How often do you strop

How often do you strop your EDC/work knife or both

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Buzsaw

Joined
Nov 15, 2020
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253
Be it your EDC or work knife or both, how often do you strop.
I strop atleast 1 of my EDC`s or work knife daily.
 
I really can't answer the poll concerning knife edges. I only strop my straight razors.
With knives, I sometime strop a few licks between stones and after final on my denim pant leg, just to wipe residue.
 
Buzsaw, how about adding another option or two, such as "Rarely" or "Never".

I like coarse, working, utility edges and basically do not strop (or steel, for that matter). Sometimes after sharpening or touch-ups I'll take a pass or two on denim, or some other common and simple stropping material, but that's all.
 
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If I give a knife a quick touch up I'll strop
 
'As needed', is how I'd characterize it.

Most of my stropping is done on bare leather or denim. No compound, for most of my uses. Doing it that way, it's mostly about realigning a very thin, fine edge on the steels I use most, like CV or 420HC. And this degree of stropping won't overpolish or degrade the toothy bite I like, in my EDC edges. As a matter of habit, almost reflexively sometimes, I'll give my edge a few swipes on my jeans after each use, if only to clean up the edge a little bit.

I do have some edges that I like to keep somewhat polished for kitchen use. I use a denim strop with white rouge for that. As above, I just do that on an 'as needed' basis. I test-cut fine paper along the way, to see how it handles that. Then, if I think it could use some tuning up, I'll usually strop it minimally and/or use a smooth, polished kitchen steel to realign. If neither of those methods do enough, then I'll take the edge back to a finishing stone.
 
I selected "every day", but that's not right. It's more like "after every use", if I have time. If I just did some whittling, I'll hit a strop, probably just blank leather or maybe some Chromium Oxide paste. If I spent half an hour cutting dirty cardboard I'll probably hit a strop with a more aggressive compound, then the less aggressive ones. Takes all of 60 seconds or so and my EDC edges never really manage to dull.
 
I strop only after sharpening -- and every time after sharpening. Makes a big difference.

In between sharpenings, I sometimes use a diamond-impregnated steeling rod to clean up the edge.
 
Twindog said:
I strop only after sharpening -- and every time after sharpening. Makes a big difference.

In between sharpenings, I sometimes use a diamond-impregnated steeling rod to clean up the edge.
Click to expand...
After I sharpen my spyderco @17* , I will use a 600 grit steel to rough it up to toothy , then strop with a aluminum oxide loaded leather, or 2-.5 diamond
results are a toilet paper slicing edge , wicked sharp
 
I voted weekly although it is probably closer to monthly. Definitely not daily or the other choices. I also rotate my edc knives quite often but a quick strop seems to help maintain an edge and is very easy to do. Maybe that quick strop does nothing, but it makes me feel better and it's cheaper then professional therapy ... 😉
 
i am the original copy cat, Michael Christy never strops between sharpenings, so i doht either. we strop by the end of a sharpening session 's all.

( wow, a concise post by kreisl, congrats to myself! haha )

For work, i use HQ utility knives. For EDC, i cut gently and try the edge to not get dulled. A backup utility blade is on my keychain anyway.
 
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Since the question is about a EDC or work knife, I selected weekly, but its really as needed. I work in maintenance and I cut open many boxes and if a razor knife isnt handy, I used washer/dryer or stoves shipping boxes. Thick, heavy cardboard that can dull an edge in a heartbeat depending on steel. Then its daily, but normally its a touch up once a week or so.
 
I strop blades for woodworking, but not my pocket knife or my kitchen knives. If a blade starts to dull, I can quickly touch it up with a ceramic stone or a 1200 grit diamond stone.
 
I have had the best luck stropping even on high hardness steel knives. Steeling or ceramic touch ups are never as keen as a diamond paste imo if it is done right. If I am using my knife fairly regularly it can be about once a week but like many here, I will go through phases where I carry one knife exclusively for several weeks potentially. Then there are other times where I have a different knife in the pocket every day of that week. So the real number of times a week that the strop block comes out will vary widely.
 
I strop when I feel like the knife might benefit from it. (Or use a ceramic hone.) I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it. It's there when I need it.

If I do strop, it's with 1 micron diamond spray on basswood...or bare 'roo leather mounted to basswood.
 
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