Longer-lasting Sharpness?

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you! I hope to do well, but the best part of course is to hang out with a bunch of tool-nuts in person.

[Steve Voigt]

> Steve

Do you mean that jumping from a fine india to a translucent/black arkansas would actually work fine?

I do have a leather strop that I use for just that purpose of removing the bur and final polishing after the stone. I do have a hard time removing the burr completely on the stone, even flipping back and forth with light strokes, and I thought that was just due to lack of skill. I guess people who finish on stones alone are just using very fine stones that aren't aggressive enough to turn a significant burr?

Stropping off of the hard ark does give me as sharp an edge as I've experienced, but then, it's still the finest stone that I've used with the possible exception of a 2400 grit waterstone, to which it seems pretty comparable.

I'm surprised that you recommend an untreated strop, though. I've always used green chromium oxide on my leather strops. You find that leather alone will suffice (or does better in this capacity, even)?

Luke,
I basically agree with Patrick's answer to this question…to make it a little more concrete for oil stones, I think it depends on how big a bevel you are working. If you are working the whole bevel, as in Japanese-style, full-flat bevel sharpening, then it might be difficult to make the jump from fine India to trans or hard black. But if you are using a shallow primary/ small secondary, then the jump is no problem at all. I think if you are using oilstones, you will find the primary/secondary technique much easier. Do you know Joel's tutorial on the two-oilstone method? It's a good place to start.

Regarding your comment about stropping…if you use green paste, then that is determining the fineness of your edge. If you use an untreated strop, then your final stone is determining the fineness of your edge. If you are using a regular hard ark (as opposed to a trans or hard black), your finish stone is not that fine, so you are probably better off using the paste.

[Luke Dupont]

Luke,
I basically agree with Patrick's answer to this question…to make it a little more concrete for oil stones, I think it depends on how big a bevel you are working. If you are working the whole bevel, as in Japanese-style, full-flat bevel sharpening, then it might be difficult to make the jump from fine India to trans or hard black. But if you are using a shallow primary/ small secondary, then the jump is no problem at all. I think if you are using oilstones, you will find the primary/secondary technique much easier. Do you know Joel's tutorial on the two-oilstone method? It's a good place to start.

Regarding your comment about stropping…if you use green paste, then that is determining the fineness of your edge. If you use an untreated strop, then your final stone is determining the fineness of your edge. If you are using a regular hard ark (as opposed to a trans or hard black), your finish stone is not that fine, so you are probably better off using the paste.

Thanks. I usually alternate between a full flat bevel (on most of my Japanese tools), and a slightly cambered bevel on my western tools. For Japanese tools, all but the very edge of the bevel is pretty soft anyway, so it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to sharpen the whole flat.

I hadn't seen Joel's tutorial on the two-oilstone method that you linked to, but I like it! It's exactly how I sharpen my Japanese tools just with the addition of a micro-bevel. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Another, perhaps silly question about the strop, but: when you're using an unloaded strop to remove a burr, do you find the rough or the smooth side works better? I've rarely ever used plain leather, but it seems that the few times I have that the rough side was better for removing any remaining burr. I'm curious to hear your impression though.

I guess I can experiment some with a piece of leather before deciding which side to glue down if I want a strop to use without compound...