Need some help, almost ashamed to ask.

[Rascal Ralph]

First one's simple, where can I get a very small ceramic stone to sharpen my edgers? One is starting to rip or fold the leather.
Now for the admission of guilt. I've been carving leather on and off for 40 yrs. Thought I did OK. But last week I carved a slim Jim, the replica of Will's Jesse James rig. Maybe the simplest design going, so no sweat right? WRONG! A simple design really shows up your mistakes. Whats worse, there not just mistakes, I'm getting lazy following a line, not doing good work. Every bevel mark shows like it's highlighted. How do you bevel? Tap and move the beveler half a distance over , tap again and so on? I finally ended up tapping and moving in a constant motion to get a smooth looking bevel.  Any ideas are appreciated! Ralph

[cowboywc]

Howdy
I teach my beginners to tap the beveler lightly and move a 1/2 space to get a ledge for the beveler
to rest against. Then to walk the beveler back and forth about 1/2 inch at a time til the tool marks are gone.
As you get better you will be able to walk it right off the bat. For long lines use a wider beveler so you don't
have as much of marks.
Hope this helps.
WC

[St. George]

Your stone should be able to be found at a Cabela's, Scheel's or Bass Pro Shop.

Look in their respective Knife departments, and you should be able to find both ceramic and Hard Arkansas stones of varying sizes.

Personally, I prefer a Hard Arkansas stone, and only use a ceramic 'Crock Stick' to touch up the very edge of a larger knife.

Good Luck.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[cowboywc]

For sharpening my edgers I use a jeweler's file and kite string with rouge to strop them.
WC