Oh my goodness. During the tv show Wednesday while carving braces I realized my chisel needed help. Well, needing to shape the braces on two tops, I got out my supplies.
Slicing a four inch by 12 inch slab of leather from the cowhide, I clamped it to my workbench via a Klemmsia. Then I pulled out the Dico White Rouge picked up at my local Ace Hardware. You have to peel back the paper and it is similar to a big one inch crayon in a tube, about six inches long.
I rubbed the rouge on the leather, just kind of smeared it on two inches wide and about six inches long on the smooth side of the leather. Strokes of the chisel must be along it's length toward the cutting edge. Flat side first, then flip and do the angled bevel of the chisel.
In only a few minutes it was perfect and would shave hairs from your arm. All you had to do is touch it with your fingertip and you knew it was sharp. It easily sliced into the leather if you happened to slip sideways.
So this is a followup on the recent activity. Since I never heard anything from anyone else, I wanted to post this for you guys who've always struggled to get a sharp chisel. This is the bee's knees.
I love white rouge and leather. My chisels will never be the same.
I got a cranked chisel from Lee Valley and also recently two Chech chisels from Highland and they all are wonderful chisels now, thanks to the suggestion and finally the outworking of what I learned on the OLF.
Pics coming up in a few minutes.
This picture clearly shows the sharp by the shine. Notice the two Narex Chech chisels on the left. One reflects, one does not. The second from the left is the unsharpened one, the other three all show degrees of shine indicating their sharpeness. You would not believe the difference.
Plane blades are next up, this will make them sing!
