[carver6]

Hi Ho,
I'm with you. In the 20 yrs. I've been carving I've never cleaned a strop either. Ever so often I do wipe them down with Neatsfoot Oil and rub them down with more rouge just to freshen them up. I use red jewelers rouge to polish my tools and don't really get a lot of discoloration. Don't suppose cleaning them hurts them but won't use water on them.....just the oil and jewelers rouge. keeps them shiny and rust free also.
Garon

[Colin_Partridge]

For what it is worth I never clean mine either.
Colin

[MDWine]

I don't mean to head off in another direction, but which book would you recommend on sharpening? I need to learn more about the different polishing compounds being used. I'm currently using the hard yellow stick provided in the "slipstrop" package from Flextool. Seems to work pretty well so far.

TIA

[Clifford_Parker]

Book?? You mean one of those old fashioned paper bundle thingies??

There are a LARGE number of free resources on the net for sharpening. Check previous posts and you will find plenty of them.

That said, The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening by John Juranitch is VERY good and Ev Ellenwood's video Sharpening Simplified" is also highly recommended.

http://www.razoredgesystems.com/prod...b4b2f9d39ad311

http://ellenwoodarts.com/video.htm#sha

[Old_Gord]

MDWine, you ask about books on sharpening and about 'polishing compounds" .
First I'd say Leondard Lee's book "The Complete Guide to Sharpening" might be the book you are looking for, it covers more than just woodcarving tool sharpening.
It's in paperback or hardcover the paperback version is 256 pages, Publisher: Taunton (October 9, 1995) and the ISBN 1561581259.
Now for the numerous compounds out there.
Emory cake (black) really for removal of rust and scale.
Tripoli (brown) for buffing aluminum,copper etc.
White Rouge , buffs up stainless steel , chrome etc.
Red Rouge, For buffing up gold, silver etc.
Now there are many other manufactured compounds such as Lee Valley's green compound that is recommended for sharpening knives etc, same as the Yellowstone compound and the white gold compound each having their own "secret" blend that makes them the "Best".
You will see some people using the white rouge and say it's the best, others swear by the Yellowstone orhers just swear at them all and have their own comcoctions that their grandpappy handed down to them..
Whatever works for you is the best in my book and I've tried most of them , I'm currentlt using the Yellowstone, mainly as with most of these compounds they never get used up in a hurry.
Leonard Lee's book will explain what many of these compounds consist of and and why one may be better than another.
There a number of other books out there that address carving tool sharpening, so take your pick, you could also pick up Chris Pye's book "Woodcarveing Tools, Materials and Equipment", it covers sharpening as well as anyone, besides it covers much more about tools for woodcarving and is a great reference book to own.

.

OG

[BasketballJones]

The question appears in this months's Chris Pye newsletter. This means the folks here are as smart as Chris or he is as smart as them.

**** QUESTION 2: CLEANING A LEATHER STROP? ****

"Is it helpful to clean a leather strop when it becomes all black?
Or should you just continue to put on more of the compound and
continue to use it?"


**** ANSWER ****

The black makes no difference - it's metal that's been removed. But as
this metal in itself won't hone other metal - yes, refresh the strop
now and then with a little more paste. You lose a tiny bit any way each
time you wipe the blade after stropping.

[dart]

I use jeweler's rouge and pumice on my strop. I clean it by scraping it with the dull edge of my carving knife. It gets black and seems to get dull. So I scrape it and apply new and it hones much better.