Been slowing getting better making strops. My first ones looked horrible, but are probably functional. My second ones looked horrible, but are less so. And my third ones are still horrible but at least I can see forward progress. Amy spent some time helping me figure it out, that and tons of painter’s tape have been my grommits saving grace.

I’ve also had more sanding help this week, which is good, cause my hands are killing me. Ross, Amy, Mike and Frank put me ahead schedule and now I have a line of blocks waiting to be dunked in linseed oil. Ross even caught me in traffic today, hopped out of his car, opened the back of my truck, grapped two more doubles and some sand paper and then ran back to his car. And I must mention that Mike spent nearly 2 hours sanding one double and he is 3 weeks out of a major spinal operation. Thanks guys.

     

Got some help this week sanding blocks. Thanks Rob, Jay, Ross and of course, Amy. I’ve now stropped 6 singles and I will say that it is much harder than you think to form a grommet out of polyester. Quite frustrating, but each grommet looks better than the last and I’ve been slowing evolving my technique. The first double has been soaked and assembled. It looks great.

    

First stropped block. I am about halfway through shaping all the doubles thanks to Amy and I finally received a package of 1/2″ thimbles. Tried out my first grommet and found it much harder than it should be. Dispite putting a ton of hair gel on the 3-strand polyester, the line still unraveled while forming up the grommet. The grommet was a little larger than I wanted but, it was my first effort. Hopefully, I’ll do better the next time. Ross as been working on a cap logo, and it is looking real nice.