Reply To: Leather strop: which side up?
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Yes you can use a clean straight grain wood I have used a 4x9x3/4 piece of beech for a few years, I started using a leather strop rough side up, as Paul teaches after buying the Diomond plates. Before this I used oil stones 300, 800, 1200 and a white Arkansas. Then a flat beech wood strop with white compound. This worked well but took a long time, I had tried water stones, they where a mess and the flatting thing was more mess and work. It took longer, the object is to get tools sharp not sharpen.
I like Paul’s system it’s faster, cleaner and for me with my messed up hands the most repeatable, I often use a simple jig because my hands can’t close enough to hold a lot of tools.
My system has evolved with time, first I go though the three Diomond stones then the strop with green compound, if it’s a very fine edge I then go to the beech strop with white compound. I have a fixed sharpening station it’s a small table with two Drews. My grinder is on one side, my 12×20 glass plate on the shelf above, my plates in a holder on a second shelf all other supplies are on top or in the drews this way what ever is needed is ready, do the sharpening get it done and back to work, one other thing that made a big difference in the shop, If you ùse a tool, sharpen it wipe it down (clean it) and put it away. That way all cutting tools are always sharp, clean and ready to work, I hatted it that when I was in the middle of doing something, I would have to stop hunt a tool then have to sharpen, fix, clean a tool be for I could continue.
Thank you Tom Fidgen for teaching this
Frankj