Cardboard as a strop?

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iambored388

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Mar 9, 2010
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i heard somewhere that you can use cardboard as a strop. Is this true?
And if it is, what kind of cardboard? Can i just use the cardboard from a box?
 
The cardboard from the back of a legal pad works pretty good. I have even put chromium oxide on them before I got a leather strop.
 
Yeah, you can use all sorts of cardboard...I use the back of a legal pad most often. Corrugated (like the kind from a box) doesn't work as well because it develops ridges and doesn't stay smooth. You can use stropping compounds on "legal pad" type cardboard, or you can use it naked--technique is more important.

Another fairly common practice is to use clay-coated paper, which can be found on magazine pages, the cover of a phonebook, or the grocery store ads in the paper. This is better used without compound.

I use these methods more than any other because the materials are readily available. Good luck!

Frosty
 
Hi, what is a legal pad?

I've seen guys stropping on cardboard boxes with shipping content, and the knives got sharper from it
 
zyhano said:
Hi, what is a legal pad?

I've seen guys stropping on cardboard boxes with shipping content, and the knives got sharper from it
Click to expand...

A legal pad is a just a pad of stacked paper (lined/blank/grid) that is bound on the top or side edge by a strip of pull-away adhesive to a firm piece of flat cardboard.

I find the cardboard on which the paper is mounted to be an excellent surface to strop on, if loaded/charged with compound. So far I've only tried solid CrO, but I have some 1 micron diamond spray and 0.3 micron CrO powder on its way in the mail. I've heard diamonds work fabulously on this surface.
 

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I have used corrugated cardboard as a strop in a pinch. Supposedly, it has random particles of abrasive-like material in it, so it is not the best to use as a realy good strop, but to keep your knife reasonably sharp during the day, it works. I also use the back of a notepad loaded with chromium oxide as a backup strop, and it works pretty well.

KarlMaldensNose, I keep hearing how good diamond spray is, but haven't tried it. If you find it to be as good as many others, I may just have to order some.
 
zyhano said:
Hi, what is a legal pad?

I've seen guys stropping on cardboard boxes with shipping content, and the knives got sharper from it
Click to expand...

Zyhano, the US uses a different system for labeling paper size. The rest of the world uses A4, B4, B5, A6, etc, with A4 being standard letter size.

The US uses; letter size, legal size, index card size.

Letter size = 8½x11 inches Legal size is 8½x14 inches sold in pad form
A4 size = 8x11½ inches

Letter envelopes are also sized differently, and you can't properly fit an A4 letter into a US letter sized envelope!

Stitchawl
 
Legal size can also be 8½x13 inches.

But the important aspect of legal pads for stropping purposes is that the cardboard backer is typically quite dense and stiff.
 
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