Does Sanding Basswood Contaminate It?

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NorCalQ

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Dec 13, 2018
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I'm making some basswood strops for my guided system. Anyone who works with wood knows that wood fibers swell and rise up when wet and that's just what happens when an emulsion is applied, leaving a rough surface. Because of that, I want to wet the fresh basswood strop and sand it prior to applying an emulsion. Question is, will 1000 grit sand paper contaminate the basswood surface?
 
There is no need to sand it. Simply using the strop will re-compress the wood fibers.
 
FWIW, I have sanded basswood strops. Razors are a bit more picky than knives about surface roughness, and, perhaps more important, especially for non-smiling razors, perfect flatness. I used 180, then 320, then stopped.

I've had no signs of retained grit, and at 320 grit, I'd think I'd have noticed. Of course I brushed off the strop after sanding.
 
UncleBoots said:
FWIW, I have sanded basswood strops. Razors are a bit more picky than knives about surface roughness, and, perhaps more important, especially for non-smiling razors, perfect flatness. I used 180, then 320, then stopped.

I've had no signs of retained grit, and at 320 grit, I'd think I'd have noticed. Of course I brushed off the strop after sanding.
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Thanks. Good info. Someone told me to use 1000 grit paper, however I thought the finer grit particles would more easily lodge in the fibers, so I figured 220, 320 or 400 would be ok as long as I did all I could to clear the surface.
 
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It won't contaminate it. Additionally, wood can be sanded very smooth with relatively LARGE grit - something no finer than maybe 220 grit or so, and even down to 100-150 grit works pretty well. And using sandpaper made for wood, like garnet sandpaper or aluminum oxide, reduces the risk of smaller particle contamination that might come from a more friable grit like SiC (on wet/dry sandpaper). If any of the coarse grit particles do come off the sandpaper, they're generally too large to overlook and too round or blocky in shape to imbed easily in the wood - so they can simply be brushed off the surface.

Bottom line: If you want to sand it, there's little need to worry. Do it if you want to.

Another way to smooth & flatten a wood strop is with a hand plane. Just shave a thin layer off the top. That works better for strops that might be used to polish-dead flat & straight-edged blades, such as for wood chisels and the plane irons.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
It won't contaminate it. Additionally, wood can be sanded very smooth with relatively LARGE grit - think something no finer than maybe 220 grit or so. and even down to 100-150 grit works pretty well. And using sandpaper made for wood, like garnet sandpaper or aluminum oxide, reduces the risk of smaller particle contamination that might come from a more friable grit like SiC (on wet/dry sandpaper). If any of the grit particles do come off the paper, they're generally too round or blocky in shape to imbed easily in the wood, and can simply be brushed off the surface.

Bottom line: If you want to sand it, there's little need to worry. Do it if you want to.

Another way to smooth & flatten a wood strop is with a hand plane. Just shave a thin layer off the top. That works better for strops that might be used to polish dead flat & straight edged blades, such as for wood chisels and the plane irons.
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I decided I'll wet the surface to raise the grain, then sand with 220 or 320 as has been suggested. I don't think I'm overthinking this at all. We take great pains to not contaminate stones and strops in many other ways. One or two particles of a very course abrasive at the stropping stage, could cause lot's of damage to a mirror edge. I'm just trying to avoid that. Thanks all for your replies.
 
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