stropping your carving knife

[Hilly]

Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone here can give me a little info so that I can start my very first projects....

I bought one of those Tandy kits with a wallet, checkbook cover, etc. (hey, we all need to start somewhere), and I'm reading the instruction booklet you get with it. It talks about stropping your carving knife. My first question is how often do you strop? After so many hours, minutes, projects, inches, what? Can I use wet/dry sand paper in 1300 grit or 2000 grit instead of jewelers rouge?

The instructions also say to cement your project to some hard cardboard while you work on it to keep it from stretching? How much can a wallett possibly stretch from tooling?! Will the rubber cement come off of the back of the leather afterwards, or am I forced to line everything I make to avoid having a gooey mess on the back sides of my projects?

I eventually would like to make some nice holsters for our pistols - a couple of .44mags with scopes. I'm looking at making a pattern for a regular holster, and modifying it with a slot so that the scope sits outside of the holster. I'd also like to be able to attach it to a belt that slings over one shoulder so that the gun sits at an angle, across the torso, within easy reach instead of being hung at the hip.

Maybe later on, I can make a pair of saddlebags for our motorcycle.

I'm drooling over the thought of doing oak leaves, and some of the tutorials on this website are a huge inspiration!

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Hilly

[Dragons Pearl]

"The instructions also say to cement your project to some hard cardboard while you work on it to keep it from stretching? How much can a wallett possibly stretch from tooling?! Will the rubber cement come off of the back of the leather afterwards, or am I forced to line everything I make to avoid having a gooey mess on the back sides of my projects?"

Well, as for this part, I can answer.

The first checkbook cover I ever did, I didn't glue it down and did a lot of stamping and carving on it and it stretched like you wouldn't believe. I had to get the liner wet and stretch it to match the outside. Even still, it didn't fit quite right. The more tooling, carving and stamping you do to the leather, the more it will tend to stretch and go oversize to the liner. So its really a good idea to glue it down to some thick posterboard or thin cardboard. If you can find the pieces in between the layers in a case of soup cans, that makes a good piece to glue the leather down to.

Edited October 14, 2007 by Dragons Pearl

[Regis]

Hilly,

First off, welcome to leatherworker.net. There are several discussions here on knife sharpening and stropping that you should read. Stropping is the finishing touch to polish your knife edge and then keep it sharp. It must be sharp to begin with and that 1300 will help. I use a flat board with 1000 grit cemented on one end and business card with rouge on the other. You want to polish your knife often as then it will cut smooth without dragging or jerking. Sharpening knives is a science/art of its own.

There are different wasy to keep leather from stretching. I now use the clear packing tape on the back and that works for me.

Take your time and expect to trash some leather so I hope you have some scraps.

Regis

the instruction booklet you get with it. It talks about stropping your carving knife. My first question is how often do you strop? After so many hours, minutes, projects, inches, what? Can I use wet/dry sand paper in 1300 grit or 2000 grit instead of jewelers rouge?

The instructions also say to cement your project to some hard cardboard while you work on it to keep it from stretching? How much can a wallett possibly stretch from tooling?! Will the rubber cement come off of the back of the leather afterwards, or am I forced to line everything I make to avoid having a gooey mess on the back sides of my projects?

I'm drooling over the thought of doing oak leaves, and some of the tutorials on this website are a huge inspiration!

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Hilly

[robert]

You definitely need to put something on the back of anything that is small and/or thin. I use backing on wallets and belts, but dont use backing on notebook covers for example. Rubber cement will probably require that you use a lining. Clear packing tape work well and generally doesn't leave a residue. Sometimes it will leave just a bit, which i have successfully removed with light sanding with medium grit sandpaper.

good luck, have fun.

robert

[Randy Cornelius]

I will dive into this one. How offen do you need to strop? Well that all depends on the blade and your leather and how sharp your blade is to start with. Strop every time you pick up your knife. That is a golden rule. Then strop every time it starts to drag. If it drags and you start to force it to cut then that is when you mess up. If you are considering spending some money buy a good knife with a good blade. Several good knife makers out there. I have a couple Henley's one with a blade from Jeff Cook made of colbolt steel that I have to strop about 1/2 as much as any other blade I have. Cermic is also a good choise but these need to be stopped also. The oils and fats from the leather will build up on the blade as you cut. Stropping will remove those and shine up the blade.

What to strop with? I take a paint sturrer that I got from the pain department, glue a thin strip of leather, flesh side out to the wood and rub in a little bees wax and then work in the jewlers rouse. I will replace them every 6 months or so or when I wear them out.

Always glue down the leather to a hard surface. I always use plexi glass that I buy at the hardware store. It can be cut to the size you need and you can reuse it. Use rubber cememt to glue it down. If you do not want the glue like on a project that is not lined, like holsters use packing tape on the back of the leather first then glue it down on to the plexi glass. After completed the project can be pulled off the plexi glass and the tape removed and there is nothing left behind.

