The care and feeding of the stropping wheel

[mike40]

In an earlier post I mentioned that I hadn't used enough oil on my stropping wheel. I asked if I should  put more oil on it. The response from several members was to not re-oil, but rather just continue using it as is. Today, I took a look at the manual, as I should have done to begin with, duh. It says to impregnate the wheel with a light oil, then apply the diamond paste, first while turning the wheel by hand, and then to work the paste in with a tool while running. It also states that one application should be good for doing 8 to 10 tools, after which a few drops of oil should be put on the stropping wheel. I am not complaining here about the advice, which was given in the spirit of friendly helpfulness and which I appreciate, but I felt it would be worth correcting the misconception. I also learned that I should not waste others time and efforts asking questions that are covered by the manual (although I will probably do it again anyway)

[Rob]

woa there Mike....this is a biggy....don't go splurging oil all over your wheel....despite what the manual says...you'll ruin it.

Jeff can you jump in here please.


Mike...this has ben widely discussed all over the place here historically and the clear advice is very sparing amounts of oil or you create problems downstream.

Can you highlight the page numbers in the manual where it says use copious amounts of oil please?

Many thanks

R

[Herman Trivilino]

It also states that one application should be good for doing 8 to 10 tools, after which the wheel should be re-oiled.

I followed that advice until my honing wheel would no longer cut.  It took me a along time to work all that oil out of it and I will never oil it again unless it seems to need it.  And as far as I can tell it'll never need it.

[mike40]

It said to impregnate it with a light oil. I did re-oil and that worked fine. Sorry it didn't say 'saturate' it said 'impregnate' and to put a few drop of oil on again after doing 8-10 tools. I will change that word in my original post. You can find this info on pg. 44 of the manual. I was careful not to over oil the wheel.

[Rob]

I found it already...here it is:



So number one...its definitely not saturate.  That was really sending alarm bells.  The discussion (which Herman has already alluded to) involved the over oiling of a wheel and the need to then dry it out because it stopped working. 

Basically, to summarise the advice from Jeff:

Oil sparingly at the beginning with light machine oil.  After that the honing compound should be enough to keep the wheel conditioned before use.  If its not used for a long time and really dries out, perhaps a little more but emphasis was always on sparing quantities...drops not squirts :-)

[Rob]

I appreciate the manual is declaring a more oily approach than that.  Again, the tip from the top was not to do that.

[Ken S]

I also learned that I should not waste others time and efforts asking questions that are covered by the manual (although I will probably do it again anyway)

Mike,

Don't be so hard on yourself......Better to ask and know than not to ask and wonder.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

Jeff has told us that oiling is a one-time-only process that's performed only on a new wheel.  And only once.

Did I say only once?

Yes, only one time.

[Rob]

I must say I thought I remembered that exactly too.  The manual is a bit confusing isn't it?

[Ken S]

"Man is the only animal with the one true religion, all seven of them"

                      Mark Twain

[mike40]

I have to say though that while I didn't 'saturate' my wheel, I did use a lot more oil than the first time. Originally I had had an awful time getting the paste to stick to the wheel, but now it is working really well. I guess I was overly cautious with the oil the first time. Anyway, I am glad that frustration is over.

So far, I've had excellent results re-stropping my chisels to restore edges. I've been making a handplane till with a lot of grooves and dados and with box joints for the main frame. I could have used my router for this work, but I decided instead to use just my chisels as a test to see how well the Tormek edges would stand up. I used my bandsaw for the straight cuts on the box joints and then a coping saw to remove most of the waste, the rest was shaved  with a chisel. I got throughout 6 joints before I stropped the edge again. Strictly speaking, I could have easily finished all 8, but the stropping made it a little better. I had to do 4 grooves about 85" long altogether. I didn't have to re-strop for that work, as it was mainly with the grain. This work was in pine, so I would probably get quite a different result in hardwood. I'll give that try eventually too.

[Rob]

well that's good feedback Mike.  The proof is in the pudding :-)

My big protestations were to try and avoid you getting into a tangle with the wheel downstream.  Given your experience I guess there is a range or tolerance of how much oil is "enough" and clearly you didn't go over the top.  Box joints sound great :-) One of my favourite joints in fact.

[Ken S]

Mike,

It sounds like you have not only made a useful plane till, you have mastered the leather honing wheel.  Good job!

My local grocery store sells bamboo skewers.  They are essentially pointed dowels about 1/8" (3 mm) in diameter.  I would think they would not be expensive, even in Norway. 

Each skewer (about forty in a pack) would provide about enough dowel material to peg the joints in your till.  If you cut them just a little short of the hole depth, you could darken them.  When driven level, they would add a decorative staccato effect, as well as adding some (probably unneeded) strength to the joints.

They are useful for many purposes.  My grandson just put together a Lego Mario motorcycle, minus one of the handlebar grips.  With a touch of gaffer tape, a piece of skewer blackened with a sharpie made a tolerable replacement.

Ken

[mike40]

Ron, box joints are one of my favorites too. I like them because you get the same look on both sides of the joint whereas dovetails have one nice looking joint (the tails) and the other side isn't too great. I do cut blind dovetails for my drawers though as the bad part doesn't show.

Ken, as a matter of fact, I have been using those bamboo skewers for many years as small dowels. I even use them for BBQ on occasion, lol. I don't think these joints will need pinning though. I'm almost finished with it, having glued it up yesterday. I just have make dividers now, which should be a quick job. I'm not sure when though, as I have to clip a lot of hedges. I sharpened my hedge clippers on the Tormek. Nice edge, but it took me awhile learning to keep control while sharpening, but it went well with a little practice.

[Rob]

I use blind dovetails too.....with a router jig :-)