones is its well-known sliding behavior. Curling stone running bands aren’t completely smooth—ice technicians or craftsmen scratch them with little grooves, according to Staffan Jacobson, a materials scientist and one of the authors of a recent study on the mechanism behind why curling stones curl, appearing in the journal Wear . The nature of the roughness that results from scratching affects the stone’s friction against the ice and the degree it curls, he says.

The same scoring technique used on another stone might result in a roughness of a different character—and the desired friction properties might not be achieved, suggests Jacobson. “It’s a good material, and it has tradition,” he says. Ailsa Craig might have also been appealing as a source of granite for practical reasons, says Stone—specifically, ease of quarrying. Millions of years ago, as the granite cooled and hardened underground, it was under considerable pressure. Erosion relieved that pressure, and as the rock relaxed, cracks called joints formed along long planes. The result is a series of columnar rock faces that, coincidentally, break off into lumps roughly the size of curling stones. “Perhaps the industry started way back when simply because it was a reasonable type of rock to make a curling stone,” suggests Stone. In the mid-20th century, Kay’s quarried the rock with the aid of dynamite, but now the company collects leftovers from the blasts, as well as other stones that have naturally cleaved and tumbled down the island, according to Callan.

(The company harvests about once every 10 years, and after the seabird breeding season.) Ailsa Craig granite isn’t the only game on the market, however. Canada Curling Stone Co., another manufacturer, uses a Welsh granite—referred to as “blue trefor”—for the body of the stone (though it uses Ailsa Craig granite for the running band, repurposed from older stones), according to Kimberly Tuck, who works for the company and is a curler. Kay’s of Scotland has also used blue trefor in the past for the body of its Olympic curling stones, but supply problems, in part, led to a switch to the Ailsa Craig rock, according to Callan. Meanwhile, “there are several other Scottish rock types which are reputedly well-suited for curling stones,” says Stone. One is Essexite, another igneous rock that, while different compositionally, shares similar physical properties to Ailsa Craig granite in that it’s very hard and polishes well, according to Stone. Still, there’s something aesthetically pleasing about a stone made entirely of Ailsa Craig granite.

“From a little chunk of rock coming in, to see this beautiful polished thing coming out, ready to be played at something like the Winter Olympics is really quite impressive,” says Callan. “It’s quite a process.” Meet the Writer From Scottish Magma to Sochi Ice: The Geologic History of Curling Stones - Scientific American Scientific American From Scottish Magma to Sochi Ice: The Geologic History of Curling Stones Why granite from a Scottish island makes the best curling stones By Michael Easter on February 1, 2014 Share on Facebook Advertisement | Report Ad When the Winter Olympics commence this month in Sochi, Russia, there should be no shortage of heart-stopping action. Alpine skiers will carve downhill turns at 80 miles per hour. Hockey players will battle one another for the puck. Snowboarders will twist and flip multiple times in a single jump. And then there is curling, in which a more sedate bunch will push a 44-pound rock down a long sheet of ice and then sweep the ice with brooms to “curl” that stone toward a target.

Although curling is an Olympic newcomer, having been officially included only since 1998, the stones have a long, rich history of their own. “Every single Olympic curling stone comes from this little island off the coast of Scotland, called Ailsa Craig,” says Erika Brown, skipper of the U.S. women's team. “And no other stone curls like an Ailsa Craig stone.” The 220-acre island, about 10 miles from mainland Scotland, is the source of two varieties of granite used in elite curling stones. Blue hone granite makes up the layer that glides down the ice, and common green granite makes up the middle layer, or striking band. “The layer of rock that runs along the ice doesn't chip or absorb water, but most important, it's very predictable on ice—you know what your shots are going to do,” Brown says. “And the middle layer doesn't break when the stones collide.” The stones' performance traces back to the island's formation about 60 million years ago. Ailsa Craig is a volcanic intrusion—a mass of magma that forced its way up between existing formations—explains John Faithfull, a geologist at the University of Glasgow.

