Stropping carving tools

[joecat11]

The best way to keep carving tools sharp longer is to strop them before they get too close to needing sharpening . This is true regardless of which sharpening and stropping methods or machines
you use. Eventually,of course, the edge gets rounded over and you need to resharpen the tool on a stone.

When I first got my Tormek ,I only used the jigs to strop when I was actually resharpening a tool . I did my in between stopping by hand , preferring to sacrifice a little accuracy for speed so I could get right back to carving.
Recently I have developed a discipline of using the jigs all the time to strop on the leather wheel . I've discovered the following:
1) The tools  keep the edge longer and require less stropping and untimately less sharpening.
2) Since I'm keeping a sharp edge  for maybe 5 -10 minutes more of tool use than before , I'm actually getting more carving time .
3) Through practice, I've become pretty efficient at setting up the jigs using the felt pen method . I'm almost unconsciusly competent at it now. "Fast is slow-slow is Fast"

[Jeff Farris]

Thanks for sharing that, Joe.