Basic questions on Yellowstone

[Ken Casser]

I've been using the Butz strop with Herb's Yellowstone, and I've done well with it, but I still have a couple of basic questions that I haven't the nerve to call Herb about. Do you take it out of the cardboard case or do you leave it in? If you take it out, do you rub the strop with the 4" x 1" surface or rub with the end of the block of compound? The instructions suggest "scrape"ing the Yellowstone onto the strop. If I use my knife for that, I don't think it'll be very sharp. What do you use to scrape it with? What do you use to "butter it in" with? Also, as a side note - he says never to use a strop with oil on it, but I see a lot of posts where mineral oil is used, or mineral oil mixed with mineral spirits. Thanks!

[Jim Koepke]

Ken,

Welcome to the baffling world of seeking a keener edge.

You may be thinking too hard about this.

If you can get it on the strop while it is still in the box then it is okay to leave it in the box. If you have trouble getting it on the strop while still in the box take it out.

If you have sensitive skin Costco carries nitril gloves. They can also be found in many other places.

No matter what face of the yellowstone is used to apply the compound to the strop it will wear down over time. Eventually you will have a small round ball of compound and will not be able to tell which side was which. So be it, there really isn't a wrong way.

Not sure about the scraping the yellowstone into the strop. It might mean when it is being applied instead of dragging the yellowstone along the strop to push it into the strop. It might also mean to use a knife or other object to scrap along the strop to even out the yellowstone and to push it more into the surface.

For me, my stick of stropping compound is kind of scribbled on my strop in an attempt to get a fairly even coat. Who knows, I could be doing it all wrong, but it seems to work and that is what counts.

jtk

[Ken Casser]

Thanks, Jim! It's the simple things that confound me. I have the leather wheel on my WS3000 and it goes whump whump whump, so that's my next thing to figure out.

[Jim Koepke]

Having never seen a WS3000 in person I have no idea on what is happening. Maybe rotating by hand would help you find the high spot. Maybe a call to the vendor or company would help.

The real question is if it is causing a problem other than an annoying noise.

jtk

[Ken Casser]

I think the surface of the wheel might have an imperfection, or maybe it's just a characteristic of the leather. It's not the sound that bothers me as much as the bump bump of the chisel as it's being honed. I'll study it more closely at some point, but thanks for the advice!