The magma then cooled relatively quickly to form granite, and the surrounding rock eroded away, “leaving just the very resistant hard mass of Ailsa Craig poking up out of the water,” Faithfull says. As the volcanic rock crystallized, it developed a strong, uniform surface. “When magma cools quickly, it creates very small crystals. These ones interlocked, and chemical bonds developed between them,” says Martin Gillespie, a geologist at the British Geological Survey. “It also doesn't seem to have any microcracks,” he says of the granite. The granite's unique qualities make Ailsa Craig stones the “gold standard,” Brown says. “For us curlers, the island is a mystical place.” This article was originally published with the title "Geologic Miracle on Ice" Advertisement | We receive numerous enquiries regarding curling stones MORE ABOUT PORCELAIN CERAMIC RUNNING SURFACES FOR CURLING STONES Due to the closing of the quarry on the Island Of Ailsa Craig in Scotland we have been searching for a granite that would be as suitable or better than the Blue Hone granite now being used for running surfaces of curling stones.

In 1993 we discovered a very dense granite which was quarried in Eastern Canada, and after extensive testing found it to have the same qualities as Blue Hone. Since there still was an abundance of old, mismatched, chipped, Blue Hone curling stones available, we decided to purchase them from curling clubs and recycle them, by cutting them into slabs for Ailsets and Ailserts. I estimate that there is still enough of these old Blue Hones stones available to supply our requirements for another couple of years, but they are becoming somewhat difficult to find. We could still rely on the supply of the granite from Eastern Canada, but since this quarry is not presently in production, it would have been expensive for us to have it re-opened. Along with our search for a suitable or better granite we have also been continually searching for other materials to be used for the running surfaces. This included a variety of composites and alloys. After extensive testing "Porcelain Ceramic" proved beyond our expectations to not only be as suitable as the Blue Hone granite, but far superior to it. Here are the specifications and reasons that prove the Porcelain Ceramic to be superior for use as a running surface for curling stones. 1.

Extremely low moisture absorption, less than .03% 2. Unbelievable abrasion resistance. 3. No calcium deposits, (white specks) to become dislodged, causing inconsistent running of a curling stone. 4. Endless supply for the future. 5. As the supply of Blue Hone granite diminished the price increased, therefore the cost may have soon become out of reach for most curling clubs. 6. Incomparable fracture resistance (guaranteed for an extra 10 years.) If you have any doubts about the durability or wearability of Porcelain when used on curling stone running surfaces, consider and compare it in the following applications; 1. Protective shielding against extreme heat and cold, on the U.S. Space shuttle. 2. Flooring for manufacturing plants and warehouses, where heavy production machinery is used, also where solid rubber and metal wheeled fork lifts are used. 3. Lining for industrial furnaces and foundries . 4. Tools, jigs, and abrasives. 5. Turbine blades, precision instrument parts. 6. Artificial teeth, and bones. 7. Light emitting and laser diodes.

Considering all of the above information, if there still is any doubt in the minds of curling club executive about choosing Porcelain tile, instead of Blue Hone, we would urge that they wait one more season before resurfacing their stones. We will supply two or more Tileset stones, free of charge for trial next fall. WE HAVE HAD ENQUIRIES ABOUT HOW CRUCIAL IT IS THAT; the running edges be exactly 5 inches diameter. the cup be deeper than 1/4". the weight of the stones be within ounces of each other, if not should they be weighed and matched. WE CONDUCTED MANY TESTS USING; Three stones, one with a 4 ½ inch diameter running edge, one with a 5 inch diameter running edge and one with a 5 ½ inch diameter running edge, all three stones were the same weight. Three stones with one weighing 36 lbs 6 ounces, one weighing 40 lbs 2 ounces and one weighing 48 lbs 12 ounces, all three stones had the same diameter running surface. Two stones weighing 39 lbs 6 ounces, one with 3/16 inch cup depth and one with ½ inch cup depth.

All these eight stones had newly reconditioned running edges with the exact same contours. OUR ANSWER; The result was that there was absolutely no difference in the amount of curl or speed of all of these stones. Should anyone doubt this or be interested in seeing it, we would be happy to conduct this test in their presence. Contact us and we will arrange it. WHAT IS TILESET AND TILESERT? Prior to this season it was common to use the term "Ailset" and "Ailsert" when discussing the refurbishing of curling stones by installing a Blue Hone granite running surface onto stones. With the discovery and totally successful testing of Porcelain Ceramic material, it is now necessary to make a further explanation. We have a patent pending on the use of Porcelain for curling stone running surfaces and we are brand naming the porcelain as "Tileset" and "Tilesert" to avoid confusion. The term "Ailset" meant that Blue Hone Ailsa Craig granite was "set" or adhered to the running surface of the stone and "Ailsert" meant that the Blue Hone Ailsa Craig granite was "inserted" into the curling stone.

