Thread: ?? Best way to charging a new strop with cutting compund

try the yellow compung from felx cut its made to be stuck on by hade
its softer

the green white and other ones are mad for power strops the heat makes them stick

Thanks NZ

I just had a quick look in the latest carba-tec catalogue for the yellow stuff. I hadn't noticed it before. It is much cheaper than the green so an added bonus.

I look forward to trying it.

Cheers

Grant

The secret is baby oil (which is just scented mineral oil).

I wrote an article comparing green rouge and diamond paste strops: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwor...mondpaste.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

According to our local carving guru, the secret is hand cream (lanoline). A bit more "creamy" and less "oily", I suppose. I have seen it done just this morning, incidentally.
Mixed with green bar shavings and spreaded straight onto the MDF. Can't comment on the results, have not used it.

The same guru recommends wax for rouge powder on leather, unless it comes already in waxy bars like the one I used for my motorised strop. I did not mind it much but I agree that it came off a bit as you describe, Grant.

Thanks for your link Derek, I will read it before experimenting further.

Edited to add: read that item and the intro, I am now thinking that what I do on what I called a "motorised strop" after the 400 grit whetstone is really the honing phase that you do on stone and the final strop should be another phase again. Making a green strop exactly like you suggest will be easy, I wonder whether the compound used on the "honing" belt is cutting enough, though. Any suggestion on an appropriate product will be much appreciated.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Derek your article is really informative.

Why do you hold your chisel blade at 45 degrees and not square? I thought it would be easier to take off the wire burr with it square.

Do you also use the 45 degrees when stropping gouges?

Cheers

Grant

Hi Grant

If you run a blade sideways (square) on a strop, you will likely slice the leather.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Memory's fading but I seem to recall V. recommending that when the green compound is used on a felt wheel to condition it with tallow or similar first.

G'day all

I bought one of those fiber wheels you relate to RSSER and the instructions said to charge the wheel with tallow prior to the honing compound. I was unable to find out where tallow was available. I just loaded the wheel with honing compound, but it wasn't that successful.

I am not sure what other products are similar to tallow, never having seen it before. Does anyone know where tallow or similar can be purchased?

Cheers

Grant

Didn't know what tallow was... Google came to the rescue. There is a producer in Sydney, that could be a starting point. Looking at that site, though, I also found a reference to another animal product, more a wax than a fat: lanoline.

Looks like the good doctor was right again.

Thanks for that research Frank.

From memory tallow is an animal fat, and used to be used for lamps with a floating wick by the poor folk of merrie olde England. I imagine it stank.

FWIW to charge a Tormek leather honing wheel you soak in a bit of light machine oil first and then hit it with their honing compound in a tube. Lanoline is the grease from sheeps' wool but I've never seen it unadulterated.

Grant, perhaps you might use the Lee Valley website contact email and send a query about alternatives to tallow to them. They're v. prompt in replying.

Sounds like an awful lot of trouble to me guys... Why not just use a liquid stropping compound? Rub it on and once dry (about 15 minutes) it will stay in place indefinately. Its equally at home on a leather stop or MDF wheel. No mess... no fuss. Works as well or better than anything in a bar I've ever found. Economical too. I recharge my strop about twice a year and the wheel about 6 times a year. Each time takes about as much as a dolop the size of my thum nail. One $10 canister lasts me about 3 years.

Originally Posted by Whittling

Sounds like an awful lot of trouble to me guys... Why not just use a liquid stropping compound? Rub it on and once dry (about 15 minutes) it will stay in place indefinately. Its equally at home on a leather stop or MDF wheel. No mess... no fuss. Works as well or better than anything in a bar I've ever found. Economical too. I recharge my strop about twice a year and the wheel about 6 times a year. Each time takes about as much as a dolop the size of my thum nail. One $10 canister lasts me about 3 years.

Sounds excellent. Can you tell us the brand or is it a trade secret?

BTW, has anybody tried the "cut and polish" paste used for cars?

At the moment I am happy with whetstone, waxy rouge on the leather belt (true, it is rather messy), and a final strop with stitched cloth and aluminium oxide, both sides of the bevel. The leather belt has really made a difference, I had never been able to sharpen like that before.

Hi Frank,

Not a trade secret mate... but not a brand either. I bring it in myself from overseas as I haven't found any other way of getting it here. It was originally made for the stamping tool industry for final surfacing of stamping tools prior to chrome plating. The manufactuer doesn't want to know you unless you want to buy a 44 gal drum at about $25,000 (more or less depending on exchange rates). Too rich for my blood so friends buy for me and send it to me one liter at a time in the mail. I sell it in 50gm containers for $10.00 under the name of 'Whittler's White Lightning'. Didn't originally intend to sell it... just wanted something that worked for me. Got so many queries that I eventually decided to sell it as part of my sharpening 'kit'. Haven't found anything better so far.

Re automotive grinding and cutting compounds... my experience with them is they don't stay put on strop or wheel. Keep having to recharge every application. Also don't seem to do as good a job as the stuff I'm using so no reason to change as yet. I'm always open to new ideas though. (have to admit that so far I haven't heard any)

Well, it has a brand now, yours! My guess is that you refer to a liquid/thin paste aluminium oxide compound, like the Pikal metal polish made in Japan. Its blurb says that it is suitable for buffing wheels.

It really boils down to whether it is less trouble finding and buying it than mixing two easily available products. Where is your stall going to be next? I will be happy to come and buy one of your containers.