Thank you for your videos which are very usefull for me. I am a beginner in carving and I didn't get the final step with leater strops. Could you explain the sharpening compound on to the surface of the strop and using an old leather belt?
Thanks again for this website and all the information about carving
There are many different compounds out there. Anything that is used as a "stropping" or "honing" or "buffing" compound just rub into the leather. It will polish the tools to a mirror finish. The two I am familiar with is aluminum oxide or silicone carbide (jewelers use to polish stones), but there are dozens of different compounds that produce the same effect. Some come in paste, some in powder. Just rub this into the leather (an old belt will do for this) and polish away!
Figuring out how to recover from undesired results is, I believe, one of the best parts of learning any skill. THANK YOU for leaving these learning experiences in your lessons! ...Some other teachers edit out the problems, and we learn less...
You suggested two remedies in this video, and I can confirm that both will help.
Thicker shellac, whether from a second spray coat, or from a brushed on coat, will seal the end grain better. I recently carved some lettering and applied gold leaf. I wanted to completely fill the end grain in sapele mahogany. It took 3 coats of brushed shellac to get as smooth as I wanted.
The other thing that will help is a different kind of paint. The "Sign Painters" paint you used is excellent, but is oil based and contains a turpentine like element that causes the paint to wick into wood grain. That's usually a very good thing for permanence, but not what you wanted here. While certainly useful for work that will be exposed to outdoor elements, you probably don't need it for a decoration that will remain indoors.
So... use simple artist acrylic colors instead. They don't penetrate nearly as much. In this carving, I applied really simple, inexpensive, actually dirt-cheap, acrylic to the bare mahogany and had no wicking at all. It would be safer yet to use at least one sealing coat of shellac under the acrylic.
Lastly, to combine the no-wicking aspect of acrylics with the outdoor endurance of oil based enamels, apply a simple sealer coat of shellac. Then, one or two coats of acrylic, and lastly the enamel. Yes, they will go over each other well ... but be very careful to let each be bone dry before applying the next.
Hi Bob,
Thanks for that information. Sometimes the best learning experience is from making mistakes - or watching others make mistakes! I'll try this again down the road with different techniques. Thanks again!
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