Lee Valley "Carver's Hone?"

[Dave]

In his excellent book, _The_Complete_Guide_to_Sharpening_, Leonaard Lee describes a "carver's hone" on page 97. The hone has 600x paper on one side and a leather strop on the other side (charged with green Chromium Oxide). I thought this item would be fairly easy to find but now I'm not so sure. Is this one of those items one must purchase as "parts" and assemble at home?

This link is the closest I can come. Any suggestions for a specific brand/type of paper to attach? I'm guessing one of the mylar-backed papers.

[George]

Little bit of a stick and some stickum - 3M 77 - and you're good to go.

You can actually leave off the leather and slap some of that deadly heavy metal salt directly to the surface of your poplar or bass wood, I do.

Make your own slips, too.

> Thanks

[Conan the Librarian]

Woodcraft, but if you're a woodworker, I can't imagine why you'd want to pay someone to make it for you. It's nothing but a wooden "paddle" with a strip of leather attached to it.

I use one with the PSA-backed 3M "micro-finishing film" attached to it. (I think you can find the paper on the Lee Valley site under sharpening supplies.) I keep it by my side when carving and when doing chisel-work. A few swipes every few minutes keeps your edges nice and sharp and actually seems to make them last longer.

I've heard some mixed opinions on using a leather strop. Some folks say it dubs the edge, and others say that if you use it right, it's the best thing around for honing carving tools.

If you really get into carving, you might also want to try out another suggestion from Lee. That's where you use the gouge to carve its own shape in a piece of pine and then apply some "green crayon" (CrO2) to that shape. You can then use that to hone the tool.

Chuck Vance

[Robin Lee]

Dave -

These are piece of cake to make...

The green compound can also be used on bare wood. Gluing (or stretching) cloth around a profile works well too!

Cheers -

Rob

> Thanks

[Dave]

Thanks to everyone for the answers. I think I'll just make one at home. I think I'll take good advice and try bare wood for a while. I'm new to knife carving, currently working on my third small carving. I'll post a few pictures when I get it done.

Dave

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