Fixing My SlipStrop

[Legendary the Elder]

Hello everyone,

I just recently purchased the Carvin' Jack by Flexcut and it came with a gold polishing compound and a SlipStrop which has grooves cut to match all the profiles of the tools included in the knife.

So I was checking all of the knives to see how they would fit into the SlipStrop and I noticed that the groove intended to sharpen the outside of the straight u-gouge was much to small to even let the blade fit in it.

Naturally, I thought, "Okay well I can just carve it out using the tool it is supposed to fit and everything will be A-OK right?" So I did this and now the u-gouge fits. However, the carving process exposed the actual wood the strop was made out of (the rest was colored a deep reddish purple color) and I wasn't sure if I had somehow compromised the strop in some manner.

Is there anything else that I should take into consideration before sharpening the u-gouge in this newly carved groove or is thing ready to go?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Claude]

It'll be ready to go as soon as you put some of the compound in the groove.

For my thin-bladed detail knife, I made a strop out of piece of plain basswood with some Flexcut gold on it. Works fine.

Claude

[Legendary the Elder]

Perfect! Thank you!

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

How do you like the Carvin Jack?

Dave

[Legendary the Elder]

Well, I haven't had a really good opportunity to try it out. I just ordered a 20 lb. shipment of basswood and the only thing I've been able to use it on while I am waiting is some austree wood which splits way too easily and probably isn't great for beginners like me
The blades are a little tough to get out at first, but just spray some WD-40 on the joints and work each of the blades a bit and it gets a lot easier. Blades were ready to go right out of the box. I personally liked the idea of having a whole carving set with me in one tool, but I would only get it if you were going to be away from your normal tools like on a camping trip or something.