[cseymour]

Hello all,
I have only recently begun to carve. I purchased the Beginner's Kit from Rick at Littleshavers (that was one of the best investments I have made).

My question is using the strop and compound with this kit, I lay the strop on some scrap wood on my table so I can lay my knife blades flat. How many times should I pass the knife over the strop?

Also, I had read that you should strop the knife before each carving session. I have been doing that and have noticed the strop is turning black. I just keep rubbing more compound (it is white that came with kit) on the strop, is this correct?

Thanks in advance. I am going to try to get to a local club meeting, but I am impatient so I thought I would post here first

Thanks.

Chris

[Thomp]

you rub/hone it till its polished and sharp,

the difference between a tooljust sharpened in the stone, and a well honed tool can be felt when cutting,

10 strokes on the right 10 on the left... and repete. keep the angle the same each side


the black means its working.

if the build up gets too thick it will get shiny, and flake off, i use a straight edge and scrape off the build up then reapply the compound once or more a year...

[Paul_Guraedy]

I strop the tools that I will be using when I sit down to a new carving session. Just three strokes on each side and the tools seem to stay sharp. I also try to follow something a carver told me several years ago. He had just returned from a carving class at one of the "schools" in Europe. The instructor asked that they strop their tools every 15-20 minutes. This accomplished two things. First the tools stayed sharp. Secondly, when you take the time to strop several tools, you seldom return to the exact same place you were carving. This causes you to look over your carving before you spend too much effort where you shouldn't.

[Nancy_G]

Hi Chris ~ Like they said .... the honing compound turning black on the strop simply means it's been used. It's no problem or anything "bad".
When it gets too thick or starts flaking (that should, will probably be a long time) just scrape it off with the BACK of your knife and add some new compound.

And never hesitate to add some more new compound to the strop when you "feel" like you could use some more .... it's OK. You are using it.

Rick's set of stuff is great and I think Rick's site shows a "how-to" sharpening page, right? http://littleshavers.com/ (oh, I hope that's right .... I typed it without looking it up)

[Callynne]

I'm a huge fan of stropping, it's the perfect way to keep your knife and tools sharp and in my opinion, is all that is needed unless you damage the edge of your knife or gouges.

I strop, about twenty times each side, every twenty minutes or so that I'm carving. As the others said, the compound is supposed to turn black. When it gets 'pitted' looking, I use the back of an old butter knife to scrape it off, grate some new compound on (using an old, fine, kitchen grater, like you use for grating cheese), then I just use the butter knife to 'butter' it back into the leather.

I have one strop that I only use for knives, another that I use for my gouges and V-tools, since they 'rough' up the surface of the compound more than the knives do.

Also, I don't know if this is correct, but I use this image when stropping my knives, I hold them at a slight angle, imagining a dime at the back of the knife, just that very slight upward lift to the back of the knife. Works for me, my knives are always nice and sharp. Deborah


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[Tom H]

I was taught that (for my knifes at least) to strop them flat on the strop. In fact What I do is to place the knife blade flat onto the strop and place my finger over the flat blade at the end for the first several stops, then move my finger down the blade for each succeeding series of strops. All of this to ensure the blade id kept flat. Anything incorrect with this? I always worry that my knifes can be sharper.

Tom H

[cseymour]

Thanks for all the replies.
I am glad to see that by stropping I am helping to keep the knife sharp. I had read that you should keep the knife flat as well, but what do I know, I'm the one who posted the question in the first place

Thanks again for all the replies.

.

Chris

[JerryH]

TomH, your method and mine are exactly the same and it has worked very well for me.
Jerry

[cseymour]

So is it safe to say "To each his hone"

I know, I know, it is a bad joke -- but I couldn't resist.

.

Chris

[Kenny_S]

I just rub my compound on the leather like you would a crayola on paper.
Turning black on the leather is Good.
Whatever works for you, keep on doing!