Couple INFI (or in General) Sharpening Questions

TheMtnMan

TheMtnMan

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Feb 11, 2015
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Hello
Hopefully some of you can answer my Sharpening/Stropping Questions.
I have a nice Custom made leather strop (Never used it)
Q1). How do you know if you just need a strop or if you need sharpening?
Q2). Do you have to use a paste on a leather strop ? Or can I try without while waiting for Paste to show up ?
(Also, what Paste do you guys prefer for INFI/SR101 ?)
Thanks in advance
Drey
 
Because I hate Threads without Pics lol
78c391606f96a76413950d1b587c8183.jpg


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I strop when the blade isn't scary sharp and I want it to be scary sharp. No you don't NEED compound but it works a lot better with it.

I sharpen when there is too much wear that stropping cannot fix.

Sharpening is REMOVING metal.

Stropping is ALIGNING the metal to a finer and more uniform point.
 
Will the Sharpie Test still work on a leather strop ? Just so i can check if im doing it right.
 
It's hard to strop wrong short of pushing the blade into the leather or running it perpendicular, both will mess up your leather.

In addition to above I strop to remove the burr after sharpening by holding the edges at a slightly steeper angle, gradually working back down to the edge angle as I finish.

I use green stropping compound and every so often add a little oil before the compound. Some people use Vaseline.

Edited to fix autocorrect


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One tip. Light touch. This can be hard to get right if you are only used to stones. Most Busse will be heavy enough that their own weight is too much on the strop, and you will wrap the edge, dulling it.

For my light, thin EDC Busse, it was not a problem, but stropping your Ash, or Steel Heart 2, or battle mistresses, you have to keep the weight light. Hold most of the weight in hand.

You can also strop at an even lower angle with heavy knives to compensate a bit.

One trick is if you put the knife edge first, the angle you strop at is the angle at which your knife would cut the leather if you tried to go edge first. I use compound.

Also, on stripped or satin knives, I spend time stropping the shoulder too, even though it is not getting the apex, on convex satin knives I almost always spend significant time polishing the shoulder. Eventually, you will have an edge from repeated stropping that will shave hairs, and slice paper super clearly, but it will loose it's bite when cutting other material, like a tomato skin. Then it is time to get the edge with stone or ceramic again.

It took me a little while to get to the "ah-ha" moment with my strop.

Also, sandpaper over a dense rubber backing as a method of sharpening, is a good skill to have if you are stropping, and convexing edges. For me, it was more forgiving than learning on stones.
 
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My experience is that you can't make a knife much sharper by stropping alone unless you are stropping on low grit auto wet/dry sandpaper.

Bark River black compound has a grit equivalency of somewhere > 1000. Veritas green compound has a grit equivalency greater than > 10k based on average particle size. Bare leather is just that. So if you take some INFI that is not sharp and strop you are going to have a shiny not sharp edge.

You know it needs sharpening if you can't cut well with it and stropping doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

You could also try honing the edge on the bottom of a ceramic coffee cup or on a dedicated steeling rod.

If neither of these work you are probably dealing with an edge that is too obtuse for your needs. There is only one thing to do at that point which is to remove metal behind the edge and then make a new cutting edge on the thinner steel.

To hone effectively simply push the knife gently against the cup ring on the bottom with the spine raised about equal to the thickness of the spine.
 
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Bigfattyt said:
One tip. Light touch. This can be hard to get right if you are only used to stones. Most Busse will be heavy enough that their own weight is too much on the strop, and you will wrap the edge, dulling it.

For my light, thin EDC Busse, it was not a problem, but stropping your Ash, or Steel Heart 2, or battle mistresses, you have to keep the weight light. Hold most of the weight in hand.

You can also strop at an even lower angle with heavy knifes to compensate a bit.

One trick is if you put the knife edge first, the angle you strop at is the angle at which your knife would cut the leather if you tried to go edge first. I use compound.

Also, on stripped or satin knives, I spend time stropping the shoulder too, even though it is not getting the apex, on convex satin knives I aost always spend significant time polishing the shoulder. Eventually, you will have an edge from repeated stropping that will shave hairs, and slice paper super clearly, but it will loose it's bite when cutting other material, like a tomatoes skin. Then it is time to get the edge with stone or ceramic again.

It took me a little while to get to the "ah-ha" moment with my strop.

Also, snadpaper over a dense rubber backing is a good skill to have if you are stropping, and convexing edges. For me, it was more forgiving than learning on stones.
Click to expand...

This post deserves a spot in the Sharpening Thread Hall of Fame! :thumbup:
 
I completely agree. Especially on the light touch point. I got very frustrated at first and got impatient which in turn made me push harder. That's a good time to take a break and read more about light touch lol. So well written bigfattyt. The weight of the blade (rodent 6, my first busse kin) was more than enough pressure when sandpaper mouse pad/strops. I only have black and green paste from bark river (used in that order). Love convex edges, love INFI. It takes a super edge and responds very well to stropping YMMV.
 
You can take sharpening to the next level with strops.

I was able to get to the hair whittling phase with my stropped edges fairly quickly. I think it also helped me with stone and ceramic stick sharpening also. I don't use my strop as much as I used to. I can get hair whittling edges on my medium diamond stone now. Usually followed up by the fine stick.

I get the strop out less frequently now. But that is simple lazyness. My wife put the strop kit away (it's been on top of the fridge for about 7 years, and she finally put it some where out of sight!)

Here is an edge from just sandpaper up to 600 grit, then the strop. It can whittle shavings ona free hanging hair. Either direction (either side of the edge).



My strop is home made from a broken belt and using only cheapo $3 harbor freight aluminum oxide polishing compound.
If you look closely, you can see the hair from the first picture sitting between the two folders.



I've always meant to make a better one with better leather and compound, but am lazy! And it works.

Some Busse content making the strop bat.....





I only use the green aluminum oxide now, which funny enough comes in the red #6 marked container. Very cheap. That tube cost $3


Factory SS edge with no refinement, outside a few minutes on the strop.







This was from a stropped edge. To the bone with very little force.
Just kind of baubled the knife a bit (small knife, not a big one).



Cuts in a small log from a polished convex FBMLE





Kind of tough to photograph with my old crap camera. My phone now takes 100% better these days.


This GW is probably the knife that taught me to strop. Learned a lot getting this thing from dull to hair whittling with nothing but the strop.


 
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Bigfattyt, your finger picture made me cringe. You caught me so off guard with that, sir. Lol. I love the pics. The hair whittling photos were great!
 
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