Strop

[jaywood]

Hi all, i'm new to carving and bought myself the 11 piece flexcut set to get me started. I have a ceramic stone to sharpen the chisels with but i've never had a strop, is it a special leather or can i just use the back of an old belt?
Cheers J

[AlArchie]

The back of an old belt will do just fine. I'd suggest you glue it to a piece of hardwood for backing.

Al

[jaywood]

Thanks for the fast reply. Also will any metal polish be ok for a compound?

[Claude]

The green stuff - Chromium Oxide, I think; the Flexcut Gold that comes with the Flexcut Slipstrop is good...

Claude

[bigEd_H]

Chromium Oxide or Aluminum Oxide works for stropping compound. If you ask 10 woodcarvers which is best, you will get 10 answers all of which are correct. I use Rich Notto's White Gold which is Aluminum Oxide, some use Flexcut's Yellow Gold (Aluminum Oxide), some use Yellowstone (which is actually peach in color). When you see black streaks when you strop, you are removing metal from the blade and bringing the edge to a nice polished sharpness.

[AlArchie]

Like Ed said...ask a hundred and get as many favorites. If you have a problem finding those "special" compounds sold by the carvers' suppliers, check at Sears, Ace, True Value or maybe even Wall and K marts for "buffing compounds" in theier tool or hardware sections. You'll probably fint three or four types in either tube or stick form.

1. White; commonly called white rouge
2. Black; common name emery
3. Brown; common name Tripoli
4. red; common name jewelers rouge.

1,2, and 3 are also a harder material so in addition to being coarser, they will cut faster than the red, which is simply iron oxide in a paste, (rust)

The black stuff is usually the most coarse, followed by white brown and red.
As I have most of my tools sharpened and stropped where I want them, I use strictly the red jewelers rouge now, but if you need to polish out grind marks and refine your tools, set up individual strops with each type of compound and keep them separate. You can make two or three strops out of one old belt...pretty cheap maintenance insurance.

Al

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Notto's White Gold, Yellow Stone, Yellow Gold are all good, I prefer White Gold.

Dave

[jaywood]

Thanks for the help everybody.
Jay