Tileset will be installed the same way as Ailset, and Tilesert the same as Ailsert. WHAT IS FUDGING AND WHAT CAUSES IT? If you have watched the major events on television in the past few years, you will have noted that there is a lot of mention by the commentators and by the players about the so called "fudging" or loss of pebble down the slide path at both ends of the curling ice. In our tests we have proven that the major cause of the loss of this pebble is caused by the stones as they are delivered down that path with every shot. Stones that have a prominent scoop on the inside of the cup, tend to cause excessive wear of the pebble, due to the relatively sharp inner lip of the running edge. Think about it, all stone manufacturers have a gradual contour from the shoulder of the stone to the outside of the running edge. So why not have the exact same contour from the running edge inward, instead of a scoop and lip. Furthermore many of the top curlers are complaining about these stones with scooped cups. During the delivery, the stones grab the pebble, which can be felt with their fingers before the release.

Another complaint is that if a definite spin is not put on the turn, the stones will "pick" and/or lose the turn. Twelve years ago, when we first developed our stone grinding machine, we conducted countless tests changing the contour of the running edge and after months of tests and changes, proved that the best running stones had a gradual contour from the outside, to the running edge, and the same contour from the running edge, inward. HOW DO YOU GET THE HIGH GLOSS POLISHED FINISH ON CURLING STONES? This is a very good and important question. When we have completed the grinding process on stones, the surface is so smooth that only a slight buffing with four different compounds of polishing bricks is required. We originally tried polishing by spinning the stone on a turntable at high speed. We would then press a hinged arm onto the stone, which was covered with sheepskin. This sheepskin was loaded with a wet "mud", a polishing compound. We would let the stone spin for approximately 30 minutes, at which time the mud compound would become totally dry. The stone would then be so hot from the friction that when water was applied to cool the stone for removal, the water would sizzle and steam.

We found that this method of polishing was less expensive but that is resulted in severe damage to the surface of the stone. This damage was not visible, but it caused premature pitting of the granite. We immediately ceased using this method of polishing. In our method of grinding, and polishing there is never any heat used, in fact, the stone is always cold. WHAT CAUSES STONES TO JUMP ON THE IMPACT OF A TAKE-OUT? The simple answer is that the striking bands are too convex. There was a serious concern when new stones were used at a major curling event, in 1998. These stones jumped or "saucered" on the impact of a take-out shot. This not only caused bruising of the ice, but likely caused an abnormal finish to the travel of the stone. Once these bands flattened through wear, the saucering stopped. There are some who say that a rounded striking band is better so we will let you be the judge. Once the convex or rounded area has worn flat, the stones will start making contact on the polished area. By convexing the band, a lot of material is being removed leaving very little surface contact between two stones.

If the impact occurs on the polished area of the stone, the granite will readily chip. WHAT IS INVOLVED IN REPROTRUDING THE STRIKING BANDS? When we reprotrude the striking band, we leave the flattened or worn area as is. Using a diamond tooling, we remove a small rim of granite above and below the striking band. This procedure stops the stones from making contact on the polished area above and below the band. Even in a busy curling rink, reprotruding with our method would not be required again for 30 years or more. If instead, 1/4 to 1/2 lb of granite is removed from the striking band, in order to make it convex, there would in fact be less granite there, and the band would soon wear to the point that it is again making contact on the polished area. So what do you get with a convex striking band? Jumping or saucering stones and soon thereafter, chipping when the band wears and makes contact on the polished area. IS THERE A GUARANTEE ON RECONDITIONING AND REFURBISHING OF CURLING STONES?

Yes, the following is our guarantee which has been in place from the first day that we started reconditioning stones. With the introduction of the Porcelain Ceramic material, our Tileset and Tilesert guarantee will be extended from 10 years to 20 years. GUARANTEE OF MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP THE FOLLOWING IS EXACTLY WHAT WE GUARANTEE; A totally precision running edge on both sides of the stones, with absolutely no so called "break-in" period whereas the stones would tend to run heavy or inconsistent. If the stones are matched sheets (16 stones) they will all run identical after we recondition them and there is no need to match them in pairs. We do not guarantee against pitting of curling stones because this is totally beyond our control, unless the granite or material is the non-absorbent type, (i.e.) Porcelain Tile or Blue Hone Ailsa Craig. We use the Porcelain Tile and Blue Hone granite in our process of installing a new running surface onto curling stones, and in this case we do guarantee against pitting due to moisture absorption. We also guarantee against separation or breakage of the new surface and of the epoxy adhesive.

