After the workshop was broken into over Easter I’ve been looking at ways to increase security. Today I finished the most visible upgrade, steel window bars! I’ve tried to make them as unobtrusive yet effective as possible as I don’t want the workshop looking like a prison.

With crime on the up and Police forces stretched due to funding cuts, maybe you should also look at your security and see if it can be improved!

Welcome to July’s Tool of the Month blog!

This month I’ll begin a series of blog posts looking at some of the different types of sharpening systems I use in the workshop.
To kick off here’s a quick look at an inexpensive sharpening aid that can be made from scrap... welcome to the Strop!

The strop is designed to put a very fine edge on blades, it is mostly associated with the sharpening of old fashioned cut throat razors! For woodworking the strop is very useful for removing any last traces of a burr left on the blade from a sharpening stone.

All you need to make a basic strop is a piece of leather (preferably as thick and firm as possible) a piece of mdf, some glue and a polishing compound (I use autosol polish).

Glue the leather to the mdf, once dried trim the excess then wipe on some polishing compound. Done!

Look out for next month’s blog post in a few weeks!