Good luck with your projects.

Randy

[Hilly]

Hilly,

First off, welcome to leatherworker.net. There are several discussions here on knife sharpening and stropping that you should read. Stropping is the finishing touch to polish your knife edge and then keep it sharp. It must be sharp to begin with and that 1300 will help. I use a flat board with 1000 grit cemented on one end and business card with rouge on the other. You want to polish your knife often as then it will cut smooth without dragging or jerking. Sharpening knives is a science/art of its own.

There are different wasy to keep leather from stretching. I now use the clear packing tape on the back and that works for me.

Take your time and expect to trash some leather so I hope you have some scraps.

Regis

Thanks for the welcome.

One of my first orders of business when I first came here, was to do a search on stropping, and I have read quite a few threads on the subject. Seems no two people give the same answer except to "do it often". I imagine this answer is due to the vast assortment of knifes out there, and how long each holds it's edge? Also it seems as if many people use different methods of stropping; using anything from sandpaper to rouge to chrome polish.

I guess I will just jump in and get my feet wet, and learn by feel how often I need to do it. I do have some scraps to fool around with, and also that Tandy kit. When I'm done screwing those up, I have a double shoulder I purchased to make into holsters. I could probably sacrifice a small amount of that.

I intend on taking my time, and doing the best job I can do with what I have, and keep in mind that most people are not going to get super great results on their first attempts at leatherwork. Maybe I'll even post some pics so everyone can critique my efforts.

As for the clear packing tape.... it sticks well to cased leather?..... Which brings me to another newb question....

When you begin carving and tooling a project, what do you do if you can't finish the whole thing in one sitting/day as with a large project, such as a saddle? Can you repeatedly re-case the leather? I'd think that covering it, and leaving it continuously damp could harm it and the work that has already been done?

Thanks for your help!

Hilly

[ClayB]

If you do a search for casing, you will find that there are probably as many differences of opinion on that subject as there are on stropping. A lot depends on the leather you are using, weight (thickness), where it was tanned, the humidity where you live, etc. You really dont want to let your leather dry out and re-wet repeatedly. Each time it dries out, it will get harder to carve. As you re-wet the dry leather, it will swell and you will lose some of the depth of your stamped impressions. I feel it is better to try and keep the leather damp once it is ready to work with. I will add more moisture with a damp sponge or spray bottle as the leather is drying out. If you have to leave you piece and come back later, cover it with plastic or put it in a plastic bag to keep the moisture in. If you have to leave it for a long period of time, but the plastic bag in the refrigerator. One of the good things about the forum is it allows everyone to give thier opinons on what they do, and why, not saying any one way is the only way it can be done. You can try different ideas that work for others and find out what works best for you. We will be looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Hilly]

Thanks so much to all who have replied.

It's really nice to have a place like this to come for info, or answers to questions I have. I hope to learn enough that some day I will be able to chime in with an answer for a newbie, or help someone else.

[Randy Cornelius]

Put the clear type packing tape on the flesh side while the leather is still dry. That way it will stick good. Then apply water to case after the tape is in place.

Randy

[pete]

Randy- Did I understand your post correctly? i.e. that you strop with the rouge on the FLESH side rather than the grain side and if so why? Always looking to improve

pete

[Randy Cornelius]

The rough side will hold the rouge better than the grain or smooth side. But you can do it either way.

RC

[indypbear]

Hilly,

ALL are good answers to your questions. Re- stretch and rubber cement (RC), if you are going to line it any way use RC and find a hospital xray dept that throws the cardboard from the film out or the film itself (bad images for trash) and RC to that. Ask the Chief Tech. to save it for you. Try shelf paper for the project that you are not going to line. It will peel off after tooling and leaves no sticky residue.

As for the stroping, follow the recs for the group above.

"Happy Toolin'".

Indy

[SCOUTER]

Hi Hilly,

Re-Stropping. Stropping is only done after the blade is very sharp. It puts that last polish on the blade allowing it to pass thru the leather with minimal effort. I have found that if you take an old cereal box, remove cereal =) and turn box inside out. Now take box and cut strips around 2 or 3 inches wide. The stips will now measure aprox 2x10. Now take some jewelers rouge, either red or white (red is quicker cutting and white is finer) and apply the rouge to the strips by stroking the rouge stick down the strip about 5 or 6 times until there is a small layer of rouge on the cardboard strip. Now the fun part, take your knife and lay the blade on the top of the strip so that the blade bevel is FLAT on the strip and DRAW the knife back along the strip keeping the blade bevel flat on the strip. After a few pulls you will start to see small metalic residue on the strip GOOD now flip the knife and repeat. Look at the blade now, it should look SWEET! =) Hope that helps.