Stropping on the Worksharp HELP!

[Glen Evans]

All this talk about stropping made me try the leather stropping disk on my Worksharp again. It is suede side out and quite rough. I managed to "unsharpen" the plane iron a number of times using it. I just keep rounding over the edge! Its very frustrating--I just can't seem to get a smooth light touch on it--it seems to be too rough!

Has anyone else had success with the Worksharp stropping?? Any tips??

I read about Derek making a wheel for his disk sander (I think he used a thin leather car chamois on mdf). I was thinking of doing the same--maybe even without the leather...

Has anyone tried this??

thanks
Glen

[harry strasil]

did you put the vaseline on the strop wheel first? As per the instructions.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Glen

If you are dubbing your edge then it is likely that your leather disk is too soft.

Mine is chamois leather stretched over and contact glued to a hard sanding disk (which is velcro backed and so easy to attach).

I use a light touch. Also place the heel of the bevel down first, then rotate the blade until the bevel is flat on the spinning disk.

From Mk1 - prior to leather

Always have the disk spinning AWAY from the bevel edge. You are write this so you must be alive, and therefore know this.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dan Karachio]

I have had trouble with this, but mainly with the green stuff clumping up after I applied the Vaseline. Getting a nice edge actually, but it is bumpy. Any ideas on smoothing out the disk again? Much appreciated please.

[glenn bradley]

I had a small noise issue with my WS3K. I was amazed at the depth of knowledge that the girl who answered the phone had about the product. She immediately understood my problem and talked me through some tweaks to fix the noise. Your problem is obviously not a noise but the response of the the phone staff was excellent. I would call them.

[Derek Cohen]

Don't use Vaseline - use mineral oil. The nicest form of this is baby oil ... smells better! Just sprinkle a little on. It will disolve the green rouge and turn it into a soft paste. Lumping gone.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Johnny Kleso]

Any Type Of Oil Will Work...

I use WD-40 as it's easy to spray on the spinning wheel...

I polish all my brass hardware I made with Green Rouge and Rag Wheels...

Story:
25-30 years ago I took a second job and was setting up a Model Shop for a AIA Architect / Designer Dan Lewis > www.designers.com

And I looked a fool as I could not get the rouge to stick to the rag wheels..
Everywhere I worked I never installed a new wheel and once its primed you never need to do it again...

I used a rag wheel to polish Plexiglas to make sanded plexiglas, crystal clear to make models of Perfume Bottles..

I never forgot beng 20 something and saying I was a expert and this guy lets me spend $30K buying tools and I was stuck getting compound to stick to a rag wheel..

[Glen Evans]

Thanks for the help!

Harry, I did apply the vaseline as recommended--the compound went on smooth.

Derek, I think you're right about the leather being too soft--at least too bumpy.

Dan, your description of it being bumpy is exactly my experience!

I'll call the company and see if they have any advice.

I'm also wondering about sanding the surface of the leather to try to smooth it out---is that even possible??

Glen

[David Keller NC]

"I'm also wondering about sanding the surface of the leather to try to smooth it out---is that even possible??"

Do NOT do this. Even if it smooths your leather wheel out, you're likely break off and permanently embed grit from the sandpaper in your leather wheel. Needless to say, 220 grit in your leather will render your sharpening session useless.

You can plane leather smooth, but you must plane in the direction of the grain (leather has this as well as wood). There are a number of patents in the US Patent archive for leather planes and scrapers in the late 19th century.

You might choose to abandon power stropping altogether. I don't recommend it for newbies (not sure if you fit this category - apologies if you don't) because it's so easy to round over the edge with a moment's inattention. Moreover, stropping isn't something that requires any effort at all by hand-power means, unlike grinding - 3 to 5 slow passes on a 12" long belt with rouge is all you need.

[Dan Karachio]

David, I think that is the best advice of all - do it manually. I mean, it has only worked for what, centuries? These new tools are cool and interesting, but some times we think they can do everything. HOWEVER, I am still going to try that baby/mineral oil trick! :-)

[Mark Roderick]

I totally agree that stropping on a machine is almost an oxymoron. The whole idea is to be able to turn quickly to the strop, put the edge back on the tool, and get back to work.

But at the same time, if you've put a micro-bevel on the edge using either a machine or a honing guide, then you're pretty much required to use the same machine or honing guide to strop unless you have a very, very high skill level, a lot higher than mine.

Of course that's a reason not to use a micro-bevel in the first place, other than the pseudo-micro-bevel you get from getting a hollow grind on the wheel, then honing by hand. Full dislocusure: I do use a honing guide and a micro-bevel on some blades, like my thick, heavy #7 blade where I'm not comfortable honing by hand.