I am starting to carve, and low and behold now I have to sharpen!!!! I am pretty good with a small slipstone in one hand and the gouge in the other, but how do I strop the inside??

I saw that flexcut makes a multi-shape strop for that purpose. Any feedback? Either way, do I have to strop my gouges, or is a fine stone fine

THanks again for the advice, you have all already saved me money on tools!!

Steve

There are other ways, but here's what I use. For large gouges, I can hit the inside with a buffing wheel on my bench arbor (outside, too). For narrower gouges where the wheel won't fit without hitting the corners, I use a 1/4' diameter ceramic rod; stroke that right up the inside (against the edge, just like sharpening a knife) and work it from corner to corner. I also use wood dowels with jewelers rough on the inside, toward the edge, just like a leather strop. All of these will lay a razor edge back on the gouge.

I think you can get these ceramic rods down to 3/16' and 1/8' from some of the carvers' supply catalogs.

Al

[Ric]

Steve, if its the same one I have with different shapes on each side, it works great. It also has a 3'x3' square piece of leather on one side for your flat sides as well. If you want to save some money you can get an old leather belt and cut it into pieces and use them. They flex so you can adapt them to the shape of your blades. The edges are great at getting into the smaller shapes.

The flexcut works ok if it happens to fit the sweep of your tools, if it doesn't , it doesn't. All it really is, is a piece of wood cut to certain tool profiles. You can make your own out of basswood. Personally, I use Al-archie's method as well as the old leather belt suggested by Ric. For a stropping compound I prefer yellowstone (which happens to be pink) but use buffing compound and have even used toothpaste and no stropping compound at all. Experiment, you'll find something you like.