Thread: Could use some help...

OK, I'm gonna spill it...

I've had some pretty nasty nerve problems affecting the use of my hands and my left arm for a while. It got so serious recently that I finally broke down and had some pretty yucky spine surgery done. This is the main reason I've been off the boards; I didn't have enough use of my left hand to type until two weeks ago.

Well, now my hands are gradually coming back, but unfortunately I'm still not able to hone as effectively as I'd like. Six months ago, I was able to get a blade darn near shavette-sharp. Now... not so much.

No matter how hard I concentrate, and how slow I go, I just cannot get my strokes across hones accurate enough. Honing is very good physical therapy, but it gets damn discouraging to spend hours on a blade without getting great results.

The doc says that the use/dexterity/coordination should get better over the next six months, but that I'll never regain *full* dexterity/coordination of my left hand.

So I'm considering an alternative... I seem to still be getting fairly good results off of my pasted paddle strop. It's just not as fussy about perfect technique. So I'm thinking about getting another four sided paddle strop and pasting itwith 1k, 2k, 4k, and 8k equivalent diamond pastes.

Do any of you guys have experience with using diamond pasted leather paddles strops as a replacement for lower grit hones, and if so, how'd it go?

I'm still going to continue the "physical therapy" on the hones, but I really want a setup that will still allow me to get *really* good edges like I used to.

Any suggestions on setting up pasted strop alternatives would be more than welcome.