Hand made strop works great

carspidey said:
@deeds21 - so if a strop would never replace a stone... it mean that in order to sharpen your ESEE knives you have to have a stone then?

How about a field strop on a survival situation? What if it gets wet?

If only using a strop... does it mean that we have to sharpen it more often?

Can anybody post some pics of your strops? and results?
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there's a 'post your strop' thread going on at the moment right here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724540
 
Check out the sharpening videos on the Knives Ship Free website, the cover convexing and stropping.

A strop will refine an edge as mentioned. If you want to convex your knife (not that hard) you can use a mouse pad and some sandpaper. It's very simple.
 
I glued a 3X20 inch strip of shoulder leather to a 24in 2x4 and it works great with the green compound. Really nice for larger blades and sure cuts down on the amount of strops per side with the length. I place it on a rubber drawer mat and it anchors, might glue some to it.

It would be pretty easy to duplicate those fancy stropbats with a small amount of shop time. but I have never progressed beyond the green, gets sharp enough.
 
i saw pictures of the strops and saw the videos on knivesshipfree.com... which shows you how to sharpen a convex edge knife... anybody here has a video of how to sharpen the RC6? or any beveled edge for that matter?

I think I can tell... just keep a good angle on the knife... but i just want people to reassured me...

I just got the knife... so no need to sharpen it yet... but it's always good to know in advance...

Also, if you use these strops on the field... will they work if they get wet? Cuz i am thinking more of a survival situation here... of when you go backpacking and you need your knife really sharp everytime...

thanks...
 
can anybody post some pictures of your esee knives (rc6 in particular, i guess it does not matter) that have been sharpened with a strop?

I was reading this thread again and someone mentioned that convexing the edge would not be too difficult, but do we want to do that? I am using my knife mostly for the woods (fire making, camping, backpacking...)

Thanks..
 
carspidey said:
i saw pictures of the strops and saw the videos on knivesshipfree.com... which shows you how to sharpen a convex edge knife... anybody here has a video of how to sharpen the RC6? or any beveled edge for that matter?

I think I can tell... just keep a good angle on the knife... but i just want people to reassured me...

I just got the knife... so no need to sharpen it yet... but it's always good to know in advance...

Also, if you use these strops on the field... will they work if they get wet? Cuz i am thinking more of a survival situation here... of when you go backpacking and you need your knife really sharp everytime...

thanks...
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I may get lashed for this, but I feel obligated to say it (and in no way am I trying to insult anyone, just shine a little light on what I feel is a dark corner) - In a "survival situation" stropping your knife would be about as practical as shining your shoes. I shave every day with a straight razor. It was given to me as a gift, as well as a double sided strop that was my grandfathers. I use them for economical and sentimental reasons. A strop is necessary for a straight razor. It is NOT necessary on a knife. I know that we are all knife nuts here, but for the love... stropping a knife is something you do when you are bored out of your mind or "just wanting to see how sharp you can get it". There is no such thing as "field stropping" in a "survival situation", unless your belt is all that you have with you (meaning there are no rocks where ever you are, as these would be much more productive). If you are in a "survival situation" and you have time to "field strop" your knife, you should be doing something else. IMHO only.
 
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ifihadaboat said:
I may get lashed for this, but I feel obligated to say it (and in no way am I trying to insult anyone, just shine a little light on what I feel is a dark corner) - In a "survival situation" stropping your knife would be about as practical as shining your shoes. I shave every day with a straight razor. It was given to me as a gift, as well as a double sided strop that was my grandfathers. I use them for economical and sentimental reasons. A strop is necessary for a straight razor. It is NOT necessary on a knife. I know that we are all knife nuts here, but for the love... stropping a knife is something you do when you are bored out of your mind or "just wanting to see how sharp you can get it". There is no such thing as "field stropping" in a "survival situation", unless your belt is all that you have with you (meaning there are no rocks where ever you are, as these would be much more productive). If you are in a "survival situation" and you have time to "field strop" your knife, you should be doing something else. IMHO only.
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having three young kids at home is survival too.
i strop a lot in my current survival situation ;)

just did a youtube vid on stropping with a lot of collected info. maybe it helps. see my signature
 
All my sharpening equipement is either cheap or imprevised and I still get very good edges. My strop is a $7 leather belt cut in half and mounted on a 2x4. Harbor frieght has compound cheap. FOr my final polish I use mothers chrome polish from the auto parts store. It buts a better polish on than anything I have found.

Also if your sharpening on sandpaper and dont have a leather strop, just flip a sheet over to the smooth side and put a little chrome polish on there. It will bring an edge up to a mirror finish.
 
zyhano said:
having three young kids at home is survival too.
i strop a lot in my current survival situation ;)

just did a youtube vid on stropping with a lot of collected info. maybe it helps. see my signature
Click to expand...

My grandpa did quite a bit of "stropping" as well. That's the sentimental part. That strop left more marks on my backside that the straight razor did on my face when learning how to use it.:D
 
ifihadaboat said:
My grandpa did quite a bit of "stropping" as well. That's the sentimental part. That strop left more marks on my backside that the straight razor did on my face when learning how to use it.:D
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ouch, well, at least your grandpa made sure you're using a strop now ;)

It's a variation on 'my grandfather got me a knife when I was a child' theme.:)
 
Lee valley has a couple of nice strops, and they also sell the compoud. I just strop to
polish after I use the sharpmaker.
 
In my experience, strops (with or without stropping compound) are very useful sharpening tools. I have a smaller one for field use, it's the one that comes in the Otter box from KSF, I'm sure a lot of you guys know it, and I also made a larger one from an ordinary piece of 2x4 onto which I glued pieces of a leather belt I wasn't using anymore.
An edge doesn't necessarily have to be convex to strop. For example, I sharpen my BHK Large Workhorse on a Lansky Sharpmaker DMT at an angle around 20 degrees and I can achieve pretty good results, but I get that hair popping, "scary sharp" edge that most of us like only after stropping.
As for sharpening compound, I use the green one and then just plain leather.
Here are some pics of a strop and a convexed Izula:

DSC02787.jpg


Hope you find this useful. :)
 
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