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Our Readers

When to Strop. There's no doubt that stropping produces a razor-sharp edge. But I've found it to be overkill for most common wood- ^^ working tools. The fact is, water-stones, oilstones, or sandpaper on glass all produce an edge sharp enough for most woodworking needs. If you're using any of these methods and your sharpening tasks are limited to plane irons and bench chisels, there's very little to be gained by stropping. There are, however, exceptions to every rule.

Carving Tools. If you're a carver, stropping may be the best method of keeping your tools ready to go. Many carving knives use very thin blades that simply can't be ground on anything but the finest honing stones without removing too much metal from the blade.

In this case, charging a leather strop with an abrasive stick, shown in the photo above, may be the answer. Stropping will leave the blade polished and razor-sharp, as shown in the inset box.

Only you can decide what's "sharp enough" for your needs. If ^^ you want better results than your current method provides, you may want to give stropping a try. &

50 ShopNotes No. 89

stropping for a

Razor-

Sharp Edge

A zvoodworking neighbor told me I need to strop my tools to get a sharp cutting edge. Other friends say ifs a waste of time. Who's right?

David Scroggins Henderson, Nevada

Every woodworker I know has an opinion about the "best" technique for sharpening. And often the debate centers on what constitutes the "sharpest" cutting edge. Stropping is considered by many to be the final step in producing the ultimate, razor-sharp edge.

What is Stropping? Stropping takes place after the normal sharpening steps of grind ing and honing.

Traditionally, a blade is stropped by pulling the bevel across a firm piece of leather. Stropping removes the nearly microscopic strands of metal that remain on the cutting edge of a biade after the wire edge, or burr has been honed away.

Here again, there are a number of opinions about the proper technique. Some woodworkers prefer to charge the leather strop with abrasive compounds. But others argue that stropping is not really meant to abrade the metal. Instead, it is intended to burnish the edge by bending the strands until the metal fatigues and they fall off.

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A Buffing Wheel. A wheel charged with different grades of abrasive compound can polish the edge of a gouge in no time.

A Small Profiles. Paring chisels and carving knives can be made razor sharp on an inexpensive, profiled strop.