How To Sharpen Linoleum Carving Tools
As weather you were exasperating to slice off a pretty thin cover of the stone The final stage of sharpening your wood carving tools is the stropping.
How to sharpen linoleum carving tools. My next invaluable tool is probably the 95 a large U gouge used for really shifting larger areas of non-printing lino once the accurate work has been done. Look down at the cutting edge. As with any U gouge it can also be used to create textural marks by just skimming the surface of the lino and subsequently controlling the printing of those marks through a balance of inking packing and pressure.
Tip the knife one way or the other side to side and as you do look for a white glint on the edge of the knife. I use a range of U and V gouges as well as a small straight chisel for woodcuts and skew knife. Thats what youre looking for when sharpening a knife.
Little and often is the key and a quick check and strop before each carving session should be part of your creative preparation ritual. In especially dry areas you may need to do this more frequently. With one end of the leather clamped or held down draw the blade its edge pointing away from you towards you at the angle of the blade making sure you catch up some of the honing paste.
Turn the knife up so the blade is directly under a source of light. These are a step up in quality over the Speedball Linoleum Cutter and must be sharpened with a water stone honing block and honing compound like all the other tools mentioned below. Honing a linoleum knife.
I will demonstrate carving Wonde. Take your piece of leather and add a pea sized smear of honing paste. To sharpen the tools pull the inside of the tool down the slipstrop not into the cutting edge until you feel a burr a small buildup of thin metal on the outside of the tool.
Although these cutters will work on traditional harder linoleum if you mostly carve the softer linoleum the Speedball lino cutters work great. You will start to notice the handles lighten and drying out. Then your knife is sharp as can be.