Our Ailset and Ailsert guarantee is in effect for 10 years. Our Tileset and Tilesert is guaranteed for 20 years. This guarantee will be null and void if proper care and storage of the stones is not maintained. To assure a complete understanding of our guarantee it is very important that you read the pages under the heading of "Tips and Suggestions on Stone Reconditioning" also "Care and Storage of Curling Stones", and also "Our Method of Reconditioning Stones." If for some reason these are not included you should insist on reading them before getting reconditioning done by anyone. DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF STONES BLUE HONE AILSA CRAIG; Usually a plain or marbly grey color although some have brown, pink, blue or green shades. One of the original granites used for stones, it was the best for a running edge because it is so dense it doesn't readily absorb moisture or pit. See our information on the Tileset and Tilesert stones. Unfortunately, it was not so good as a striking band because it is so dense that it would eventually break away upon impact and cause break out on the band which appeared like knots in wood.

Another problem was the calcium deposits (white spots) which tended to wear or pitt out, causing inconsistent running of the stones. Some of these stones may be over 70 years old and the older stones were bought in pairs by the curlers. At that time the sizes, shapes and weights varied from pair to pair because there was no regulation as to size and weight. COMMON AILSA CRAIG; Usually green shade with Robin egg black speckle, quarried from the same island as Blue Hone Ailsa Craig. It is not a dense granite, therefore, it didn't break out on the striking band as bad as the Blue Hone but it does absorb moisture on the running edge, and consequently is very prone to pitting. RED TREVOR STONES; Usually have a reddish or brown shade, are great as a striking band but do absorb moisture into the running edge, eventually pitting, which causes the stone to run inconsistent. Quarried in North Wales, U.K. BLUE TREVOR STONES; Some are light grey, dark grey, or dark blue. This granite is quarried from the same quarry as Red Trevors, it usually is slightly more absorbent than the Red Trevors on the running edge.

KEENEY STONE; Usually a sandy brown color with square shaped shoulders. Poor granite because it is very brittle causing early wear on the striking band and also readily absorbs moisture into the running edge causing pitting and flaking. INDIAN GRANITE; Looks similar to Grey Trevor, is very similar to the Keeney in respect to early wear on striking band and absorption of moisture into running edge. There are also a few other types of granite stones in use, some are a very glassy black color. This is very poor granite. CARE AND STORAGE OF CURLING STONES Curling stones are the most important piece of equipment that a curler uses. No brush or broom, no matter how well swept, can correct the travel of a stone that runs inconsistent. Very often this is not taken into consideration by the curling club executive. In their wisdom they will spend thousands of dollars on renovations of the Club Room, Bar or Locker Rooms, meanwhile the curling stones are in very poor condition. The poor condition of the stones may be: Pitted running edges; caused by absorption of moisture which freezes in the granite, expands and then dislodges particles of granite. Flat and/or broken striking bands; usually caused by long wear.

The flat or broken striking band on one stone will damage the striking bands of all the other stones on that particular sheet of ice. This damage is caused every time the flat spot on the damaged stone hits the other stones making contact with the shiny area above and/or below the striking band on the good stones. This shiny area will eventually chip out causing irreparable damage. The striking bands should be re-protruded as soon as possible before any more damage is caused to the good stones. DO'S AND DON'TS 1. Do turn stones each season for even wear. 2. Do leave them on the ice on a thin, moisture proof mat at all times. If stones are removed for a short time in order to clean the ice surface, be sure to properly cool them to ice temperature before using them again by setting them on the thin moisture proof mat on the ice surface. 3. Don't ever set or play stones on wet ice. 4. Don't store stones on the walkway or back boards. Any slight rise in temperature will be absorbed by the stones causing them to melt in and absorb moisture, and this also will cause stones to run heavier. Sometimes the melt in is so slight that it may not be readily noticeable nevertheless, it does happen. 5.

