Final Hone

[Anthony Diodati]

I know there are a lot of posts on this, and the answers are mixed.
Do you think I could get a hard felt buffing wheel to use as a final honing for chisels and plane irons?
I have been using a worksharp 3000 and then a 8000 water stone.
I don't have the leather or felt disk for the worksharp 3000.
I could probably get a piece of leather to make a power strop for the worksharp 3000.
I do have a flat piece of leather I use as a strop sometimes.
Thank You

[Jim Koepke]

Just my two cents.jpg.

Over stropping can dull an edge.

My thoughts about a buffing wheel has been mostly for shining the non-edge parts of a chisel.

jtk

[bridger berdel]

id say that if you need that much stropping you probably havent finished honing. pick up a polishing stone, black ark or 10000 waterstone or whatever floats your boat and learn to hand hone.

[Metod Alif]

I think that an edge should be in such condition that it only needs 4-5 stropping strokes on each side. This works for me after #8000 water stone or 1 micron diamond paste on a piece of cast iron. Paul Sellers strops a lot (after a #1200 diamond plate - but he has an excellent control of the angle and no dubbing as a result.
Best wishes,
Metod

[Dale Cruea]

I tried using a felt wheel with 8000 paste.
I found all that it did was round the corners.
I now use a leather strop with no compound.

3-4 passes and it is sharp.

Dale

[David Weaver]

Not a fan of a buff for anything other than carving tools.

A bare leather strop that's clean and used with a light touch should remove any kind of scuzzle that exists coming off of an 8000 stone.

Use of a buff usually leads to an increased bevel angle on chisels or a reduced clearance on planes.

[Anthony Diodati]

Ok Thanks Guys, sounds like I should save my money and just keep using the leather.

[Jim Belair]

Not a fan of a buff for anything other than carving tools.

I've heard that before but not sure I understand why. Is it that carving tools benefit from a bit of dubbing to give more strength to the edge?

[David Weaver]

I'm not enough of a carver to say for sure as a general answer for everyone, but I can tell you why I like them for a buff. Carving tools don't usually take the same kind of hard abuse that plane irons and chisels do, and you can constantly touch up a carving tool on a rotary buff. And most importantly, carving tools often have a profile that makes them less nice to sharpen.

Still, what little carving I do, if a tool is easy to keep up on an oilstone (like a veiner), I'll still use stones on it.

I have seen several very good carvers mention they just use a rotary buff to keep their tools sharp, though.

I just don't like the compromise on chisels when they're so easy to sharpen without having to take a lot of wear off on a buff.

[Jim Matthews]

I'll toss in my stropping observation without a portfolio to back it up:

My strop is glued to a hardwood block, so that the leather doesn't deform.
I was taught to bear down hard, to get the right degree of polish.

Theoretically, you could get the same result using a taught leather belt
that is drawn over a platten, but if the belt is loose the "leading" edge
at the tool will form a roll and change the angle of attack.

I was admonished not to roll the tool through the motion of stropping,
to keep the angle of attack constants.

If you buff with a wheel, and apply any pressure, the felt will deform
and take on precisely this kind of curve, leading to a rolled or "dubbed" edge.

In short, I think you could power strop, but not with a wheel.
I doubt it would be faster than my current method.

This has been discussed before, here.

[Brian Ashton]

Ok Thanks Guys, sounds like I should save my money and just keep using the leather.

I tried a buffing wheel once for about 30 seconds and quickly came to the conclusion it was a waste of time. They're usually out of round, out of balance, round the bevel at the edge, and you can't do the backs at all.

Another possibility if you have a lathe is to mount a piece of MDF and use some buffing compound on the face (not the edge) - mirror edge that's sticky sharp in seconds. I've seen a few that were mounted on grinders but that's to fast, but on a lathe at 300rpm it works extremely well.

[Chris Hachet]

Ok Thanks Guys, sounds like I should save my money and just keep using the leather.

That is what I do. I find a light hone on leather is often all I need.

[Steve Friedman]

Not a fan of a buff for anything other than carving tools.

A bare leather strop that's clean and used with a light touch should remove any kind of scuzzle that exists coming off of an 8000 stone.

Use of a buff usually leads to an increased bevel angle on chisels or a reduced clearance on planes.

Scuzzle - Good word!

I stopped stropping when I started using the Sigma 13000 stone. Anything I do after that stone makes the edge less sharp. I have thought of trying Chris Griggs' hand stropping method, but haven't had the guts to do that yet.

I do strop carving tools because I won't let them near my 13000 stone!

Steve

[David Weaver]

I agree on the 13000. It cuts tiny narrow deep grooves. The only reason to strop would be if you were shaving your face off of it. You can get a better result from it if you palm strop with a clean palm or strop with a true razor strop, but very few shop strops can match a razor strop when they're brand new (none can) and a rough leather strop that's not broken in could degrade the edge. A dirty one definitely would. Most new razor strops aren't even really suitable strops and can dull an edge that comes off of a final step in a honing routine. A good razor strop has some slickness and shine to the surface, and little draw and no real abrasiveness. That only comes off of horween shell that I've seen. Every other strop has to be used for a while for it to break in. Horse butt has to lose its abrasion, and other plainer shell has to get slicker on the surface.

The only reason to improve the result on a 13000 would be to shave off of the stone, though and that's the only reason I know enough to make the above comment. I don't much love the shave off of artificial stones, and fiddled with the 13000 a little to see if I could get there. The only comfortable exception is a frictionite hone, which doesn't leave an edge as keen as the 13,000, anyway, it just leaves a more comfortable one. Totally worthless comparison for woodworking, though, totally tangential babble.

(just had to go look up scuzzle in the dictionary and make sure it's not a real word. Sometimes, when you make up words, you find a not very flattering definition or urban dictionary definition).

[Chris Griggs]

I have thought of trying Chris Griggs' hand stropping method, but haven't had the guts to do that yet.

I wish I could claim credit for it but I learned it from Dave, and am certain it has been done for eons. Works well for me. Just kinda makes the edge a little keener, most likely by cleaning off any remaining bit of scuzzle. I stop at 8k though. I don't know how much palm stropping would improve the edge of the 13k...its pretty darn fine and leaves virtually no scuzzle (in terms of wire edge) anyway.