got my strop! oops

scfishr

scfishr

Joined
Nov 23, 2003
Messages
541
If i had given it any thought at all I would have asked first-but instead second knife on the strop was a new socom elite auto with coated blade:( not a total disaster as i`ve been looking for a reason to use this knife but could not bring myself to do it-the strop wore a place about 1/4" along the bevel and now the new is gone-but thats one sharp knife-if I had not read the post about edge digging in on arm hair test I would have cut myself-as it turns out the hair was melted before the blade. awesome:) and that was first attempt

purpose of this thread to brag on my new strop and the excellent job(almost a no-brainer),and to recommend knives plus: package came in 2 days perfect packaging and the strop is exactly as described-for 14.95 its worth every penny to me.

second purpose is, since the strop thing is taking off, to warn others about their coated blades-if its collectable- be careful. I love the socom and look forward to putting it to work-but the next guy could be heart broken, especially if it was an investment
 
Good point.
Thanks
I always like to learn from others' mistakes.
But it doesn't happen, first, very often :)
Tom
 
IMHO Knives Plus makes the best strops. In fact, I just sent one along with another "prize" to the winner of the Talonite knife contest.
 
I have learned so much in a very short period of time thanks to the great communication and sharing of knowledge on this forum- have saved me a lot of needless mistakes, but my lessons for the most part have come the hard way:rolleyes: kind of a bring it on yourself kinda thing:)
 
I got a strop from Knives Plus too and it seems to be a good piece.

Stropping is still a bit of a mystery to me. Those who have acheived great results, what are your techniques? How many times do you strop back and forth? Do you alternate with each stroke? Do a few on one side, then do a few on the other? How much pressure do you use?
 
Glad to hear your great news and sorry to hear about the coating. Glad to hear that you now feel okay using that knife.
 
I realized that when i got the strop today that I had no experience, but called the folks at knives plus and asked : they said to simply reverse the knife and pull it straight down the strop almost flat but not quite 5 times or so on each side-ofcourse I did this and it was definitely sharper-so if 5 times works good then:rolleyes: oh yeah, I worked my nomad about 15 times a side and then about 5 times real light-(took my time) and by then my wife was standing over my shoulder-so I asked for a hair-and believe it or not it cut the hair-so i`ve been a stroppin fool all night-even my sons emerson specwar with chisel ground tanto blade is freaky sharp-when you go to test on arm hair be careful-seriously:eek:

my clip point socom is natbrain surgery sharp, sere 2000-forget about it:cool:
 
I think my wife is getting me an assortment of buffing compounds for stropping as a Valentine's Day gift (we're romantics. I got her a tailpipe and a case of 10W30 one Christmas). Looks like I'll be spending Sunday in the basement with a dismembered belt glued to some fiberboard and bleeding all over the floor.

<Quagmire_voice>All right!</Quagmire_voice>
 
It's pretty easy to check your progress when stropping, since the 'refectivity' of blade stropped area quickly increases. Work with good lighting, hold the blade-edge up and rotate it, noting the reflective pattern. You will quickly be able to see whether you're working mostly on the shoulder of the grind, mostly on the edge and check the progress toward the edge.

I use newsprint as a test medium to check progress. A slow draw-cut will quickly reveal varying edge-finish along the length of the edge, from base to tip. You'll easily feel and hear the difference between sharp and less-sharp areas, as the fibers of the paper part.

Push-cutting, using various areas of the blade edge, should require near-zero push and should cut with a barely-audible hiss.

When I think the edge is finished, I put some pressure on the blade and make 3 or 4 draw-cuts, perpendicular to the grain, on the maple base of my hone. This is a quick test for wire-edge formation. If no wire-edge, the knife should push-cut newsprint as effortlessly as it did before this test.

About pressure and honing angle:
For stropping on leather, note that the leather is quite flexible, and thus tends to produce a convex edge. Higher stropping angle AND higher pressure both increase this 'convexing' of the blade edge. Convex edges are good in the sense that they produce a stronger edge, but it's quite easy to convex the edge more than you might intend. Too much of a convex at the edge of the blade will obviously increase the final included-angle at the blade edge and thus reduce push-cut efficiency.

About abrasive compounds:
I use an older leather hone system from HandAmerican http://www.handamerican.com/
I use only dry abrasive powders. I use a rough-surface leather strop for semi-polishing, loaded with either 600- or 800-grit compound. The roughed-surface holds the coarser-compounds very well, and it's quite easy to change grits (brush off the old compound, sprinkle on the new). This is great for polishing out grind marks from benchstones. The smooth-surface hone holds 10,000-grit chromium oxide powder with no need for oil. The smooth-surface strop is my primary 'maintenance tool' for quickly restoring an edge.

Note that the rough-surface strop does generate some abrasive dust that may infiltrate the pivot area of a folder (this is also a potential problem with using dry coarse diamond stones).

There is a learning curve with strops, just as with using stones.

Hope this helps!
 
great idea, I think I`m going to get my wife a new knife or axe for valentines day:D you know for grinding lol

News print works good for testing a blade-one day I did not have any news paper and found outdated phone book-this works great for finer edges as it is extremely revealing of any burrs or nicks in a fine edge-plus a good size phone book is basically a life time supply and the binding keeps it neat.
The knives plus strop is an excellent way to get introduced to stropping-I have read all the interesting posts about various techniques and look forward to experimenting-by the way thanks for the stropping tips-keep um coming
 
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