What does strop compound do?

[bill_woodcarver]

Re: What does strop compound do?

I went to an evening carving seminar in Western PA last year featuring Harold Enlow and he said he was experiimenting with regular old tooth paste as a stropping compound. I would have no idea of the rate of abrasion or grade of grit ..but it is certainly a worth a try..if I ran out of my yellowstone.. Stropping about every half hour on a good sunny afternoon of carving session keeps blades from from slowing down in the basswood ..

Bill_woodcarver

[whittlinwit]

Re: What does strop compound do?

Bill,
Next time you meet Mr. Enlow, ask him about his experiment with electric nose hair trimmers.

[nadcarves]

Re: What does strop compound do?

Donna,NEVER use a rag wheel.They will sharpen,but roll the edge so that the use of a stone is required much sooner. For a knife,#1,#2 chisel,plane iron, use a paper wheel, WITH cooling compound. The friction generated by any wheel generates a fantastic amount of heat. While you may not see the burning associated with a stone,I feel this heat,over repeated use will draw the temper down in your tool. For gouges, a felt or leather is the thing. You need a solid tool rest, ram the edge into the compound , say D#$% *t,and you will be done.The other thing about honing is that many carvers expect the wheel/ strop to take the place of working the edge down on a stone. Dream on children! Last comment,should you decide to invest in a felt wheel, a HARD felt wheel is the only one to use,other than leather. Med,soft felt not worth it, the wheel will last 12/15 years ,so what is expensive, is low cost when the life is factored in.. Mr Munch,thanks for the reminder about Kroll,I have a bunch of really old tools that need help. One is a swan neck early Addis, nothing but pits and an edge,but what an edge!Live in Central Ohio,should you be coming thru and need help sharpening, stop by,will be glad to teach you. Have a no fail teaching method, once you learn how to do it,and practice, any tool that you can't sharpen is donated towards my favorite charity. you WILL learn very quickly, thank you for taking the time to read my reply, nad

[nadcarves]

Re: What does strop compound do?

Took a quick break from the last minute Xmas carving,looks like no one interested in the 'incentive ' sharpening school. If in the area and need help, can usually teach you how to sharpen in a half hour or so. I have too many chisels for my cramped work space. Problem is that it takes me so long to find the tool ,that I forgot what/where I was going to use it. We all yabbered about this and that,but read the question. Strop compound polishes out the large scratches,making them microscopic,puts a sharper edge on the tool, and lowers the coefficient of friction,resulting in less effort to cut. Where we get in trouble is equating a strop with a wheel,then thinking what can be used on one is good for the other.. Compound for a strop is only used on a strop. Cooling paste is used on a wheel to both hone and carry heat away. It can be used on a strop. Kroll and the eraser can be used to polish the inside of a gouge. Microscopic rust can build up and cause your tool to drag when carving.. Now question for you! How many use 90 weight oil when using a grind stone or sanding belt on your tools ? Have a good Holiday season,and thank you for taking the time to read my reply....nad

[Teri_Embrey]

Re: What does strop compound do?

Yellow? White? Pink?? Arrrggghhhh!!!! I wish I knew enough about all this sharpening stuff to make an educated decision as to what works best for me. I've used the yellow from Flexcut, and now I have some white, because I had to buy it while I was out and didn't have any yellow with me.

Next question, of course.....Once you're using one thing on your strop, can you change to another without doing anything special first?

Teri

[alarchie]

[Guest]

Re: What does strop compound do?

I've never heard of diamond powder or even remember seeing it in a catalog. Where do you get it? TIA

[alarchie]

Re: What does strop compound do?

I got a small tube from one of the members of our carving club......it's a very fine white powder......maybe not even real diamond, but it seems to cut a little faster than the straight jeweler's rouge, when sprinkled on the rouged strop. It seems to work itself into the rouge and after a little stropping, it can'e be seen at all.

I'll email the guy and see if I can find out what it is for sure, and where he got it from.

Al

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Re: What does strop compound do?

I believe I just saw that diamond powder for sale on the 'Highland hardware' catalog...if not, I know I have just recently seen it in a tool supply cat.....pretty expensive tho I think...can't remember for sure. :

[colin_Partridge]

Re: What does strop compound do?

I found it expensive though $24.00 US for 5grams check out this site http://www.ragweedforge.com/dia-paste.jpg
Colin

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Re: What does strop compound do?

Yep thats it Colin...same one I saw!

[Donna_T]

Re: What does strop compound do?

Hi Nadcarves and others with stropping advice,
Sorry to take so long to read the messages from this past week. Have been running on high speed and now have house full of kids and grandkids for Christmas. Not much time left for computer time == or anything else for that matter.

Thanks for the advice NAD---I'm always looking for ways to improve my feeble efforts to sharpen tools and keep them sharp. Thanks for taking time to explain the sharpening process. We travel through Ohio once or twice a year and I may just holler at a bunch of you when we head that way this summer. Would love to meet you and several new carving friends I've made on this board. We usually bring some of our grandkids with us on our trip to Vermont where our oldest daughter and her family live.

Happy holidays.

Donna T

[plain_ol_ed]

Re: What does strop compound do?

I've never used it, but for what it's worth 'Wood Carver's Supply, Inc.' has 5 gram syringes of 'diamond paste' available in 6 different grits from 600 to 60,000 for 12.95 per syringe. I've just kind of settled on yellowstone, which for some unknown reason is pink, but works real well just the same.

[jim_pope]

Re: What does strop compound do?

I also use yellowstone and I tried the yellow bar from flex cut but it seems too oily or greasy and it hard to get it off your hands or clothes. You can tell I really get into stropping.

Kinda of off topic question, does anyone have experience using the Tormek sharpening system? Its expensive but seems to give great results. Since I am not 'sharpening professionally' then its hard to justify the expenditure. All I need is for someone to tell me to go ahead buy it ...

Does anyone have a recommendation on another sharpening system? I tried the scary sharp method and currently I am using traditional stones (ceramic and arkansas) and have reasonable results but it still is very slow and I am not very good with the V-tools. It seems like 1/2 my time is spent sharpening.

Thanks,
Jim

[alarchie]

Re: What does strop compound do?

That white powder (diamond??) is from Warren Tools and is called 'white stropping powder'. It also comes in a paste form. I guess the diamond part of it was just an assumption on my part, due to the color and glitter......oh,, well!

Al