Don't pile stones on top of each other or on any abrasive surface. 6. Don't allow persons to deliver two stones in motion at the same time toward each other, because if the stones make a head-on contact it is very likely that they will break under this abnormal impact. 7. Should ice surface become wet, due to freezer plant failure, don't remove the stones from the moisture proof mat until ice is completely re-frozen. If plant has shut down long enough to allow the melt to overflow the moisture proof mat, the stones must be removed, properly dried, and re-cooled as explained in No.2 8. Do make sure that stones are dry before placing them on the moisture proof mat on the ice surface. Anytime a lot of ice flooding is being done, there can be an extreme amount of humidity in the rink, which condenses on the cool curling stones, runs off the stone onto the moisture proof mat and then becomes absorbed into the running edge of the stone. If this happens, the stones must be removed from mat, properly dried and re-cooled as explained in No.2.

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS ON STONE RECONDITIONING/REFURBISHING Before choosing a Company to recondition your curling stones we suggest you read and seriously consider the following - Get a list of at least five curling clubs that have recently had stones reconditioned or refurbished by the Company and contact the club executive or icemaker. If the stones had been reconditioned some seasons earlier it is important that you ask how the stones reacted from the start on each side, and if there was a "break-in period" before the stones ran consistent and/or keen. Have the Company recondition or refurbish at least two of your Club's spare stones and have many of your club curlers test these stones to check if they run keen and/or consistent. If your Club does not have two spare stones, insist that they provide two newly reconditioned or refurbished stones on a loan basis for trial. Inspect the running edge of the loaner stones, if they show obvious wear, it is unlikely that they have been newly reconditioned. Insist on a written and signed quotation. Ask if this quote is subject to "change upon inspection or type of stone", or if there will be any "assessment of travel expenses".

If the reconditioning is not performed at your Club you should get a quotation of freight charges. Ask if the Company is actually going to recondition or refurbish the stones or just re-polish or sandpaper them. Ask if the company's quote includes reconditioning of both sides of the stones. Your Club's stones may only be cupped on one side and the Company may not have the proper equipment to cup the other side, consequently, it will not be done. Check accessibility of contact with the responsible person in the Company in case there should be any problems with the stones after they have been reconditioned (i.e.) does the Company have an office open 12 months of every year, or is there just a telephone answering service or telephone message recorder. In most cases there is a period of ten years or more between the time that Curling Clubs have the stones reconditioned. A Company that not only reconditions stones, but also sells a complete line of products to the Curling Club, would not likely jeopardize these sales by providing poor workmanship in the reconditioning or refurbishing of stones. Check if the Company has local or regional representation across Canada and U.S.A.

in order to assure fast service in case of any problems. Insist on a written guarantee in plain, straight forward language, as to exactly what is covered in the guarantee. Ask what type of equipment will be used to recondition and polish the stones (i.e.) will precision diamond grinding and polishing wheels be used, or instead, will they be using silicone carbon wheels? Will there be a lot of heat built up by using compounds to polish instead of diamond wheels? Is their equipment portable or light weight allowing vibrations to cause imperfections in the running edge? OUR METHOD OF RECONDITIONING STONES 1. We do not use Silicone Carbon grinding wheels, which we find provide a very inconsistent running edge. We instead use Diamond Segment grinding wheels which are totally precision. 2. We do not use Silicone Carbon sanding discs, or honing stones or polishing compounds. We find these can cause an extreme amount of heat build up, increasing the possibility of "cooking" or "scorching" and causing early pitting. These polishing methods could also cause stones to run inconsistent because they are not precision. We instead use Diamond Segment polishing wheels which leave a totally precision finish and there is absolutely no heat build up whatsoever. 3.

We do not have a light weight, portable reconditioning machine, because we found that unless the machine is extremely rigid and well framed, the slightest vibration will cause an inferior running edge. Our machine weighs over 1,000 lbs. and is lag bolted to the concrete floor of our shop. 4. We do not fasten the stone to the turntable of the grinder or polisher by using a stone bolt through the centre of the stone. We found that many of the holes through the stones are not totally centered and therefore the grinding wheel would not properly centre the running edge to the circumference of the stone. Our stones are held secure to the turntable by use of adjustable jaws which clamp at the circumference of the stone thereby totally centering the stone to the grinding wheel. This method also allows us to recondition the stone right to the center of the cup without cutting off any stone bolts. Because we provide a totally precision running edge, there is absolutely no so called "break-in period" whereas the stones run inconsistent or heavy, not even on the first delivery of the stone. Installation of Tilesets and Tileserts onto your Club's stones. Installation of Ailsets and Ailserts onto your Club's stones.

