Do you strop all of the different types of knife steel?

tundratrader

BANNED
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
1,312
The knives I own are mostly S30V, A2, D2, INFI and 154CM. I have found them all to benefit from a good stropping. Regardless of the grind. Mostly with green compound. I sharpen freehand with my sharpmaker sticks mostly these days. My question is do you strop everything? I know some steels like to be a little toothier than others but with the stuff I own I havent found any that didnt work better properly sharpened on stones and then stropped. The one knife I own that has not needed sharpening or stropping because it is still razor sharp is my XM-18. I do not own any other Duratech 20-CV steel knives so I have nothing to compare it against.

What do you guys think? What steels need it? What steels dont? I am really suprised there isnt a sticky on this topic. I know everyone has a different method and opinion about sharpening but there must be some baseline.
Thanks
Zach
 
I strop EVERY knife after sharpening. So far, I've done carbon, 420HC, 440A/B/C, AUS8, VG-10, S30V, D2 and others. Haven't found one yet that didn't benefit from it. Sharpening on stones/ceramics/diamond will almost always leave at least a little bit of a burr on the edge, and I think stropping is the best way to straighten out or remove the burr, at least in my experience. And, if done carefully (so as not to 'round over' the edge), I've found my edges ALWAYS cut more cleanly the more I strop them. Almost all of my maintenance & touch-ups are done with stropping only. For me, it's the perfect way to finish and maintain the edge.
 
Stropping with green compound is the removal of steel from the edge, just like grinding the edge with an 80 grit belt or honing on an 8000 grit stone. You can strop any steel if you want that level of edge finish. I personally do not believe any steel is better at being 'toothy', just harder/more time consuming to make 'not toothy'. A wear resistant steel will be wear resistant no matter the finish. The wear resistance tests are not performed on coarsely finished sample surfaces, nor are the surfaces of the tools they were primarily designed for left very coarse.
 
I strop everything, no reason not to.
 
I kinda figured and hoped this was the answer. I couldnt really see any reason not to strop. I was just hesitant on the xm-18 because the steel is not something I have messed with.

Thanks
Zach
 
Back
Top