[AlArchie]

It was a canoe......even GOOD canoes need paddling! Not stropping :-/

Al

[bcarvings]

Hi,
Rick-in-seattle, if stropping makes the knife duller why do people strop to get their knives sharper? Or do you mean stropping the 1st time dulls it. When I strop when the knife gets dull do I do the original angle? Thanks agin

B,
When you first sharpen a knife, you leave a burr on the cutting edge that is too thin to be removed by stoning.
You can raise the blade to a new steeper angle, but it is better to strop it.

So we strop or buff the blade to remove it; if you buff or strop after the burr is gone, you begin to dull the knife.

That is not necessarily a bad thing; learning how much to dull it is the hard part. Â*You want to make the edge strong, but not so dull that you notice a difference in cutting.

The very first time you strop, the angle to the strop is slightly larger than normal stropping.

The reason we strop is not to resharpen the blade, it is to realign and polish it. Â*That is one reason why a strop should be attached to a hard flat surface. Â*

When a knife is used to carve, stress is put on the fine cutting edge. The stress is not consistant, so the cutting edge becomes wavy. Â*

The successful carvers have learned to strop properly and often to keep the edge as straight as possible, thereby extending the life of the cutting edge.

To better understand why we don't want a wavy edge, try carving with a serrated paring knife.


On the subject of Arkansas stones Pronounced ( R - can - zus ), here is some fun reading.
http://home.pacifier.com/~davewe/The...sas_Stones.htm

[Kenny_S]

Stoned Takes on a whole new meaning these days! :

Thanks Rick for explaining the workings of sharpening and stropping.

[farfalla]

So an Arkansas stone isn't pronounced Ar-kan-SAW???? Are you kidding? If it's different from the state, where does that come from?

Are you sure you're pronouncing the name of the state right? It's pronounced Are - Kansas

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

R-Can-Saw

Who cares, they're both a suburb of Dallas!

I believe Arkansas, Wichita, and Ouachita are from the natives.

[Kenny_S]

As is Kansas from the Kansa indians.

The city Arkansas in Kansas is pronounced Ar-Kansas city but locally it is we called Ark City, like Independenc-Indy and Coffeyville-C-ville, Bartlesville Ok- B-ville.

I wonder what ol Bill called R-Can-Saw.

But then, none of them have anything to do with Carving, unless you consider those carvers who live in those cities.
I know, Take a Prozac!!!!!