Balsawood

R

Rhodies

Joined
Jul 27, 2017
Messages
284
Does anybody use balsa wood as their substrate to maybe compliment leather? Your thoughts?
 
I do. I use some green compound on it after the Edge Pro 1000grit stone. Then I go to my leather strop with a finer compound.
 
I use a balsa strop with 1 micron diamond spray for some things, and I use a cased leather strop with green polishing compound for others. For softer basic steels, I use the leather strop. For harder steels and kitchen knives, I use the balsa w/diamonds. I could probably use the balsa for everything but I save it for knives that benefit from it.

Some people prefer to use basswood or maple for a stropping substrate because balsa does have a little give to the surface. The balsa works well enough for me.
 
Where do you all obtain Balsa Wood at? Give me a good quality source. I would like to experiment with it.
 
I just got the metal strop base and the balsa strop. I didn't get any of the leather or other strops that go with it. It works well. The metal base is heavy enough to keep the strop from moving around, and the rubber feet prevent slippage and give you enough knuckle clearance above your work surface.

Nice system, if a bit more expensive than just getting a piece of balsa and gluing a rubber mat to one side. I went with 3"x11", which is a great size for kitchen knives. I use it with some old Hand American 1 micron diamond spray. When that runs out I will probably switch to the paste.
 
Hey thanks for the info guys :) I'll check out those first two sources and see what they have. We have a huge Hobby store here where I'm currently living and I might just see what they have. Now "Quality" is always an important factor for me no matter what kind of venture I get into so I might even get some more info on it before buying anything.

Hey there is another question that just hit my brain??? I've been doing some checking on the best way to do convex edges. Now I've used the old MousePad method with some moderately decent results>> but I'm wondering if balsawood might be the ticket for convex edges as well?
 
I used balsa from a hobby shop for strops and they worked fine until they warped.
I'd say glue them to something stable if you go that route.
 
You can get basswood at most hobby stores too, for around the same amount. I like it better than balsa, it is a sturdier, harder wood.
 
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