great video! i usually use a piece of regular old printer paper on a very flat surface to strop my chisels and anything without a camber on the blade. i saw it on Nick Enger's Workshop Companion channel here on TH-cam. i usually just blue tape the piece of paper down to float glass that came out of some piece of furniture someone was throwing out. i've used it on a clipboard and on a granite tile from the home improvement store as well. i like the feeling of stropping on a hard surface. it sometimes lets me feel issues with my edge that i definitely miss on a leather strop. the leather conforms a bit, so it makes stropping things like a cambered iron easier and more consistent for me.
Todays woodworkers get way to complicated with sharpening, considering all those we admire woh came before us used stones that where no more than 600 grit. It becomes an issue of diminishing returns-after 5-10ish strokes in wood (depending on its hardness) the starting sharpness becomes the same if your using 16,000 or 4000. Just sharpen up and get to work! Stop obsessing over it. I love your poor man approach.
Agreed .. i have a video of a piece of cherry that was planed with a bone stock stanley no 4 sharpened with a norton fine india stone and a piece of mdf as a strop and the video shows the wood actually reflecting like a mirror ... I do have shapton glass , but they were more of a "want" than a "need" ... Also people get hung up on how their shavings look rather than the surface of the wood !!!
I agree there is way too much over complication with sharpening in today's TH-cam world. Personally i don't believe there is any need for grits over about 1200, a strop covers the rest. Thanks for giving your opinion, much appreciated.
If I try to apply honing compound to leather/plywood/mdf and a lot of it crumbles off (instead of sticking to the material), does that mean I have an old or dry stick of compound? Or is that normal?
Possibly, i don't have an issue with it crumbling and my honing compound is 3 years old. But it might be the mix used from different brands, but it crumbling doesn't sound right, as far as i know it shouldn't do that.
After applying the compound try adding a few drops of 3 on 1 , or mineral oil and rub it in. It will distribute the compound evenly and maybe solve the crumbling issue
I am all for anything that starts with “poor man’s” great video.
Thanks, glad you liked it
great video! i usually use a piece of regular old printer paper on a very flat surface to strop my chisels and anything without a camber on the blade. i saw it on Nick Enger's Workshop Companion channel here on TH-cam.
i usually just blue tape the piece of paper down to float glass that came out of some piece of furniture someone was throwing out. i've used it on a clipboard and on a granite tile from the home improvement store as well. i like the feeling of stropping on a hard surface. it sometimes lets me feel issues with my edge that i definitely miss on a leather strop. the leather conforms a bit, so it makes stropping things like a cambered iron easier and more consistent for me.
Thanks for sharing you stropping method, i will have to check our Enger's Workshop too. I will have to try the paper strop. Thanks again
Nice to see your post 😍😍
I haven't stopped posting, I've been posting weekly.
Todays woodworkers get way to complicated with sharpening, considering all those we admire woh came before us used stones that where no more than 600 grit. It becomes an issue of diminishing returns-after 5-10ish strokes in wood (depending on its hardness) the starting sharpness becomes the same if your using 16,000 or 4000. Just sharpen up and get to work! Stop obsessing over it. I love your poor man approach.
Agreed .. i have a video of a piece of cherry that was planed with a bone stock stanley no 4 sharpened with a norton fine india stone and a piece of mdf as a strop and the video shows the wood actually reflecting like a mirror ... I do have shapton glass , but they were more of a "want" than a "need" ... Also people get hung up on how their shavings look rather than the surface of the wood !!!
I agree there is way too much over complication with sharpening in today's TH-cam world. Personally i don't believe there is any need for grits over about 1200, a strop covers the rest. Thanks for giving your opinion, much appreciated.
I agree at the end of the day if that wood looks fine the job is done@@darrylportelli
Enjoyed the video mate, subscribed and shared.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. and thank for the sub and share
I used MDF before making a strop, works well, but the leather much nicer to use :)
Yes, i completely agree leather is definitely nicer to use and holds the honing compound a bit better too.
If I try to apply honing compound to leather/plywood/mdf and a lot of it crumbles off (instead of sticking to the material), does that mean I have an old or dry stick of compound? Or is that normal?
Possibly, i don't have an issue with it crumbling and my honing compound is 3 years old. But it might be the mix used from different brands, but it crumbling doesn't sound right, as far as i know it shouldn't do that.
After applying the compound try adding a few drops of 3 on 1 , or mineral oil and rub it in. It will distribute the compound evenly and maybe solve the crumbling issue
@@ISwood4U thanks for the suggestion
You're a stropping young lad...
... sorry my humour is a bit dull today
A bit, just hone it up on your strop