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The very tip of a properly sharpened tool tapers away to nothingness. Through repeated contact with wood that edge becomes folded over. It’s nothing you can see with the naked eye – in fact you would need a high powered microscope. However, after a few minutes of use, a woodworker will feel a noticeable decrease in performance even with the most carefully sharpened tool. For some this may mean a trip back to the sharpening station yet many continue to use the tool unaware that there is anything they can do to improve its performance.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t spend all my time fussing with chisels and plane blades. As an example, a good quality chisel (I use Marples Blue Chip) shouldn’t need a great deal of attention. After chopping out a set of dovetails, however, you will notice a change in the chisel’s behavior.
So what do you do? Remember the straight razors in the barber shops of old? I wouldn’t know if they still exist as I’m forced to go to a "stylist" now. I can still remember waiting for my turn in the chair, the air smelling of tonics they no longer produce, watching my old barber drag that razor across a long, thick strip of leather that hung from the chair. You can use that very process to refresh a tired edge on your woodworking tools.
The process is basic enough. When your carving gouge or chisel becomes harder to push through the wood, a few strokes with a strop will take that bent over tip and fold it right back into place. This allows you to continue working and avoid one or more trips to the sharpening bench. You save time and wear and tear on the tool, making it last longer.
You will need to make a strop first. You can buy them but I have access to scraps of leather so I prefer to make them myself. I’m not sure how long a strop should last but I seem to have to replace mine every couple of years so, at the price the sell at in the store, I’d be shelling out more money than necessary. If you do have a problem finding leather, try going to a yard sale – you can usually find something made of a suitable leather for next to nothing. Most strops, like that on my Tormek and those in the carving section at Woodcraft, are made of thin leather. I would caution against this because the thin stuff wears too quickly. For the same reason I would avoid using scraps from worn out leather coats, unless the leather is quite thick.
I glued a piece of my scrap leather to a rectangular piece of poplar, about two inches wide by eight inches long and a half-inch thick. I have been gluing the suede side down on the wood, leaving the smooth side up, because my barber stropped his razors on smooth leather. After checking out the carving gouge strops in Woodcraft I see they all have the suede side up – as does my Tormek. I really don’t know if it makes a difference but I’m about to replace my flat strop so this time I’ll try the suede side up.
I also have curved strops made by gluing leather around dowels. I use these for carving gouges and sometimes I match the curvature of specific gouges by turning a matching dowel at the lathe.
In use, you can leave the strop as is but I like to charge mine with green honing compound that I buy from Lee Valley ( www.leevalley.com ). I find the strop works faster that way. You don’t need to charge it every time, just once in a while. Then you hold the strop in one hand, the tool in the other, and drag the edge against the leather. Don’t push the tool into the strop or you’ll damage it. Remember that you’re trying to straighten out that bent over edge. Use an equal number of strokes per side and hold the tool flat on the leather. That means, the back of the blade should be held flat against the strop when doing the back side and the bevel should be held flat against the leather when stropping the bevel side. Four to six strokes should be enough and, if you keep the strop handy (mine resides in the tool tray of my bench) you have only lost a few seconds of time.
When you bend that wire edge back into position it won’t be perfect. The first couple of times you strop the tool you will not notice this very much. Once you have stropped the tool a few times you will realize that the tool is not cutting any better because you have effectively taken off the edge you have been bending back into position – much like bending a piece of steel back and forth. Eventually it snaps off. When stropping ceases to make the tool easier to use, or the cut is not improved appreciably, then you will have to take it back to the stones and hone it again.
That’s all there is to it. I find it a real time saver and my tools cut better than ever - all that because I remember the smell of hair tonic. When I carve I get the most out of stropping because I use several tools at every stage of the project so refreshing them without having to haul them over to my sharpening station is very helpful. Give stropping a try. You will be happy you did. Happy woodworking to you.
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