Thread: pasted strop or another stone?

And for those that don't know why... In the really olden days of the republic ... Spanish coinage includes 'pieces of eight' . This term mover over to US coins when we came up with the Dollar. The Dollar equated to the Piece of Eight and 1/8 of the dollar being 12 1/2 cents or 2 bits being 25 cents.
No. It doesn't make any sense unless you have a system based on Base 8!

Now you know why the Federal Reserve took over!

Originally Posted by Johnus

And for those that don't know why... In the really olden days of the republic ... Spanish coinage includes 'pieces of eight' . This term mover over to US coins when we came up with the Dollar. The Dollar equated to the Piece of Eight and 1/8 of the dollar being 12 1/2 cents or 2 bits being 25 cents.
No. It doesn't make any sense unless you have a system based on Base 8!

Now you know why the Federal Reserve took over!

I think it makes sense to a country that still use inch, feet, yard, pound, gallon and so on... didn't you sign a bill moving to the metric system in the 70s?

At least we didn't sell out to the EU like some of our other English speaking friends!
If the foot and the pound were good enough for King James and Uncle Sam , they're good enough for me!

Originally Posted by Lemur

I think it makes sense to a country that still use inch, feet, yard, pound, gallon and so on... didn't you sign a bill moving to the metric system in the 70s?

I was in 1st grade in 1963 and remember my teacher explaining the metric system and that very soon we would all have to learn to use it. So 50 year on I've used metric in aviation, some tools, and I'm sure there's something else - but you're spot on Johnus and Lemur! ...though I'm not sure the damage done by the Fed was worth correcting the Base 8 system.

Since we're talking oddities of phrases, what is the equivalent of "hands" referring to a horse's height?

Aw hell, let's go for gold - what's a cubit - as opposed to a "sacred cubit". Yeah this thread is wandering now but it's interesting.

Back to the original question - I find that ALL of the honing/refining an edge methods discussed so far are good in given circumstances. You just have to know what to do when and which seems best for your style. One I didn't see mentioned was CrOx on newspaper. Haven't tried that one but plan to if I remember.

Originally Posted by AirColorado

I was in 1st grade in 1963 and remember my teacher explaining the metric system and that very soon we would all have to learn to use it. So 50 year on I've used metric in aviation, some tools, and I'm sure there's something else - but you're spot on Johnus and Lemur! ...though I'm not sure the damage done by the Fed was worth correcting the Base 8 system.

Since we're talking oddities of phrases, what is the equivalent of "hands" referring to a horse's height?

In Sweden we measure horses in meters, tho I'm not sure how...
I tried once and measured from the ground up to its ears but that was not the way to do it,
I was told by a bunch of laughing 12 year old girls.

Metric systems? How about currencies, the side of the driver seats, religions etc? Or maybe favourite foods! We do like homogenous stones, but a world without its variations would be boring, even if people accepted it.
For the dilemma, I would suggest a strop and fine cerium oxide or chromium oxide. I love my naturals, and have tried most of the commercially available of the last century, but if you are looking for a simple fine and smooth edge, go for the strop.