Curling Stone Quarry
Most of the curling stones used in the Olympics and the Paralympics have come from Ailsa Craig. Kays of Scotland has the exclusive rights to harvest granite from Aisla Craig. A second quarry is located in Trefor, North Wales has been a source of the granite used for curling stones due to the limited supply of stone in Ailsa Craig.
A Gold Medal in Curling Puts Granite in the Spotlight The United States won its first-ever Olympic Gold Medal in the sport of curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics. This brought attention to the use of granite in manufacturing the curling stones, also known as "rocks," used to play this sport. Curling stones weigh between 38 and 44 pounds and are made from granites with special physical properties.
Our curling stones are hand-crafted to championship standard, and trusted in competition by The World Curling Federation. Cut from Ailsa Craig granite, one of the densest granites ever discovered, with periodic servicing a Kays curling stone should last for decades. Curling stones are made from three types of quartz-free granite: Blue Hone, Ailsa Craig Common Green (both found on Ailsa Craig island), and Trefor, which can be found in the Trefor quarry of Wales.
Curling stones require this rare granite that has low water absorption, which prevents the action of repeatedly freezing water from eroding the stone. Ailsa Craig is an uninhabited isle off the coast of southwest Scotland and the source of the super. In fact, every curling stone used at the ongoing European Curling Championships will come from Ailsa Craig, a small island located 10 miles off the coast of the Scottish mainland in the outer Firth of Clyde.
The isle is one of only two quarries responsible for supplying the granite used to make curling stones, the other being in Trefor, North. Curling stones are made of granite from only two quarries in the world: one on the Scottish island of Ailsa Craig and the other in Wales. Curling stones require this rare granite because it has low water absorption, which prevents the actions of repeatedly freezing and thawing from eroding the stone.
The things we learn! The curling stones for the 2006 Turin Olympics were the first complete Ailsa Craig stones. Previously, Kays had also used some common green from a quarry in Wales. Kays can go years between harvests.
To create the best curling stones you require the finest materials and to this end we periodically harvest Ailsa CraigCommon Green Granite and Ailsa Craig Blue Hone Granite so as to satisfy our customers demands. Curling stones are traditionally made of granite, a material found all over the world in regions as far-flung as Italy, the USA, India and the People's Republic of China. However, for the sport of curling, nothing can replace the unique properties of the granite hewn from a quarry on the island of Ailsa Craig off of Scotland's Ayrshire Coast.