How to sharpen a lino cutting tool 

Thank you for taking the time to leave that excellent advice, I shall use it next time I sharpen my blades. Really appreciate it 👍

You're very welcome - happy carving!

You're welcome!

You're welcome!

You're very welcome!

You're very welcome - really glad it helped!

Hi! Thanks, glad you liked the video. Yes, for pressure, that's just right. If you go too firm, you can damage the strop, so you'll be able to judge it from that if you see any damage occuring. I wouldn't have expected a palm tool to change in such a way, I think I would get in touch with the manufacturer and see if they have any suggestions on that. Happy carving!

You're welcome! Personally I have always used the stone without oil.

You're very welcome, and thanks so much for your comment. I haven't used the Speedball brand, so I can't comment on how those blades come out of the box. I mainly use WM Mitchell, most of the blades of which I have had for nearly 30 years and are still going strong! I find that during a large carving, the blade will start to become dull, and being able to give the blade a quick sharpen during the carving process with just the SlipStrop method gets the blade back to optimal performance again. I do a lot of teaching, and whenever I buy new blades locally for my workshop particpants I find that they nearly always are not as sharp as they could be (hence why I stick with my 30 year old WM Mitchell blades!), and so for this reason I find that a hand sharpened blade is much more preferable to one straight out of the box. As I say, I haven't tried the Speedball brand, so it could be that they perform really well straight out of the box. One for me to try if I can find them locally! Enjoy your carving!

Thanks for your question, Jen. Of the two, I use the SlipStrop every time I carve. I'll use it before I carve, and if it's a particularly large carving, I may use it once or twice during the carving process to keep my blades honed. I only use the whetstones if a burr appears on the blade, and if you're using good quality blades, that happens very rarely. So, the SlipStrop is definitely the one product I wouldn't be without.

Hi! Yes, the Arkansas stones I have have a profile for both U and V blades, so worth searching for that type. My stones don't have a brand name on them, unfortunately, but I bought them from greartart.co.uk

Hi, I only have information for a UK supplier, they are available here: www.greatart.co.uk/gouge-whetstone.html

Also in the UK, intaglioprintmaker.com/shop/whetstone-sets-japan

Excellent - thanks for the link!

Hi, FlexCut themselves should be able to give you more information on this, their web address is: www.flexcut.com/home/product/pw12-flexcut-slipstrop

You're very welcome! There's a bit of leather on the bottom of the SlipStrop and the grey stuff is the metal particles from the blade embedding themselves in to the gold compound that I've applied to the leather. SlipStrop say you can keep using that bit of compound until it goes black, and then just re-apply the compound to the leather at that point.

Hi! If you're in the UK you can buy it from Jackson's: www.jacksonsart.com/flexcut-slipstrop-carving-tool-sharpening-kit If not, just search 'FlexCut Slip Strop' and you should be given a choice of suppliers local to you.

Hiya! They are Arkansas stones! Cheers :)

Hi Andrew. Unfortunately the whetstones I have don't have a manufacturer's name on the package, but I bought them here: www.greatart.co.uk/gouge-whetstone.html If you're not in the UK then searching for 'gouge whetstone' may help you to find them locally. Hope that helps!

Thanks!

The manufacturer name is Kirschen