Reprotude the striking band of your Club's stones. Outright purchase or trade-in of your Club's stones. Manufacture new granite adult and junior stones. Manufacture new plastic with granite junior stones. Manufacture new Bantam with granite stones. Ailsa Craig-this ghost island is the world’s major supplier of curling stones and is up for sale ... SHARE: Facebook Twitter This tiny island, with its head poking out of the Firth of Clyde, is around 16 kilometers from mainland Scotland. The island has the nickname “Paddy’s Milestone,” thought to have come about as the island is halfway on the sea-ferry route between Glasgow and Belfast. This route was followed by Irish laborers (paddy being an informal, sometimes derogatory, term for an Irishman) going to Glasgow to seek work. Formed as a plug in an ancient volcano, the small island has had a rather checkered history, especially considering its size. In the 16th century, the Hamilton family built a castle, the ruins of which stand on the eastern side of the island, to protect it from being invaded by King Philip II of Spain.

Ailsa Craig Photo Credit During the Scottish Reformation, in 1597, Hugh Barclay, a Catholic supporter, took possession of the island intending to use it as a station for the invasion of Scotland by the Spanish, the purpose of which was to re-establish Scotland as a Catholic nation under the jurisdiction of the Pope. Andrew Knox, a Protestant minister, uncovered the plot and it is thought that Barclay committed suicide by drowning in the waters off the island. The island then fell into disuse until the 18th and 19th centuries when it was used as a prison. In 1831, the Earl of Cassilis was made a marquis, and he took his name from the island, which was his property, becoming the First Marquis of Ailsa. Thomas Stevenson built the island’s lighthouse from 1883 to 1886, and it is now in possession of the Northern Lighthouse Board. In 1990 the lighthouse was automated, removing the need for a permanent lighthouse keeper on the island, and in 2001 the lighthouse was converted to solar power.

Since the last lighthouse keeper left in 1990, the island has been uninhabited by humans. Ailsa Craig has been a haven for sea birds for millennia, but a plague of rats decimated the young of many seabirds, especially puffins, and gulls. It is not known exactly how the rats arrived on the island, but they could have come on the boats resupplying the lighthouse, or there have been several shipwrecks around the island, and the rats could have swum ashore from any of these. In 1991, tons of rat poison were distributed around the island, and the entire rat population was destroyed. The last live rat was seen on the island on 15th April 1991, near the summit. Since then no rats have been seen on the island. Men curling in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1909. Photo Credit The other claim to fame that the island has is that almost two-thirds of all the curling stones used in the world today have been carved from the granite that occurs on the island.

The granite, known as Ailsite, a type of riebeckite, is used to make the 20-kilogram curling stones used by all the top level players and all the stones used at the Winter Olympics since 2006 have been made from the Ailsa granite. The granite is quarried on the island by a company called Kays of Scotland, who have exclusive rights to island’s primary resource. They are only permitted to quarry once in ten years and removed 2,000 tons of granite in 2013. This infrequent harvest is to ensure that the nesting birds are disturbed as little as possible. The best quality stones are manufactured from Blue Hone granite, which absorbs very little water, so it does not erode quickly by water freezing and melting thus damaging the stone. Ailsa Craig Common Green granite is of a lower quality and stones manufactured from it are not as robust as those manufactured from Blue Hone. Curling is a game played on flat ice.

It consists of two teams, each with four players, who each get a turn to push the 20 kilo stone along the ice to try and place it as close as possible to the center of a target painted onto the ice. The target consists of four concentric circles with the center circle being a solid dot. Points are scored by the team who’s ‘stones’ lie closest to the center. It requires considerable skill to judge the amount of pressure to apply when pushing the stone as the ice offers little resistance, and the stones slide very easily. Curling is one of the fastest growing ice sports. An old-style curling stone Photo Credit In May 2001, the Marquis put the island up for sale at £2,500,000, but with no takers, the price was lowered to £1,500,000. The island has been leased to a British conservation charity, the RSPB, and is now a haven for sea birds. With the eradication of the rats, puffins and gulls are returning in huge numbers to breed on the island.

Question: Name the Scottish island where granite for curling stones is quarried.
Answer: Ailsa Craig