Anyone who has done any woodworking or carving, or cut metal on lathes or mills for that matter knows that sharp tools make all the difference in the world. A dull, or even slightly dull chisel will make carving difficult, or even tear out the wood. Using a dull carbide insert at work risks not holding sizes, not getting the required surface finish, having to take yet another "finish" cut. A sharp tool on the other hand is a true blessing. Makes your job a pleasure and is almost no effort at all. At that estate sale I mentioned before I bought a sharpening stone set, and a honing stone with a black and a red side. The set works nice, cuts quickly and gets tools quite sharp. The honing stone is the real secret. That stone puts a mirror finish on the tools and they really work well. I didn't know what kind of stone it was so I asked on maestronet.com and within seconds (literally) Joe Robson of violinvarnish.com replied and said I have a straight razor hone. Sure enough I goggled that and found a "vintage" Pike razor hone in a wooden box on EBay for $13. I paid 25 cents without the box. It works great. I think the black side is a little coarser than the red side, but they are both very smooth. Looking at straight razor sites on line (yes they are there) I've found that stropping after honing with the stone is required. Yikes! The blades need to be even sharper! Now I need to get some strops and some paste. If I think they are sharp now what should they really be like?
I guess it is just like when we learn something new, or maybe think we know everything (never you say?)and we feel so smug and proud of ourselves. Then we find that we aren't really all that smart, we make mistakes, we don't know half of what we think we do. I love the quote from a character made up by Dave Wagner on a long gone local radio station by the name of Mr. Music. "Remember, I know more about music, high arts and cultural stuff than you'll ever forget." Indeed. Well, now I'm on a quest for a sharper edge. Anyone have experience with strops?
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