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Segmented Cloth Buffing Wheel

Looking for opinions on using a segmented cloth buffing wheel, available from Smokey Mountain Carvers, for doing the honing step on my gouges and v-tools rather than using a piece of leather and rouge.  Talking with another carver who swears by them and thinks they get into the smaller insides of the tool better than hand work.  They're fairly inexpensive but wondering if there is potential for ruining my tools!  I've also tried the hard, MDF wheel which seemed to have a tendency to roll over the edge.  I guess my bottom line is, should you just stick to hand tools for all the sharpening and lessen the risk of ruining them?   Thanks -- John

John,

Ive always used a leather wheel with little to no issues, other than trying to find one that’s true and doesn’t wobble any on the wheel.

I just went over to SMW and bought the wheel you looked at. I’ll try it out and let you know how it works. I can’t imagine it would ruin the edge...and I’ve always found that a final buff on an electric wheel after hand sharpening to give me the sharpest results.

 

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John,

I had a chance to use the cloth buffing wheel for a week or so. I used it on many sizes of gouges and with varying levels of pressure. I found that it worked great on larger gouges, around the 15mm and up.

Here’s my big dislike about the wheel: when using smaller gouges on it, I had not one, but two uh-oh moments. My gouge grabbed the edge of the wheel and it almost took the gouge out of my hand. Something I’ve never experience on a leather wheel and do not want to have happen again. Maybe there’s a difference in usage between cloth and leather...I dunno.

In regards to rounding over, I used a lot of pressure and didn’t experience any, tho I would guess that’s something that would come from long-term usage. I’ve put the wheel away and might give it another chance later down the road, but really not a fan of tools flying out of my hand!

I always use a wheel after sharpening and/or a day of carving, as I find it’s better than hand stropping alone. Try a leather wheel...I’ve bought mine off amazon and will likely use one till I can no longer lift a gouge and carve!

Thanks, one thing I've done with my wheel (paper and now cloth) is turn my grinder around to reverse the rotation.  Sounds crazy but have a box around it so there is no way of getting below center.  Now I can do the work on top of the wheel and see the edge.  If you're curious send me an email and I'll send you a picture (eugster96@cox.net)