From one Benjamin Franklin, no less!
Take equal parts of flour of emery and crocus; make into a paste with sweet oil; have now a piece of buck-skin, (hemlock tan,) tack it by each end on a piece of board, with the grain uppermost; then on this spread a little of the paste, and sharpen your tools on it. You will, indeed, be astonished at the effect. Try it.
Regards,
Kim Siddorn.