Fine stone vs. strop

[P_A_S_1]

I get mixed results stropping, Im still working on it. I was using a piece of leather but thought it did more harm then good, now Im using a piece of red oak and like it better. My progression is medium india > hard arkansas > bare wood.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thank you for this detailed answer. I can only say it again: It is complicated.
A moment ago I browsed stropping compounds on knivesandtools. They have their own brand. The coarsest is gray, green i medium, red fine and black ultra fine. You are right: Color is no indicator.

Not surprising. Even the raw grit types used to make these compounds, like SiC (black) or AlOx (in many colors), can each be sourced from other producers in a very wide range of grit sizes. From tens of microns down to single digit or maybe even sub-micron sizes, for each grit color produced. So that again renders moot anything relating to the color itself.

Some mfrs. or vendors of the stick-type compounds will at least number each of the grit steps on the packaging, according to how they're intended to be used in a sequence. Like '1' for first & coarsest step, '2' for second, on through '4' or '5' for the finest polishing steps. I have some stick compounds from Sears, purchased a few years ago, that're numbered like that.

 

[Papilio]

I get mixed results stropping, Im still working on it. I was using a piece of leather but thought it did more harm then good, now Im using a piece of red oak and like it better. My progression is medium india > hard arkansas > bare wood.

More harm then good is exactly what it was for me. A Hard Arkansas can produce a nice edge.

Some mfrs. or vendors of the stick-type compounds will at least number each of the grit steps on the packaging, according to how they're intended to be used in a sequence. Like '1' for first & coarsest step, '2' for second, on through '4' or '5' for the finest polishing steps. I have some stick compounds from Sears, purchased a few years ago, that're numbered like that.

When I made my DIY- strip I tried to keep the costs low. Not the best decision. Anyway. I wanted to buy a stropping compound and was not sure which one to buy. Green or white. I wanted the finer one. Emailed the manufacturer. They were not sure which one was finer. But the customer knows? Good old days when I was a total newbie.

 

[Guy McVer]

I think people put too much emphasis on stropping with compound. In my opinion it's generally not needed. You may as well just use a fine stone. If you're using compound then you're not saving your edge as much as you might think. The compound is an abrasive and will remove material just like a stone would.

Then there are those who put too much emphasis on stropping by itself. No compound. They look at stropping as this magic edge maintenance tool. They think they're restoring an edge when all they're doing is wiping away debris that's built up along the edge. They'd do just as well with wiping the blade with a tissue or piece of cloth, or the leg of their pants. The edge was just dirty and that's why it wasn't cutting as well.

Stropping does work, but I think people just have some really funny and incorrect ideas about it.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

(...)

When I made my DIY- strip I tried to keep the costs low. Not the best decision. Anyway. I wanted to buy a stropping compound and was not sure which one to buy. Green or white. I wanted the finer one. Emailed the manufacturer. They were not sure which one was finer. But the customer knows? Good old days when I was a total newbie.

That's why I generally suggest that the best way to know what's best for one's uses is to just try them. Sometimes 'finer' or 'coarser' is less meaningful than the real observable effects of a given compound, like the degree of polish or rate of metal removal, or upon which metals / steel types they work better. Good example is the green vs. white comparison. Most chromium oxide 'green' compound is better-suited for simpler steels (carbon) and softer metals like brass... whereas the common 'white rouge' compounds in AlOx will generally be recommended for harder metals & stainless steels. But the effect they have, in terms of polish on each, may be very similar. Green puts a high shine on carbon steels very well, and white rouge will do that better than green on stainless steels, because the harder AlOx abrasive is better able to do those jobs on more wear-resistant metals, like stainless steel.