Carry a Portable Strop?

G

Gautier

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Aug 31, 2006
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For refining edges on the go. See, I do a lot of whittling on hikes or while waiting for the wife to come out of stores, etc. etc.
Been trying to brainstorm on how to carry a little piece of strop around with me to keep my edges polished, but so far I haven't figured out how to conveniently do it in a way that won't get polishing compound all over my pants or other items.(Not that I've tried yet, just speculating that I'd make a mess if I did)
Currently this is my portable sharpening solution, but I only resort to it for actual sharpening, which is few and far between.
YellowFever002.jpg


So, any ideas are welcome. I'd like it to be something simple that will compliment this setup as I usually just grab this and tuck it in my back pocket. Thanks in advance.


Gautier
 
well if you need to have compund on there you could take a piece of leather and load it up, and then wrap it in celophane or a zip-lok, or something to that effect.
or just get a good quality leather belt and use that.
 
Bring a small peice of polishing compound in a ziplock bag, and use it on your belt, or just bring some newsprint and scrub the compound onto that.
 
Keep some compound in your truck and use a peice of cardboard instead of leather.Dispose of it when you're done.
You can get cardboard from any store if you ask. I like keep a few folded boxes behind the seat of my truck. When we go shopping I use them to keep the bags from moving around
 
You don't need "compound." Just use your belt, cardboard, or put the stone in the case and use the leather case.
Bill
 
You could fold a small piece of high grit sandpaper (I use 1200 grit) in your wallet, or put compound on a piece of newspaper and do the same.
 
Just use you belt is I good answer.For centuries people didn`t use anything but leather and it worked fine for them just be sure you have a belt that has a sutable texture on the back and go to town I have used just leather for years and years before I knew about abrasive compounds.And that way you can`t get crap on your pants.;)
 
I've often wondered about the use of "compounds". If barbers could keep razors shaving-sharp by using leather strops without compounds then I would think the same thing would be good enough for knives.
 
Thanks for the suggestions fellas. Maybe I just need to shop around for a better belt? I'd tried using my belt before as an impropmtu strop, and it seems to be about the same consistency as the one here at home, but doesn't provide the same results.
I'd just assumed that it was the lack of buffing compound on the belt that made the difference, but maybe it's something else. The "grain" of the leather perhaps?
Anyhow, I may try a couple of these suggestions and see which one suits me best, hadn't thought about the cardboard idea. Thanks again folks.


Gautier
 
Cardboard can work really well. I'll strop my Native on the edge (where you can see teh corregations) after breaking down boxes at work. It's not as perfect as a good stone or strop, but it works rather well.
 
I was thinking of carrying a thicker piece of canvas. When time comes, run in some dirt and place on your leg to strop your blade. The thicker canvas would protect your leg as well as hang on to the granular 'nature compound'. I'd have to try it before I could verify that it worked.
 
Get the highest quality "magazine ad slick glossy" cardboard you can find. That white glossy finish is full of an abrasive clay. The better quality the photo, the better the strop. Lay it on a flat surface and strop away. It gives a really fine finish and is pretty portable.
 
+1 for the belt suggestion. You can also use the side of your boot if you wear all leather boots. One of my buddies in high school had a grandpa that used an old boot for a strop and he had the sharpest knives around.

Some leather sheaths have backs that make serviceable strops. You could maybe put together your own leather sheath with a section for your sharpening stone and a section for your knife and make it so the back would be usable as a strop.

The cardboard and paper ideas are good too but they don't rate very high on style IMO. Whatever works for ya though. :thumbup:
 
Bill DeShivs wrote:

You don't need "compound." Just use your belt, cardboard, or put the stone in the case and use the leather case.
Click to expand...

Agree.
To which I will add I use my jeans I am wearing to strop on most of the time anyway, and the leather slip for a small stone is just fine for a strop too.

A nice pc of wood will work just fine as well.

One can even add a bit of soft dirt, to a log, and in "stropping" actually sharpen if one needs a field expedient way of doing so.

It is "there" just use it.
 
Why strop? Why not just hone an Arkie translucent with spittle insted of oil. Or else get a Spyderco Ultrafine hone. Both of these hones are almost as fine as leather hones and there is no mess. This is probably more than enough for your sharpening for occasional whittling.
 
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