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Automotive rubbing compounds for strop?

I have a bunch of polishing compounds for various uses, but to me it seems that just knowing what you are working with is worth more than the price of buying the right compound. If it takes a couple hours to figure out if the stuff will work for you, is that better than just spending $10-$15 and ordering something that you know will work? YMMV.
 
If you have a Lowes nearby they have some metal compound that works pretty good. I forget the brand but it comes in a a few different colors. I can only speak for the green but I cant tell a differencr from my Bark River compound i'm using now.
 
"Mothers Mag & Aluminum Wheel Polish" works VERY well as a stropping compound, as do all of the various grits of lapping compound, which get very, very fine and produce a great polished edge.

But... you do NOT need to ruin good leather by putting compound on it. You'll be better served putting the compound on MDF board or a smooth flat hardwood plank. A lot of woodcarvers use compound on a cheap paint stirring stick! Use the leather bare. That's what leather is for. Unless you are trying to convex the micro-bevel, using leather with compound doesn't result in a better edge than glass with compound.

Stitchawl
 
stitchawl said:
"Mothers Mag & Aluminum Wheel Polish" works VERY well as a stropping compound, as do all of the various grits of lapping compound, which get very, very fine and produce a great polished edge.

But... you do NOT need to ruin good leather by putting compound on it. You'll be better served putting the compound on MDF board or a smooth flat hardwood plank. A lot of woodcarvers use compound on a cheap paint stirring stick! Use the leather bare. That's what leather is for. Unless you are trying to convex the micro-bevel, using leather with compound doesn't result in a better edge than glass with compound.

Stitchawl
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Good to know. So mother's mag polish on a paint stick will work? That's great. I have a piece of decent leather glued to a 2x2 as a leather strop, and I was gonna put compound on it, but I think I might leave it bare and try the wood/compound combo if that'll work.
 
Paint sticks are cheap. When using them, be sure to let the compound do the work. Don't press too hard.
 
manowar669 said:
Good to know. So mother's mag polish on a paint stick will work? That's great. I have a piece of decent leather glued to a 2x2 as a leather strop, and I was gonna put compound on it, but I think I might leave it bare and try the wood/compound combo if that'll work.
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Compound on leather DOES work... but not really any better than compound on another flat substrate. Bare leather should be your final strop. It will have the smallest grit polish.

The natural silicates in leather are very, very tiny. Why cover them up with larger grit particles found in compounds? Waste of good leather. As I've said before, it's like 'winning a gold medal and having it bronzed!'

And as Bill says... very little pressure when stropping.

Stitchawl
 
Auto compounds are not even as fine as a spyderco UF ceramic in most cases. The common Red rubbing compound is around 600-800 grit, most polish compounds are about 1500-2500 grit. Beyond that a combination of glazes and heavy oil waxes fill the rest of the scratches in paint. Commonly used with a high speed buffer these compounds simply aid in the buffing process, the speed of the buffer melts the clear coat and spreads it to fill in the valleys of existing scratches.

These compounds will work on softer steels but are highly inferior to a sharpening compound. Same story for Lowes and sears buffing compounds, they are designed to buff, polish, and brighten not sharpen. They are also not pure compounds and are full of various sizes of abrasives. Its the reason quality compounds cost so much.

10 dollars for quality compound is really nothing, the auto polish I use is 30 dollars a bottle and doesn't last nearly as long. Buy the right product with the highest quality the first time and you won't waste so much time and money finding the "best" way.
 
65535 said:
Chromium Oxide polishing compound (the green stuff) can be found pretty cheap, probably cheaper than a rubbing compound.

Some people argue you don't need compound, I like it to improve polishing speed on the edge.
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This is the type of stuff I use, I appreciate that other believe bare leather is the way to go - but I am more than happy with the results I get. I do have a strip of leather that I have left bare that I can use if I want to get really fine, but it is really slow and only works as the very final step.

My green compound loaded strop gets my SAK blades 'scary sharp' in next to no time - them SAK blades sharpen so easily it's ridiculous. I can get a nice convex edge pretty easily on softer steels and with a bit of time & effort on harder steels. For an edge in good condition that strop is all I need to maintain the edge and keep it 'shaving sharp'.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Auto compounds are not even as fine as a spyderco UF ceramic in most cases. The common Red rubbing compound is around 600-800 grit, most polish compounds are about 1500-2500 grit. .
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Knifenut. What grit (approx) are the UF rods, or the white rods, if you know? Are the spyderco UF rods different than the white rods that come with the sharpmaker? I love the sharpmaker, and most of my attempts to create a better edge than the sharpmaker are not to my liking. I can polish an edge with strops and compounds, but they won't cut some things well. They'll pop hair, and push cut paper, but on the street EDC stuff, the edge just slides across the material, unless I use more force. The white rods that come with the sharpmaker give me a very desirable/useable edge, and Sal really is a great guy, with a lot of knowledge that he gives freely to the knife community. I would like to get the UF rods if they work well.
 
manowar669 said:
Are any commonly available paste-like compounds ok for a leather strop?
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I have used auto motive car polishing compound the stuff used to remove scratches and seems to work great and gives me a super sharp edge. And then used the final polishing compound for the final touch which doesnt remove much metal. But the scratch removal polish removes a decent amount of metal even my hrc 62 knives. I used autoglym paint renovator. And then the polish.
 
Before I ever got onto BladeForums I read this article by Old Jimbo.

http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/valiant5.html

I've been using valve grinding compound in leather at the final stages of re-profiling ever since. It's on the coarse side, but as the article says it sinks into the leather so it's not as coarse as you would think.

I use emery cloth stuck to plates to sharpen. Once everything is where I want it I usually touch-up/strop on a piece of nearly used up fine grit emery. Sometimes I'll use buffing compound on cardboard.

I'm surely not an expert sharpener, that's just what I do.
 
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