Stropping technique?

[Tony Sade]

I posted this question below at the end of Alan Turner's question on stropping devices, but I guess the thread had played out and no one saw my question. I wondered if someone could describe the technique for stropping on leather. I vaguely remember when I was a kid, watching the barber strop his straight razor on the leather strap hooked to the barber chair, but I can't figure how that would work on the end of a narrow chisel or plane blade. Thanks

[Carl Eyman]

But the woodworker does. The technique is simple. Find a piece of leather, apply some compound i.e., jewler's rouge, pumice, etc., and polish the bevel of your blade. It is probably best to have the leather tightly fastened to a board. I use a leather wheel that is about 1" wide and 5" in diam. chucked in the drill press. I rub on some compound I bought with it and polish up the bevel. Alan says his teacher frowns on rotary stropping; so there is probably a better way. If I remember correctly, the carvers in Colonial Williamsburg just use a piece of leather they take out of their pocket. I am going to check when I'm there next month.

[Jerry Crawford]

My bench strop is a piece (5 X 6) of heavy (about 1/4") cowhide glued to a piece of wood with the rough side up. Just throw on a smear of white glue and set something heavy on it till it dries. I don't use any rouge or compound at all. After I sharpen my chisels I draw both the edges across the leather surface several times. There's nothing really magical or complex about it. I have grooves in mine from doing my gouges too. I can't recall exactly how long this particular strop has lasted, but it seems as if it's been on my bench 6 or 8 years, at least.

[Jerry Crawford]

The gun makers at Colonial Williamsburg use a piece of leather exactly as I just described. I've watched Walace Gussler do exactly as I described a number of times on his carving and flat chisels.

[Joel Moskowitz]

take a look here:
http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/sharpstropping.html

for carving tools use compound initallly then follow up with a plain strop
for chiisels and plane blades only use a plain strop