Barber strop vs block strop?

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Aug 31, 2017
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I've been using pretty much a belt hooked to a wall for stropping, but as I've seen this is traditionally used for straight razors. Most manufacturers make paddles with the leather on it for strops when it comes to knives. I will continue to use the barber type as compared to the block type but I wonder if there are pros and cons to either or for knives or even straight razors for that matter (which is a knife).

What I've found out is that laying the leather down flat is that I have to be more conscious of an angle whereas with the loose barber strop I just depress a little and the strop forms to the blade, but for all I know it could be rolling the steel at a microscopic level.
 
I've been using pretty much a belt hooked to a wall for stropping, but as I've seen this is traditionally used for straight razors. Most manufacturers make paddles with the leather on it for strops when it comes to knives. I will continue to use the barber type as compared to the block type but I wonder if there are pros and cons to either or for knives or even straight razors for that matter (which is a knife).

What I've found out is that laying the leather down flat is that I have to be more conscious of an angle whereas with the loose barber strop I just depress a little and the strop forms to the blade, but for all I know it could be rolling the steel at a microscopic level.

I think that because the looser belt strop will form to the blade then you should use a shallower angle so it doesn't round the edge. Barbers I have seen are not actually using a belt but rather a specialized belt-like strop.
 
Yeah my angle is extremely shallow degrees. Basically flat or the angle of the blade itself, not the bezel, determines how I would draw the knife across the strop. I have thought of getting a real barber strop with the thin piece of very flexible leather, and nylon on the other side to heat the knife up, for a while now. My end doesn't actually get rounded from what I notice but I'm just shooting that out there because there has to be some downside to barber stops on knives since they don't have a super thin grind like razors.
 
IF you don't use compound on the hanging (barber's) strop, you don't need to worry as much about edge rounding, unless you're stropping for a very long time. I favor a hanging strop for this reason, if just using bare leather for stropping at all. I use a simple leather belt with no compound, for stripping away loosely-attached burrs on edges, sometimes with the angle raised quite a bit. Even on low-wear steels like 420HC or 1095, there's not much risk in rounding off the edge, using my belt in this manner.

More edge-rounding will result on a leather strop used with compound, because the compound itself is much more abrasively aggressive than bare leather will ever be. Used with compound, it's crucial to be much more aware of your held angle on the leather, as the edge will be rounded off very fast, if compound is used and pressure is too high, or the angle held is too wide.

My own preference, for a firmly-backed strop used with compound, is to use something less compressible than leather, like linen, denim or canvas. When firmly glued to the backing of wood or whatever, it'll not compress much, as compared to even very thin leather. Such fabrics also take & hold compound much better; especially with the stick or 'crayon' compounds.


David
 
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Pretty fascinating. I'll go to a craft store and get some canvas to use various compounds on after I adhere them to wood. I don't have trouble with leather per se but if there's improvement because my edge is rolling less on a intsy wintsy non-visible level I'd be sold.
 
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