cowlick

I've been trying to strop a chisel with the help of several books and websites, but I am getting jack no where.

How's about somebody suggests how I do it and points out the obvious mistakes I am convinced I am making but don't know about?

__________________
"It's a long story," says I, and let him up.

Ripsaw

I assume you are attempting to remove burr on the flat side after sharpening, yes?

You'll need a large piece of leather. All you need to do is pull it along the leather so that the burr breaks off. An old belt would suffice.

__________________
"We are supposed to be masters of space, but we cant even line up our shoes?"

One life, one chance, one opportunity.

cowlick

Actually, I am trying to sharpen a wood carving chisel to a razor sharp blade. The stropping is to remove the fine scratches and what have you on the surface of the bevel.

__________________
"It's a long story," says I, and let him up.

Ripsaw

How did you start this project, and what are you doing that you are convinced you are doing it wrong?

I have a tri-angle sharpmaker from SPYDERCO. You could make a razor-sharp sword out of a baseball bat with that thing.

__________________
"We are supposed to be masters of space, but we cant even line up our shoes?"

One life, one chance, one opportunity.

mvassek

Give us a quick run down on what you are using and how you are using it. Then I should be able to help you get the results you want.

cowlick

I've got carving tools for wood. Things like:

and


And every wood carving book says you need to frequently strop to keep them sharp. I've dulled all of my tools now and I can't seem to strop right.

I've got a nice strop, a wooden paddle with a leather covering. I've got some yellow gritty crud to layer onto it. But I don't seem to have the technique.

__________________
"It's a long story," says I, and let him up.

mvassek

Stropping is the very last thing you do First you need to sharpen the item using (my preferences) medium, fine, extra or very fine diamond "stones" go from one stone to the next (coarsest to finest) you get the initial edge from med. then go to fine and remove all marks from the med. stone then to the extra fine make sure you remove all of the marks that the fine stone left. go from one stone to the next (coarsest to finest) only after you have removed all of the marks from the previous stone if you go from med to fine then to extra fine to quickly the end results will be poor.
Ensure that each pass you make on the stones is the same as the previous or you will not be able to maintain an edge and will just sharpen your tool to nothing.
Only when you have removed all of the marks from the fine stone with the extra fine do you attempt to strop. Sharpening removes metal and builds a burr on the tip of the of the edge the strop basically removes that microscopic edge. The reason is that when you use the edge it rolls the burr over and causes the the blade to become dull. The use of a steel pushes the burr back over the edge and "smooths the edge" the strop using superfine grit removes the edge if used regularly it will maintain the edge (unless the edge is chipped our bent) here is a good siite that even though is for a knife will give you all the technique to get it right

Stropping


As with sharpening it is critical that you use the same stroke angle and pressure for each stroke or you will mess it up. Good Luck