Sharpen & Stropping

[Harag]

Hi all

I'm looking at having a go at leather working, making bags, belts, cases etc as well as carving. I live in the UK and have just ordered some basic carving tools, but I've read that the carving knife is blunt and will need to be sharpen and to strop often when carving. My better have already has tools as she enjoys a bit of DIY (she makes clothes & jewellery) and says she has a "whetstone" for sharpening.

Can I use this wet stone for my own leather tools?

Also stropping - What is this, and where can I get / make this from - some of the tutorials I've seen all seem to be USA based. I've tried looking on the "LE Prevo" site, where I have purchased my tools from, but they don't seem to sell sharpening / stopping tools.

Any help on this would be great.

Many thanks

Alan

Edited April 5, 2013 by Harag

[Cyberthrasher]

Stropping is a very mild form of sharpening. Basically you're just polishing the blade as you use it, not really removing any material as in traditional sharpening. Your tandy blade will probably need to be sharpened (actually, honed is a better term) and then consistently stropped as you're working.

The wet stone is fine for regular sharpening/honing. You'll want to make sure it's not too coarse of a grit though so you're not re-shaping the blade as much. Basically it's just like any other blade, we just have to polish them up more often. Up in the "How Do I Do That" section, there's a pinned topic at the top on how to make a strop for knives. There's actually lots of pinned topics throughout the forum regarding knife sharpening. There's nothing really leather specific about it, or USA for that matter. You just need a chunk of wood, some honing compound (the kit comes with jewelers rouge, but I'd only use it if I were out of compound), and a strip of leather or even poster board.

http://leatherworker...hp?showforum=36

here you'll find a bunch more stuff on sharpening knives in general

http://leatherworker...hp?showforum=10

yes, the kit knife will need some work. Hopefully in time, you'll decide that you want to stick to tooling and end up getting a better swivel knife to work with.

Here are a bunch of videos from Pabloz (a very talented knife maker and leatherworker here on the forum) that will show how to sharpen and care for your knives, both round/head and swivel knives - as well as any other knife you may have. Learn these videos well!!!

http://www.leatherwr...s.com/tips.html

Edited April 5, 2013 by Cyberthrasher

[Matt S]

Alan, whetstone is a little vague, it could be a lot of things. Should do the job but chances are if she isn't sure what it is it is likely to be a two sided synthetic oilstone of a certain type intended to put an acceptable edge on house carpenters tools. Bit coarse for the job but will improve the state remember if it is an oilstone to renove any traces if oil beford touching leather. This includes your hands and work surface. Worth remembering that wet and dry paper from the hardware store works great at s minimsl investment.

[fivewayswelshcobs]

Try Axminster tools they sell lots of stuff for sharpening tools, I get all my supplies for that from them as they sell a lot of wood working tools.