Thread: balsa wood strop

I think something a little finer grained may be better. Oak is very hard but with large open grain or pores. I suspect the paste will wind up in the pores with the hard raised surface bare.

With the water based pastes we use it is best to "raise the grain" before lapping (sanding) to it's final flatness otherwise the moisture in the pastes will raise it leaving a less than flat surface.

Sand you poplar, etc.. strop nice and flat then dampen lightly with a moist rag. Once dry there will be a pronounced rasing of the grain structure which is sanded off again. repeat once or twice before your finished and ready to paste.

Basswood was used in the past on all wood strops as well.

Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

I think something a little finer grained may be better. Oak is very hard but with large open grain or pores. I suspect the paste will wind up in the pores with the hard raised surface bare.

Tony

Yeah ---I was thinking the pores in the oak might be a problem ---but you might be able to get around this with a sanding sealer, shellac/varnish wash, or some type of pore filler. But thanks for reminding me about raising the grain and then sanding.


Justin

I'd have jumped in earlier on this one but have been out of town at a conference all week. As Tony said, oak (particularly red oaks) tend to have large pores (xylem vessels) and I too would expect any pastes to end up there. White oaks would be less sensitive to this as these species tend to develop tyloses, which is a fancy way of saying that (except in the very youngest wood) the tree seals off those vessels. This is the primary reason that whisky and wine barrels are made from white oaks and red oak barrels have only been used for dry goods. The red oak barrels leak when filled with liquid.

Anyway, balsa wood is what we call diffuse porus whereas oaks are ring porus. Diffuse porus woods tend to not have large clustered open pores in the wood and most of these would likely be suitable for use as a hone bed. I expect that the main reason balsa has been preferred in the past is not only its diffuse porus structure, but also the fact that it is very soft and this imparts substantially more drag on the blade. I have used red cedar, silver (soft) maple, yellow poplar, sweetgum, and sugar (hard) maple as a substrate for a pasted benchhone. All work, each has a different feel to it. In general, if I were going to use wooden bench hones, I would match the wood to the paste with finer pastes being applied to harder woods. Regardless, I would always if at all possible, use quarter-sawn wood as it is the most stable. I would also NEVER finish the wood with anything when applying an abrasive paste--no sanding sealer, no shellac, no varnish, no oils, no polyurethane...you get the picture. Any finish will be abraded by the paste leaving you with an uneven surface on your bench hone.

Just another data point,
Ed

While we're on the topic, what kind of draw do you guys get from a balsa strop/bench hone when using chromium oxide? Not the paste or powder, rather the kind that comes in a crayon like bar. I've been experiementing with some as of late, it seems to work (much slower than diamond pastes), but there's very little draw.

Originally Posted by ForestryProf

Regardless, I would always if at all possible, use quarter-sawn wood as it is the most stable. I would also NEVER finish the wood with anything when applying an abrasive paste--no sanding sealer, no shellac, no varnish, no oils, no polyurethane...you get the picture. Any finish will be abraded by the paste leaving you with an uneven surface on your bench hone.

Just another data point,
Ed

Yep -- I get the picture. Thanks.

Justin

You're a genius, Ed. Thank-you.

X

Originally Posted by xman

You're a genius, Ed. Thank-you.

X

Thanks for the complement X, but you too can play the part of an expert with way too much training and research in a VERY limited field.

Cheers,
Ed