CAVEAT! We are not critizing anyone else's sharpening methods here.  We
sharpen hundreds of tools every month and will tell about our methods.  We
use methods that will allow you to maintain sharp tools in the minimum 
amount of time and get you back to carving sooner.

We suggest you insist that your tools be sharp when you buy them.  If not,
then find an experienced carver to sharpen them.  We will sharpen them for
you (free - for a reasonable number) if you bring them by or mail them to
us.

A sharp tool is MUST to carve.  You are more likely to cut yourself with
a dull tool and you will probably become discouraged and quit if you have
to care with dull tools.

Once a tool is sharp, NEVER resharpen it unless you break it, chip it or
just want need to reshape it.  You only need to return the razor edge by 
stropping or buffing it.

We recommend a leather strop for hand stropping.  The leather should not be
very thick and put the fuzzy side up if you are making it yourself.  We also
recommend that you use a heavy canvas wheel for buffing.  Other materials
require more attention to detail and can produce undesirable results.

You will also need some strop abrasive.  We sell al oxide in a powder form
that is about 1000 grit.  We also sell Yellow Stone in a bar form that is
really super.

The IMPORTANT thing to remember when stropping is to strop along the bevel.
This means that you MUST keep your knife flat when stropping.  Not alot of
pressure, just enough to keep it flat.  If you strop the knife at an angle,
you will create a "secondary bevel" or "rounding effect".  The knife will
be sharp but won't slice through the wood.  Stropping at an angle works 
great for pocket knives but we want the bevel to extend much further up
the blade.  Again, this makes for easier cutting.  If you produce a 
rounded edge, the only recourse is to re-sharpen.

Always push or pull the knife with the cutting edge trailing.  That is,
don't push the cutting edge into the leather.  Usually about 8 or 9 times
up and down the strop is enough.  If you see "tracks" in the al oxide on
the strop, this means that you have a bur on the edge and keep stropping
until the track disappears.  It is a good idea to strop your tools each
day when you first start using them.  This removes any moisture that might
have collected on them while you had them stored.

When stropping gouges, just roll the tool back and forth on the leather.
Remember, you are just stropping the bevel.  Hold the gouge so the the 
bevel gets rolled back and forth.  

The inside of v-tools and gouges do not get sharpened but they need any burs
that might be there removed.  I use a leather shoe string to remove any burs
from the inside of v-tools and small veiners.  Use a rolled up piece of 
leather for the larger veiners and gouges.

Protect your tools when not in use and don't store near moisture or let
edges bang together.  Also, don't cut dirty wood or wood that has been
recently sanded.  The sand particles will be in the wood and will dull the
edge.

Happy Carving!