[Woodcarver] Diamond dust

[Ivan Whillock Studio]

I introduced the idea of using cardboard as a strop some thirty years ago.  Ev picked up the practice when he took classes from me a few years ago.  I recommend touching the tool to your palm to pick up a little oil from your skin and then dipping the tool into an abrasive powder, such as aluminum oxide.  Enough clings to the blade to put a mirror finish on the tool, no fuss, no muss.  If you need more, dip the tool again.  Oils and waxes slow down the cutting of the abrasive and can make mush.  Binding agents are useful to hold an abrasive onto a spinning wheel, etc., but are unnecessary on the cardboard.  The powder is held into place by the pores in the cardboard.  

The advantage of using cardboard rather than a leather strop is that you can bear down right to the edge, even cutting into the cardboard if you want, and that very quickly puts a mirror finish on the blade.  For most of the honing you lay the cardboard flat,  However, for the inside of a gouge or V tool  you can bend the cardboard to the inside shape, roll it around a dowel if you want, and even fold it into a V shape for the inside of the V tools.  When it gets all cut up and full of metal filings, you simply toss it out and tear the back off another tablet.
  
Ivan Whillock Studio
122 NE 1st Avenue
Faribault, MN 55021
Visit my website at
 http://www.whillock.com
Visit my Picturetrail album at
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=ivancarve
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Niels E. Pedersen 
  To: Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net 
  Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 10:16 PM
  Subject: [Woodcarver] Diamond dust


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  35 years ago working on guidance sytems we use cold cream, like women use, it washes off with water.

  Niels 
  peder at alltel.net


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