Thread: stropping

Good question Cookie - It is a practise that is becoming a bit more used in woodturning. As a woodcarver I have power stropped my tools for well over 30 years. As a woodturner I usually don't.

If you intend to use this form of sharpening for woodturning it is advisable to not use a soft strop as used for carving.

I know of at least one turner who has replaced his brake wheel on the headstock with a timber disc that is used for stropping. This is loaded as needed with Jewelers Rouge, preferably the white one used for polishing stainless steel.

If you use a leather of material strop you run the risk of rounding over the bevel and lead edge of the tool. Highly desirable in carving but a bit of a big no-no in turing.

I personally have found it to be a bit of a time waste, as is honing with oil-stones. Even a mildly proficient turner should be able to sharpen a gouges in one or maybe two controlled sweeps across the grinder this should take only a few seconds and work brilliantly for up to an hour or more depending on the timber being turned. A skew may take a little longer.

Stropping will take just as long as sharpening but the finer edge will be lost much quicker and may have to be done a dozen times or more in the hour. If it is done in the lathe it is quicker if you have to leave the lathe it is a chore and hardly worth the effort.

I power strop my Vin Smith ring-gouges during use by putting a little rouge on the the outside of the timber I am turning, this is also possible for ordinary tools and saves leaving the lathe and having a dedecated buffing wheel. I may also strop a turning tool if I am working on something like a rosette, for example, that has to be carved after the turning. In this case I don't want any sanding done on the timber, as grit can be left in the grain and really buggar up a carvers tools and his day.

Just a word of warning. If you strop on the lathe remember you must strop on the underside of the timber with the wood running away from the edge, not coming towards the edge as in grinding. Forget this and you will be in for a very, very, very nasty shock.

My 2 bobs worth. Cheers - Neil

Thanks Niel,
It was a carver friend who got me thinking in this direction in the first place,personaly i didn`t think it would be of any help but thought i`d ask the question anyway (just in case).
cooky