[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Friday, 17 September 1999 Volume 08 : Number 710 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Gayle Wohlken Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 09:48:37 -0400 Subject: [Baren 5891] Re: Baren Digest V8 #709 Graham, can't you just drop a little water on top when you need to sharpen? Does the stone have to soak while you are working? I haven't been doing that. I just keep a little bowl of water next to the stone and splash some on when I need to. Is this wrong? I just keep the stone on the table where I'm working. I don't put a lot of water on it, just enough. It doesn't make a mess. Gayle ------------------------------ From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 09:56:21 EDT Subject: [Baren 5893] Paper and prints Bea - I used the DHM-11 from Hiromi for hanga printing and found it was quite well-sized so I didn't have the problem of fibers pulling off, I think it's about $8.00 a sheet. Now - a fun thing for anyone interested - I recently bought a few prints - miniature (about postcard size) restrikes of Hiroshige prints - through ebay for $15-20. They're quite lovely, even though not "original" prints, they are real prints, and who knows how they managed to cut such tiny areas!! Anyway, the woman I bought them from, named Kumiko McKee, has a number of these prints still available - they're from Hiroshige's first Tokaido set, Hoeido Tokaido - you can email her at bookher@hotmail.com if you're interested. take care, Sarah Hauser ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 08:41:46 -0700 Subject: [Baren 5894] Re: Baren Digest V8 #709 >Graham, can't you just drop a little water on top when you >need to sharpen? You want to sharpen in water not just on a dampened stone. Any slush that occurs helps hold the wetness on the stone and assist in the sharpening process. On my double sink in the studio of place the stone on the middle support and run the tap. Now that's wet. http://www.members.home.net/gscholes/Sharpen.html You can see in some of the images the wetness of stones. You want to sharpen in water not just on a dampened stone. Any slush that occurs helps hold the wetness on the stone and assist in the sharpening process. On my double sink in the studio of place the stone on the middle support and run the tap. Now that's wet. Graham ------------------------------ From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 22:37:16 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Baren 5896] Acme Paper I actually did just order some paper samples from Hiromi Paper International 310-998-0098 (she answers the phone herself, and is very helpful) or hiromipaper@earthlink.net She has various kozos for laser jets, as well as washi for printing. I'll give a report when it arrives. Sarah's been using some of her papers. I have a gold stone from Woodcraft 800-225-1153. It's a very fine ceramic stone of good quality, cost about $60. It's the only one I use unless I break the tip of my to. If you use it every day briefly, you won't need the little guys, which are for breaking off the excess metal from the inside of u-gouges when they are reshaped. Ordinarily you only need to sharpen the bevel side. (Do I hear agreement from the experienced woodworkers?) My only problem with my stone is that it's on a wooden base, so I can't put it in a dish of water like everyone suggests. Is it glued down? I can't tell. And Marco, where are you going in Italy? I want olive oil! And a Roman mosaic. April Vollmer ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:58:39 +0900 Subject: [Baren 5897] Re: getting stoned ... Jack wrote: > My -synthetic- waterstones have been underwater in a tupperware > going on at least 15 years now with no ill effects, but that water's > a little too silty for guppies by now. My stone bucket also, is so silty and full of stone 'mud' that I should call in one of those Mississippi dredges to clean it up. There are no guppies in there, but each summer I do have an interesting situation with mosquitoes - they find it a great place to drop their eggs. Bit of a mistake, because I doubt that they can find anything edible in there ... It is interesting though, watching the little larvae squiggle around in that funny way that they do ... Another note on keeping these stones underwater ... this really only helps with stones that are quite open and porous - the kind that are difficult to use if they are too dry; you squirt a bit of water on, and before you can even start to sharpen your tool, the water disappears down into the surface. This kind of stone works best when saturated. But fine-grain, hard stones for the final steps of finishing don't usually need an extended soaking. Water squirted on the surface will usually 'last' long enough for the job to be done ... And as for the comments about the mud and slurry that forms on the top of the stone ... I can't give you the absolute gospel on this (not having access to microscopes, etc.), but it's my opinion that it is the mud that performs most of the sharpening action. This is what my 'nagura' stone is for - to work up a good bunch of mud on the stone before starting the sharpening work ... http://woodblock.com/encyclopedia/entries/014_02/014_02.html Dave ------------------------------ From: John Ryrie Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 20:00:46 +1000 Subject: [Baren 5898] Re: hokusai You're right bristle wasn't what they were the paper had become soft and Fiberes at the edges and they had been folded in half. as well as the yellowing there were stains that looked like tea. It probably wasn't the papers lack of quality. What mad me think the paper was pour was that the collection also has a over a 100 prints by Hiroshige that look as though they were printed yesterday. These prints had obviously had a much different history and that would account for the condition. Since stones seen to be the topic for today I use an Irish stone that I got meany years ago the brand has been lost. That one I use for shaping and major sharpening but for keeping the edge during work I use a DMT Diamond Whetstone in corse and Fine grit these are especially good for smaller cutting tools and for engraving tools. John Ryrie ------------------------------ From: Matthew.W.Brown@VALLEY.NET (Matthew W Brown) Date: 17 Sep 99 06:41:47 EDT Subject: [Baren 5899] Stone April wrote: >My only problem with my stone is that it's on a wooden base, so I can't put >it in a dish of water like everyone suggests. Is it glued down? I can't tell. Lay it in the tupperware (dish of water) upside down. Matt ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V8 #710 ***************************