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Message 1
From: "marilynn smih"
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 06:59:03 -0800
Subject: [Baren 27515] RE: Baren Digest (old) V30 #3005
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Yes my leather strop has an area for sharpening the inside of tools. I
agree there are times when a good stone is needed to really bring a tool
into shape. But slip stone or strop both remove metal from your tools.
Therefore both sharpen. The stones will take away more faster and
definitely if you chip a tool or get it badly out of shape a stone would be
the best way to bring your tools back. I am far from an expert on this. I
am sure there are many others on list list who could tell you more how to
use a stone. I am betting if you come to the 2006 summit that there will be
folk who really know to help you learn. I am not a good one to ask about
stones and that type of sharpening. But if you carve you should at least
try to learn. As with all things art related I am sure it is a bit trial
and error and you have to aquire the feel for it, just like you need to
aquire the feel for hanga.
Have a happy day.
Marilynn

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Message 2
From: Daniel Dew
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:12:32 -0500
Subject: [Baren 27516] Sharpening
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I will throw my 2 cents in on the subject:
Prior to joining Baren, I never sharpened my tools. I always struggled
with what I had or bought new.
Now, I have become a leather strop expert!
I don't sharpen anymore, merely buff up the blade with the leather.
It makes this so much more enjoyable and less stressful with sharp
tools.


Daniel L. Dew

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Message 3
From: ArtfulCarol # aol.com
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:36:15 EST
Subject: [Baren 27517] Re: Sharpening and Ninja tools
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My 2 cents:

I was looking at my woodblcok prints done when I was a rank, and I mean rank
beginnner. The lines were amazingly thin, thin. Not a chip to be seen.
Now, same wood-shina, same tools-- chip, chip ,difficulty in carving a thin
line using any TO although I have had the BEST of lessons.

I sharpen my TO on the Mc Clains Leather Honing Block with the green Honing
Compound .
I will not be stopped. Practice practice practice.
I can make compositions without thin lines until I figure out what is going
on here!!

Someone asked about the NINJA tools from Yasutomo & Co.. I have the box of
4. The label says Pearl Paint, $4.73and I think that is where I got them.
They are the same ones pictured in the McClains catalogue. My TO is for
Lefties. Same problem with that tool as above. The u- gouge is excellent as is
the chisel.
This whole box was $4.73 reduced from $6.30.? How can that be when each tool
in the McClains catalogue is more than $25?

Puzzled in Irvington,
Carol Lyons

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Message 4
From: Wanda Robertson
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:12:06 -0800
Subject: [Baren 27518] Re: tools
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I have a set of them (bought when I first started carving linoleum
blocks) and they are not very good. Cheap metal & if you carve with
the Japanese tools you will never use them again! My advice to those
of you buying carving/cutting tools for the first time - buy mid-range
Japanese tools & don't buy a set. You will have some that you never
use. For me, it would be a knife (toh) and 2 u-gouges (can't think of
their names at the (sr?) moment) a medium one & a large one. Then you
can add tools as you need them - like a big gouge to take out large
areas of waste wood, or a v gouge, etc.

My $.02 worth,
Wanda

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Message 5
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:13:46 -0600
Subject: [Baren 27519] Re: tools
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Matt,

I too have a set of the Niji carving tools (12 piece, I think) and it
depends on what you are comparing them to. I don't have experience with
the tools from the american companies others mentioned but if you compare
Niji to the japanese tools sold at the mall from Matsumura-san....the Niji
tools are student/hobbyist quality (at best !). They could work for like
an intro class to printmaking where $$ is an issue, for grammar school
students or for people curious to try the relief process. I don't use the
Niji tools (or use them enough) to know if they will take to sharpening.
The handles are terrible compare to the japanese tools. Having set all
that..the price is so low !

I love my japanese tools - they came from a good home ;-) they fit
perfectly in my hand and are a joy to use....and like Wanda suggests you
may not need a full set but just a few to start with. I have the
traditional To for cutting fine lines and two small Aisuki's (bull-nosed
chisels) for clearing around the lines...a 1.5mm and a 6mm. For rough
clearing of large areas any number of generic tools will do the job.

No matter what tool you use...using the right wood and keeping it sharp is
the key !

happy hunting......Julio Rodriguez (Skokie, Illinois)

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Message 6
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:28:39 -0600
Subject: [Baren 27520] Re: Call for 'entries' ...
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"How though, can we now seriously give any credence to an art form when we
know that its single apparent purpose was to suck dollars out of
tourists?"

Dave, I think that shin-hanga prints can stand on their own regardless of
the motives for their creation. If the image has a good design, is well
made and is pleasing to the eyes...then it certainly passes some basic
test for
giving this genre credence. Does every print has to make an artistic or
political statement ? Does it have to break new ground ? or can it just be
something beautiful that exists for people to enjoy ? While we may focus
on shin-hanga sales to tourists it can also be said that this same
popularity that created a profitable market for Watanabe and others also
made the shin-hanga prints available to regular folks worlwide...and is
this not the reason why we make prints and not paintings ?

Julio Rodrigues (Skokie, Illinois)

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Message 7
From: FurryPressII # aol.com
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 01:43:36 EST
Subject: [Baren 27521] Re: Call for 'entries' ...
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Julio the western wood cuts started out as a way to make saints pics to
sell cheaply to travelers. Albrecht Durer was a very good bus. man. Not much
different from the Japanese publishers for that matter.

john c.

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