Hey LJ team,
I'm getting better at sharpening plane irons, chisels and I want to finish with a strop and compound.
My first question is: Is green compound on a strop a good way to finish sharpening a tool?
Second question: If green compound is the right compound to finish with, is every company's green compound the same material? Like - is the green compound from Highland Woodworking the same as Lee Valley and the same as …? Some retailers offer a small bar; others have a 1 lb block.
Honestly, I have used many different types including Harbor Freight, Sears C-man and more expensive ones. For power stropping or buffing/polishing, there may be some noticable difference. But when it comes to stropping tool edges on a piece of charged leather, I can't say that any one worked better than any other. As far as I've been able to tell, any green compound works well with stropping. If it's hard to get charge the leather, thin it a bit with mineral oil.
Polishing compound colors are not the same for all manufacturers but rule of thumb is black,brown,white,green,red,blue. Green is the all purpose polishing compound it's meant for stainless steel but works for almost everything.
Only problem is my belt isn't wide enough for my plane irons, so will probably buy the 3" strop on amazon for $10 which already comes with the green compound. Oh well.
You can buy your leather online from Tandy Leather (https://www.tandyleather.com/en/). I always keep some around the shop for various purposes. I have made a number of leather strops of various sizes and shapes for planes, chisels, and gouges. I use Turtle Wax automotive rubbing compound on my strops. Cheap and easy to obtain.
green is green because of the chromium oxide in it. so I would assume it is all the same because chromium oxide is chromium oxide, but who knows. I use green dialux and it is cheap and works great.
Reading all of this reminds me of my late father whom, as a boy, I used to watch occasionally strop his pocket knife on the leather sole of his shoe. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I know the fine abrasive embedded in the shoe leather did the job. Great old memories! That was back in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Replies like the ones above make the LJ site so great. Thanks team!
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