Help with strop frustration
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On Youtube, a guy called Stumpy Nubs made particle board discs and coated them with various abrasive compounds to use on a Worksharp machine. He doesn’t like to waste money on sandpaper. Paul has also mentioned just applying the compound to a flat piece of hardwood.
Very interesting Frank. Thanks for the information. I always like to know why something works, not just that it does.
Scott, I know the hardest part of learning woodworking for me, is sorting through all options of all the things we may need or use. When there’s no one experienced around to ask, it becomes trial and error. That can become expensive. Whatever would we do without the internet? Ha!
Kevin
I certainly agree on all the differing options involved Kev and as for the internet, well that can be an absolute minefield. You really have to be able to sort out the wheat from the chaff, especially on Utoob. There are so many out there who have all the gear but no idea but because it’s so easy to put up a video they are free to corrupt the mind of the innocent so to speak. There are too many wannabees doling out unverified or even misinformation that can trap the unwary.
I watched one guy who had this absolutely scratchless, mirror-like Roubo bench and an equally shiny LN plane and for a split second I thought he was going to try to mount the plane, as in sit astride it, to plane this piece of wood he had in the vice. It was at best 18″ long but it took him 4 steps to reach the end of the block of wood because he was bearing down so hard on it. Steps being the operative word as I bet he had 4 steps in that short piece of wood. When he mentioned something about only taking off a ‘whisper’, not ‘whisker’, that was my cue to leave.
Right, back to things stropable. My ‘professional’ double-sided strop arrived this morning and once again I have the feeling of gullibility as I was initially thinking of ripping it down the middle and making two strops out of it but it is so thin I doubt if my basement skill level will enable me to do that. I think even Paul would give it careful consideration before attempting it. It is made up of a 10″ x 2″ layer of 1.5mm leather glued either side of a 6mm piece of compressed fibreboard. Yet another case of spending a pound to save a penny methinks.
Anyway, a thing to note is contained within the one page set of destructions that came with the strop. It advocates just a small amount of compound “rubbing a wavy line of compound down the length of one side and then swiping the blade 10 to 12 times”. Then it goes on to say ” turn the board over to the non-abraded side and repeat the 10-12 strokes. After this the edge will be at it’s sharpest”. Make of that what you will Kev??
I’m going to finish this coffee then pop down into my hutch and give it a go. Catch up later.
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EEEEWWWWWWww!! –Brain tanned — No Brains or Dog Poo in my Leather Thanks 😉
Vegetable tanned leather from craft supplier is all that’s needed.
More importantly, onlt a light rub of compound is needed.
I use a compound sold for buffing chrome – it comes as a toothpast consistency – Autosol it’s called in UK/Ireland – works perfectMy strops have the same problem. I use a wax/chromeoxide compound.
Actually I’ve never bothered about chips coming off, just wipe them up and go on.The tip for putting the stuff on a planed block of wood I second.
Very useful for getting the back of an edge tool nice and shining.
Hth Diego
Managed to separate the thing to give me two strops so I’ll give them a whiz tomorrow as I’ve four spokeshaves to refurb and three blades of a router plane to sharpen.
http://i.imgur.com/6vJtAmA.jpg
I’m vegan and cheap. I use a piece of cardboard and it seems to work fine for me. 🙂
That will work best for Corrugated Planes 😉
This will set your tools up for the day
Seriously though, not all green polishing compound is made the same. Most green compound sold is not made from Chromium Oxide. There is Blue. White. Red, Brown, Black and Green polishing compound – They are All made from Aluminium Oxide – The colour just denotes the relative ‘grit size’ – I’ve seen huge pieces of Green Compound sold on amazon by a company called Silverline for less than $8 – with no stated ingredients (Silverline’s own website states Aluminium Oxide for all it’s colours) – People leaving comments like “brings my chisels quickly to a polish — It Would since it is a very aggressive cutting compound far courser than Chromium.
Just Saying.Breakfast strop…ha! Nice. Cardboard is an interesting idea too.
Kevin
@stevewales veggie lol, the emulsified oil from animal brains will also soften your dry cracked and chapped craftsman hands better than anything! Dont know about dog poo wtf
Dog Faeces was commonly used in Victorian tanneries (Prob. because of the protease enzymes present in it) Also Bird droppings and human urine — Pretty Stinky I imagine.
Guess I’m going to break the pattern….I never use oil, never heat the strop, and never had any issues. I have the first piece of leather I found at a craft store, which is probably a light suede. I used spray adhesive on the smooth side and stuck it onto a hunk of ply exactly equal in size to one of the EZE lap plates. I use green compound purchased from Lee Valley. I just rub it on and that’s it. I permeates the suede and stays there.
I have ( 2 ) strops, ( 1 ) smooth side out and ( 1 ) rough side out both made out of horse hide and coated with mineral oil. They both work fine with no flaking what so ever.
Steve
Hello all. I don’t believe its the leather as much as the buffing compound. I had one green buffing stick (type/maker unknown) that would flake and was hard to apply. Then I ordered a stick on-line. I don’t remember what dealer I ordered from, but the manufacturer is “Formax” (www.formaxmfg.com). It’s called “Micro Fine Honing Compound, Product No. 12668. It works great and is easy to apply. I took a scrap piece of 3/4” Baltic birch plywood (any stable wood would do…) and used contact cement to attach a scrap of elk skin, rough-side out (suede). I have also used this same compound on a block of bare wood as Paul shows. Works great either way. I hope this helps.
Thanks Gary. I do believe I bought some cheap, $5 block from Amazon. I bet with a better quality compound and applying it the way I’ve recently learned will make things that much better.
Kevin
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