menzies stone.

stainless said:well done Mike Daly, first time trying the stone took it for a stroll and only broke the games record, nice one Mike. Never mind Tom Daley, Should be a Gold for Mike.

stainless said:
you think you're being a purist but people have been using tacky in one form or another to lift and throw stones for well over a hundred years.
To be honest you don't need tacky to lift it chalk will do. It'd be nicer if you couldn't use tacky cause the stone looks like a ball of grass once everyone's done but hey.

stainless said:Hi James, you still in OZ?
I think you you would be hard pushed to find any detailed and reliable sources of stone lifting going back any significant time.
Even if some body gave an account of their lift they wouldn't necessarily say whether they applied anything to their hands or not so i think it's a big assumption that they wouldn't.
The point i was making was that tacky in it's modern form might come in a tub from Dave Ostlund etc but that it's been around for far longer.
we lift these stones today for reasons not too dissimilar to ancient times-to prove our strength. If lifting stones today is important to us it was probably even more important to those young men to either mark the transition into manhood or in some cases to be selected as part of the clan chief's elite bodyguard. It is only my personal opinion but i think it highly unlikely that given it's importance that they wouldn't have made use of what ever was available locally to them to aid in their grip. I think we have romanticed the idea that they would have just spat on their hands, failed and given up.
People have been putting the shot for two hundred years plus at regular gatherings, they use tacky ,i 'd bet they've been applying some sort of tacky for just as long.
I don't know the exact original source material for the account of Donald Dinnie's historic weight-lifting match with Professor Miller in 1884 but an account of it will almost certainly be found in a Melbourne newspaper of the time.In referring to Dinnie's lift of a 160lb dumbell the account states" Donald,after rubbing his hand with turpentine , with one pull snatched the weight straight to arms length overhead"
In David Webster's footnotes to this account he states-tacky is made by mixing melted resin with turpentine.
I will ask David if he has any further information on use of tacky when next i see him.
I would repeat James that this is only my thoughts on the matter and if Peter Martin has evidence that nobody of old ever used tacky on any sorts to lift these stones then he'll get no argument from me.
As far as lifting the stones goes to today, is it harder to lift with out tacky? you bet, the Menzies stone is really smooth and lifting it without tacky is unquestionably a harder task. It is doable with just chalk, i have lifted it with just chalk, but then chalk is also an aid to grip just not a messy one.
With regards the Inverstone, anyone attempting to put tacky on it should be hung drawn and quartered as it is totally unnecessary having a much rougher surface.