A couple of months ago I invested in some Pfeil lino cutting tools. I then purchased a Flexcut Slip Strop so I could keep them sharp while carving. This is a short review of my experience purchasing the Flexcut Slip Strop, and afterwards using this product. Hopefully, this might help out others who are considering buying a Slip Strop to sharpen their lino cutting tools.
Top Gear
Here in New Zealand there are a couple of suppliers of the Flexcut Slip Strop, and I purchased mine from a company called Top Gear. The sales process was a bit convoluted as I had made an error with the online payment, and didn’t realise until several weeks later when the product hadn’t turned up. The staff on the end of their email system were helpful once I contacted them and were able to sort out the confusion and the item arrived quickly after that.
What’s in the Flexcut Slip Strop Pack?
Inside the pack is the Slip Strop, the yellow block of polishing compound and an instruction sheet. My polishing compound was a lot harder than I was expecting and seems to take quite a lot of effort to transfer it onto the Slip Strop – I am not sure if this is normal as I have nothing to compare it to. The instruction sheet is helpful, and gave me most of the information I needed to use the Slip Strop. However I did watch a couple of videos afterwards as well to check that I had understood the instructions fully.
Flexcut Slip Strop Review – Does it Work?
In one word – Yes.
I am trying to use the Slip Strop every 20 minutes or so when carving, and I can tell the difference between a carving cut made just before sharpening and just after. The Pfeil tools just seem to glide a little more smoothly.
I am hoping that this will enable me to get many years of use out of my Pfeil tools, and I am imagining that the Slip Strop will last many years too. The polishing compound will likely never run out as such a small amount is transferred each time.
I hope this quick review will help those who are considering purchasing a Flexcut Slip Strop, and I am happy to answer any questions that you might have.