toolroom finishing stick - heard of 'em?

[Mike Minto]

i recently came across something called a 'toolroom finishing stick" - a small (1/4" or so across, 4" long, in various profiles), made of aluminum oxide or silicone carbide. they are, i've found, just the thing for fitting inside the flute of a turning gouge to remove any burr or imperfection on a blade's edge. they cost about $3 at Enco - i've really enjoyed using the ones i purchased recently. mike

[Brian Novotny]

........are you talking about those flexible kind of spongy abrasive sticks? if so (your picture looks like a strip of paper......<one too many woodchips in the eye) those things have as many uses as duct tape. never thought of that one though. If that's what I'm thinking you get bags of like 50 really cheap......that's a really good idea. I usually use the groove in a penny, but there are a couple of problems with that. Alot of times I can't find a penny, and some penny's don't have the grooves. Great idea!

[Jeff Nicol]

Mike, I have been looking at getting one that has a fine diamond abrasive on it and may be a little bit larger than the one you show here. I have one similar to yours and I use it for my small palm carving tools. They are nice to have if you use anything that has a flute, bevel, round or flat surface as it will work for all of them. The one I have is all ceramic and is used to polish the tool to a fine edge and clean up any wire edge or small burs that may be left after sharpening. Any type of sharpening stone is good to have in your arsenal.

Jeff

[Ryan Baker]

Garrett Wade has been selling those for years too. I have a box of them in the shop somewhere, though I pretty much never use them. Sometimes they are the perfect answer for sharpening those difficult tools.