leather belt treatment

[Harvey M. Taylor]

Well, good morning everyone. Got back from the SWAT symposium in Wichita Falls Tx. last Sun. eve. According to the accountant we had 525 paid attendees. Lots of demo's meeting new turners, learning more than I can retain, I suppose a good time was had by all.
Now to my question:what compound, liquid or whatever do you use on your leather stropping wheel, belt or whatever? seems a shame to almost arrive to your destination snd not go all the way to get that sharpest edge on the tool.Waiting with bated breath{whatever bated breath looks or feels like} for some advice.Thanky, Max.

[Marvin Hasenak]

Check with Hidecrafters Leather store on I think Camp Bowie Blvd, west side of town. I can't think of the managers name but I would bet a paycheck he will know exactly what you need. Just be careful when you go buy it, leather work is like woodturning real addictive.

Marvin

[jeremy levine]

This should work
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32984&cat=1,43072

[Don Orr]

I use some old white buffing compound my FIL gave me a while back. Works well for stropping my skews and carving tools. When it gets tto black, I scrub it off with a stiff plastic brush and re-apply.

[Mike Vickery]

Harvey, this is just my take on it but the amount of wood a turning tool cuts in 10 seconds is probably more then a carving tool would cut in several hours. I remember hearing Stu Batty once give a figure on how many miles of shavings a gouge produces in one minute, dont remember the speed of the piece or the actual amount in miles but it should give you an idea.
With the possible exception on the skew, I do not think the extra time is worth it since your razor edge will be gone in a matter of seconds.
Again just an opinion but thought I would throw it out to you.

[Jason Christenson]

I agree with Mike, but I could be wrong. I was wrong one other time, I think it was in the 80's.

[Martin Braun]

There are also those that advocate the "serrated edge theory", and recommend the coarser wheels (80 grit for example), instead of the finer wheels (100 or 120 grit). I just use the finer of the two that came on my slow speed WC grinder, and be sure to dress the wheel often. Try out the stropping and let us know how it works for you.

[Mike Vickery]

There are also those that advocate the "serrated edge theory", and recommend the coarser wheels (80 grit for example), instead of the finer wheels (100 or 120 grit). I just use the finer of the two that came on my slow speed WC grinder, and be sure to dress the wheel often. Try out the stropping and let us know how it works for you.
Yeah I am one of those guys that sharpen with an 80 grit also. When I started I was using the 120 wheel (though a cheap delta) and eventually moved to the 80 after doing some reading and am happy.
I know on Alan Lancer sharpening article he like to use a 60 grit wheel. The majority of the pro's I read up on recomend an 80 grit wheel.

[Allen Neighbors]

Hi Max. I attended SWAT also, and did have a lot of fun. Learned more than this mind will retain, too.
I have a grinder wheel that I covered with leather... one side and edge... and I use a black Jeweler's Rouge that I picked up somewhere years ago. It works well. When I finish the last little piece of it, I'll go to Tripoli. It'll work, too. I use the leather covered wheel on my wood chisels, my pocket knives, my skews... and anything else I want a fine edge on.
(I sometimes strop the flutes on my bowl gouges with an MDF wheel shaped for them. I charge the MDF wheel with the black stuff, too.)

[Larry Marley]

I was demonstrating a lathe at a woodworking show a couple years ago and forgot my true-grind jig. I asked the guy who sold it to me if I could borrow one for the day. He did not want to make a new tool used, but did offer to regrind my bowl gouges as often as I needed.

This is the company that insists that a 60 grit wheel is sharp enough because "these are not carving tools". Anyway, I had him resharpen my gouge about four times in five hours. That night ( I promise I have a point), the friendly neighborhood Tormack guy came by and said "you can't sell a lathe with dull tools". He confiscated my gouges and said I could have them back in the morning after he used them to demo his wares.

When I received my gouges in the morning, they were polished like a mirror. I used them all day Saturday and Sunday without resharpening.
I was turning maple, cherry and mahogany. No green, dirty, with bark, but still. BIG difference between "don't worry, that burr will fall off as soon as you start cutting" and Sharp.

Leather strop, sure, why not. :rolleyes:

[Marvin Hasenak]

White jeweler's rouge, looks like white diamond buffing compound. That is what leather crafters use as the final step when sharpening their swivel knife. When properly sharpened they are sharper than a razor blade. You put the rouge on the flesh side of the leather strop. It is used as Larry said to polish the surface to make it cut better.

Marvin

[Rod Sheridan]

I use the green honing compound from Lee Valley.......Rod.

[jim price]

Lots of folks like the stuff that's sold with tormek sharpeners, although i'm partial to Tripoli for knife sharpening.
But for turning, i'm with the 80 - 120 grit bunch, specially since i'm always using blanks with the bark on and once and again some residual St. Helen's ash which works wonders reducing a fine edge to a nice round blunt edge that bruses better than it cuts.