Thanks for the welcomes you guys.

I've been looking at this guy Nielson's work for some time now and I'll try to get one of his pieces one day. He also has this video of him cutting a free hanging rope with a single swipe- I'll post it below. I don't have any knives that can do this so I guess he knows what he's doing.

I do like using a strop to remove the bead but it probably takes some practice to do it on a sander. Horn Dog and Rainwalker mentioned getting some practice knives, thats probably a good idea as well as a great excuse to buy more knives!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_0oJLygUA4