Best Stropping Material Without Leather?

B

Billy12241

Joined
Apr 8, 2011
Messages
118
Hi all,
I'm not able to find some leather at the moment to make a strop, so I was wondering what is the best stropping material to use with only household items? I've heard cardboard and denim are good with limited resources, but which is better?

Also I believe I got the compound people use for strops, but can someone clarify this?(And if not point me in the right direction?) I got it from Sears and it was called green rouge(along with blue) buffing compound, or something along those lines.

Thanks all for the help.
Billy.
 
If the compound you have is for buffing and comes in a wax/oil crayon, you've got some of the right stuff. It should say on the packaging what its good for - avoid stuff that specs itself for softer metals - stick with compounds intended for cast iron, steel, stainless steel. There are a ton of stropping compounds made and some that can be repurposed from other applications - among others, Mother's Mag Polish has gotten high marks. For an improvised strop esp if you're using the crayon-type compounds, just (make sure your benchstone is good and clean, bits of grit on the stone can cause problems) wrap a few sheets of newspaper around it. Rub very lightly across it with the compound and go to town. Be advised, your compound stick will get contaminated with smears of ink, but this seems to have zero effect on the finished product. You can also finish it off with a few swipes on plain newspaper for a final polish. If it has very small or no visible burrs following your stonework, you can go straight to the plain newspaper. The classified section works best...
 
Block of wood + paper wrapped around it + compound is very effective. For compounds, any polishing paste which works on hardened steel is good. Flitz, Simichrome are a couple of popular examples, and I've also heard good things about Mother's Mag Polish, as mentioned previously. As for the wood, sand it smooth to eliminate uneven/bumpy spots. Compound applied directly to the wood also works excellently.

You can also use a magazine/newspaper/catalog/phonebook for stropping, with or without compound. For a more forgiving surface, you can adjust the 'cushion' by varying the number of pages under the blade.

As mentioned, cardboard can be very effective, oftentimes even without compound. There does seem to be a lot of variation in the abrasiveness of cardboard. And even that can be used to advantage, depending upon the needs of your edge. I was pleasantly surprised recently, when I tried stropping a few blades on the side of one of these boxes. Edge really popped after a few passes on it:

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If you can find the really dense & heavy cardboard used to box appliances like refrigerators or ovens, that would work better than the thinner type of regular boxes.

Alternately, canvass or denim will hold compounds better. Try to find sail canvass or the canvass from a fire hose, if not, you can use jeans material.

In a pinch, I've just used the back of a wide leather belt to strop my knife.
 
Balsa wood is a commonly-used stropping surface, a lot of guys prefer it over leather. It's readily and inexpensively available from craft stores.
 
I use the flat soft wood paint stirrers you can get at Home Depot..Lowes etc. The smaller ones are nice but I really like the larger ones used for the 5 gallon paint buckets.
 
CWL said:
Try to find sail canvass
Click to expand...

I use the very light one which is used to make spinnaker sails, paraglidings, kites. It works very well without compounds and takes no room in a wallet.

dantzk.
 
Newsprint
Copy paper
Thin cardboard
The cardboard backing of a notebook
Denim (pulled tight over a board)
Canvas (same^)
Various types of wood

Have you checked thrift stores or pawn shops for old leather belts? No tandy, woodcraft, or other craft stores in the area?
 
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