18V Power Strop

[RUssL.]

I'm not ready for 110v-power-anything in my woodcarving, but I do look for ways speed up my manual sharpening.

To super-charge my stropping I bought a Powerstrop leather disk.
I attached it to a spare 18v hand drill, but to increase the usable surface area and to minimize the rounding-off of my edges on the circular rotation of the leather disk l and mounted it to my bench so that I could use the flat side of the disk horizontally.

Just an idea that I thought I'd share in case anyone elese is caught somewhere between hand or power sharpening.

RussL.

[RUssL.]

I had to resize the image...

[RUssL.]

...Oh, as a hand held drill, it's reversable.

You nay be able to see that I have a red cable-tie type thing loosely set over the grip so that I can slip it over the trigger to keep a constant speed while I hold the tool with both hands at a correct angle.

Russ

[curly maple]

hello russ

just wondering if thats the power strop from woodcraft had the same idea. are you happy with the results? if you are i am taking a trip to woodcraft in 3 weeks and will probably buy both disks. i have never tried power stropping and this looks like a inexspensive way to do it. i see they have felt wheels but it seems that the leather wheels wouldnt round the tool over as much am i right or wrong?

curly maple

[RUssL.]

The "Powerstrop" is available from Woodcraft and most other carving suppliers and wood working catalogs.

Yes, I'm happy with them.

As I said I have yet to add any heavy power tooling to my woodcarving. This level of power added to stropping makes me feel like I am at least speeding that part of the process up a little.
Having said that, I realize that stropping is probably the task least in need of being speeded up! :-)

After the Powerstrop I still tend to run the edges of my post-Powerstropped tools over a stropping compound charged piece of cardboard for final shining.

Where I particularly like the hand drill/Pwerstrop set up is when I am carving and I want to strop the tool in curent use.
I just step to the side of my bench and run it over the Powerstrop, hit the carboard and move back to the piece I am working on.
It takes less than 30 seconds and with the RPMs of the Powerstrop I must get 2 or 3 minutes of hand stropping in that 30 seconds.

All the best,

Russ

[RUssL.]

Oh, to answer the question about felt wheel, I have never heard of anyone using felt wheels in sharpening carving tools.

Russ

[cats pa]

Originally Posted by RussL.

Oh, to answer the question about felt wheel, I have never heard of anyone using felt wheels in sharpening carving tools.

I've done it. Worked okay on straight edges. Now I hand strop, kinda retro but no heat build-up and things happen slower so I can stop before I screw up an edge.

Parker

[Lightningbolt]

I've been using the Powerstrop for about as long as it's been available...(10 to 15 years??) and it's all that I've ever felt like I needed as the perfect "full-circle" sharpening compliment to my stones. Later, I got the two-strop set (which includes the "V" strop) for sharpening the knives in my woodshop program. They have been working the knives in a program that has about 60 kids in my shop each week and I'm begining to believe that these Powerstrops will last me the rest of my life!

Not to bad mouth other sharpening systems since I haven't tried many others, but the Powerstrops have worked for me and at a cost that's hard to beat. I mail ordered mine from Woodcarver's Supply, Inc. and just noticed that the set of two are presently selling for just under $30.00. I'm sure that they're available at other suppliers also.

I like the way that you've set up yours at just the right angle on your shop bench using a hand drill. I've always just put them on my drill press where they remain during a carving period. I know that there's plenty of very effective sharpening systems out there today and many can set you back several hundred dollars, but I just can't imagine needing more than a couple of Powerstrops to maintain a razor's edge while carving and they're very affordable.

They also do a great job of removing, shining, and polishing up just about any rusted metal as I've re-vived many weathered pocketknives to proud possessions again.

[oldmaninthewoods]

all i can say is your a very brave man to have 60 in your shop LOL at my age they would have me in mental health in a straight jacket but iam glad your able to get the younger kids started they need some one to help them with a good hobby i hope it keeps them out of trouble and you should get a gold star.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Russ so you are using the flat side of the wheel to strop ?

Dave