Denim Hone/Strop?

AFAustin

AFAustin

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Jun 8, 2004
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I have noticed the effectiveness of a little quick stropping on my denim jeans pant leg. As a final step, it often seems to improve even the best edge a tad. And after using a knife just enough to slightly dull the edge, a few quick passes on my jeans brings it back.

So, I have an old and torn pair of jeans that is ready for the trash bin. Instead of that, should I try to make a hone or strop? If so, what type---barber style hanging belt, or maybe a rectangle of it attached over a leather-on-wood paddle hone, or....?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Andrew
 
AFAustin said:
I have noticed the effectiveness of a little quick stropping on my denim jeans pant leg. As a final step, it often seems to improve even the best edge a tad. And after using a knife just enough to slightly dull the edge, a few quick passes on my jeans brings it back.

So, I have an old and torn pair of jeans that is ready for the trash bin. Instead of that, should I try to make a hone or strop? If so, what type---barber style hanging belt, or maybe a rectangle of it attached over a leather-on-wood paddle hone, or....?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Andrew
Click to expand...

I'd heartily recommend 'all the above'. In saying that, I have noticed big differences in stropping performance, based solely on what backing is used under the stropping media. If you have enough material, experiment with as many variations as you can. It can be quite enlightening, and it'll give you more options to choose from, if/when you settle on one or two favorites. If you have many knives, in varying steels, you'll likely begin to notice that some will respond differently to different stropping materials & methods.

I've been tempted to do the same thing, as I also notice a little extra 'something' in my edges, after a few light swipes on the jeans.
 
Rockstead recommends a "strop" made of denim with regular metal polish to keep their knives Sharp.
 
Thanks for the encouragement, gentlemen. After I get through a busy time that's just hit, I plan to do a little experimenting with the denim.

Andrew
 
The first strop I ever had was made by me of a strip of denim glued to a board with some chrome polish on it and it worked great ,the only thing was it was really fine grit. Good luck!
 
try newsprint after the denim. it does wonders to get your knife to pass that pesky HHT
 
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