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Good ol' carbon steel does well with frequent stropping. My vintage paring chisels very seldom see a stone these days. So if you keep your edges keen with the strop, you save time in the long run--especially when you're using a jig that takes a few seconds to set up each time. I don't know about O1, but the A2 doesn't work as well with the frequent stropping. It stays sharp until, all of a sudden, it isn't. Then it needs to go back to the stones. That's where your honing guide will really come in handy. A2 is a hard steel, and keeping a consistent bevel will make sharpening it pretty easy.
As to your initial question, I do like combination stones, but you have to be fastidious about cleaning them, otherwise you get grit contamination. (Obviously this isn't a problem with the combo diamond stones.) If you do get a diamond stone, you'll want to make or buy some kind of box or holder for it so you can keep it from moving around as you use it.
Steve S.
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(01-03-2017, 09:18 AM)Mike Brady Wrote: What animal has a hide 3/4" thick? An elephant, maybe....or the Brit cows are really big!
I suspect he laminates several hides together to get to 3/4". Maybe the thickness allows him to reface the leather from time to time vs. replacing the strop entirely.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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That's not my experience with A2. It seems to strop just fine.
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(01-03-2017, 09:18 AM)Mike Brady Wrote: What animal has a hide 3/4" thick? An elephant, maybe....or the Brit cows are really big!
Glad you asked that question. I thought only politicians had skin that thick.
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(01-03-2017, 10:18 PM)new cab guy Wrote: That's not my experience with A2. It seems to strop just fine.
Welcome to the forum!
Skip
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Sellers' strop is a normal piece of leather mounted on MDF or plywood, rough side up.
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(01-04-2017, 04:58 PM)David Katz Wrote: Sellers' strop is a normal piece of leather mounted on MDF or plywood, rough side up.
That's the way it appears to me as well, but in both his book and on one of his blogs, he says it's 3/4" thick. Maybe he's counting the thickness of the mount with the leather. I'll try to ask him to clarify.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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(01-04-2017, 05:34 PM)David Katz Wrote: Sellers\ strop is a normal piece of leather mounted on MDF or plywood, rough side up.AHill Wrote: That's the way it appears to me as well, but in both his book and on one of his blogs, he says it's 3/4" thick. Maybe he's counting the thickness of the mount with the leather. I'll try to ask him to clarify.
Sellers' response:
"Sorry, no. One layer of leather on a 3/4" thick piece of wood."
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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(01-03-2017, 12:01 PM)Bibliophile 13 Wrote: As to your initial question, I do like combination stones, but you have to be fastidious about cleaning them, otherwise you get grit contamination.
I've found that my (Norton) waterstones need flattening so often that the contamination problem sort of takes care of itself.
If you're gonna be one, be a Big Red One.
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(01-04-2017, 06:06 PM)AHill Wrote: Sellers' response:
"Sorry, no. One layer of leather on a 3/4" thick piece of wood."
Ah ha, misunderstanding. I take back my brain fart comment.
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Non impediti ratione cogitationis
