I have a question about the stick compounds for stropping.

P

PC87

Joined
Dec 27, 2011
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783
I bought a pack of three compounds from home depot today, they are brown, yellow and white, white being the lowest grit according to pkg. Are they supposed to be so hard that when you rub it on a strop you get the coloring of the leather on the compound stick and it looks like there is no compound getting on the leather? Should the compound be softer or is this normal?

Thanks
 
I have never tried those particular compounds but I have some black compound that is rather hard and I slice off small shavings over my strop then work it into the leather.
This may work for you if you can't apply it by simply rubbing.
 
Those are buffing compound made to be applied to a spinning wheel. You can just crayon them on. But a little softening with heat or oil will help.
 
fervens said:
Those are buffing compound made to be applied to a spinning wheel. You can just crayon them on. But a little softening with heat or oil will help.
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That makes complete sense, thanks.

Where do you guys normally get your compounds for stropping and what kind?
 
It's easier to apply the stick or 'crayon' compounds with a little mineral oil, or WD-40 assisting. The oil or WD-40 will soften them enough to make them workable. Just moisten the end of the stick with it, and rub it on the leather. Re-moisten as needed to get the job done.

And even when it doesn't look like any compound is sticking, when rubbing the dry stuff against the leather, it usually is. It's easier to see this at work, if you rub the 'white' on some clean white paper; it'll look like nothing is transferring. But, if you then strop your blade on it, you'll see the black stuff (steel) coming off the blade and leaving streaks on the paper. That's the proof the compound is there.


David
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
It's easier to apply the stick or 'crayon' compounds with a little mineral oil, or WD-40 assisting. The oil or WD-40 will soften them enough to make them workable. Just moisten the end of the stick with it, and rub it on the leather. Re-moisten as needed to get the job done.

And even when it doesn't look like any compound is sticking, when rubbing the dry stuff against the leather, it usually is. It's easier to see this at work, if you rub the 'white' on some clean white paper; it'll look like nothing is transferring. But, if you then strop your blade on it, you'll see the black stuff (steel) coming off the blade and leaving streaks on the paper. That's the proof the compound is there.


David
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Thank you very much, I will try this tomorrow as I will be making my own strops.
 
Made 7 different strops from some leather I got at a craft store, 2 paint stirrer stick strops and some 8x3 ones and some 2x6 ones also. Used both sides of the leather on different sizes and am now thinking I might as well go ahead with some diamond paste and just skip all the green, white, black, compounds.

What micron would be sufficient to use coming off of a spyderco UF stone?

I feel my OCD tendencies starting to enter into the hobby that is knives and sharpening, especially the sharpening side.

Thanks fellers for feeding my OCD on this sharpening stuff. :)
 
Personally I'm not a fan of the "crayon" stick compounds. The black sticks (silicon carbide) usually apply easily and work well, but I have trouble with the white and green rouges. Of recent I've been using pastes, which have worked great.
 
Bladenoobie1 said:
Personally I'm not a fan of the "crayon" stick compounds. The black sticks (silicon carbide) usually apply easily and work well, but I have trouble with the white and green rouges. Of recent I've been using pastes, which have worked great.
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What kind of pastes are you using?
 
PC87 said:
Made 7 different strops from some leather I got at a craft store, 2 paint stirrer stick strops and some 8x3 ones and some 2x6 ones also. Used both sides of the leather on different sizes and am now thinking I might as well go ahead with some diamond paste and just skip all the green, white, black, compounds.

What micron would be sufficient to use coming off of a spyderco UF stone?

I feel my OCD tendencies starting to enter into the hobby that is knives and sharpening, especially the sharpening side.

Thanks fellers for feeding my OCD on this sharpening stuff. :)
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Off the UF you're looking at something in the single digit micron range, maybe a bit smaller. Flexcut makes a real nice compound for finishing edges off - Flexcut Gold. Lots of folks use green CrO as well. The white compound you bought is actually pretty good stuff (sounds like Ryobi brand from your description). I wouldn't use the black compound (generally just a larger grit of aluminum oxide) coming off of that stone, it'd be a step down. The Ryobi yellow has a sticky binder and can be a challenge to manage on a strop.
 
HeavyHanded said:
Off the UF you're looking at something in the single digit micron range, maybe a bit smaller. Flexcut makes a real nice compound for finishing edges off - Flexcut Gold. Lots of folks use green CrO as well. The white compound you bought is actually pretty good stuff (sounds like Ryobi brand from your description). I wouldn't use the black compound (generally just a larger grit of aluminum oxide) coming off of that stone, it'd be a step down. The Ryobi yellow has a sticky binder and can be a challenge to manage on a strop.
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Thanks heavy-handed, you are exactly right. It is ryobi that came in the 3 pack kit, the yellow does gum up real bad on a strop, I found that out today, not using that anymore. I did put some of the white stick on a paint stick strop and it seems to take a long time to cut.
 
Bladenoobie1 said:
Hand American boron carbide paste 1 micron size. I put it on a balsa wood strop. Easy application and cuts great.
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I use HandAmerica as well. I have their balsa strop and use 1 micron diamond spray on it. It is a pretty fast worker. I go from there to a .5 micron (I think) green CrO2 leather strop block from Knives Plus.
 
I have replicated the Knives Plus strop by applying pieces of the green stick polishing compound mixed in olive oil and heated. this mixture was then applied to the leather strop I made that was about 12x3 and allowed to dry. The larger size seems to make my stropping much more effective.
 
Thank you guys very much for the help, I ordered some 1 micron diamond spray today and will give that a try. I am sure I will be ordering more stuff to put on strops in the near future, this is going to get out of hand I can see. I also picked up a nice piece of balsa wood yesterday where I got the leather remnants.

Would it be ok to put the diamond spray on that and give that a try, or am I wasting my time?
 
Guys, after spending a few days sharpening up on SM going through all the stones on some pretty dull knives and finishing with UF's and really working with strops with the white ryobi compound only, here is what I am finding.

Steels I have been sharpening are: 8crmo13v, s30v, cts-xhp, and elmax

I had sharpened 8cr in the past but after putting it on a strop, the results are just incredible. Level of sharpness is extremely hair popping.
S30v on several different knives of the same brand after UF's and stropping yields the same results, just absolutely screaming sharp.
CTS was the same, really, really sharp.
However after going through the same exact sharpening procedures with all other steels, elmax will just not get as sharp as the others. Is this stuff just harder or is it me or what? I am perplexed at this point and just walked away from the bench for awhile.
I have some diamond spray coming and hope this will work.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
 
PC87 said:
Thank you guys very much for the help, I ordered some 1 micron diamond spray today and will give that a try. I am sure I will be ordering more stuff to put on strops in the near future, this is going to get out of hand I can see. I also picked up a nice piece of balsa wood yesterday where I got the leather remnants.

Would it be ok to put the diamond spray on that and give that a try, or am I wasting my time?
Click to expand...
Diamond spray should work great on balsa wood. As long as the surface is relatively flat, it should make for a great combination.
 
PC87 said:
Guys, after spending a few days sharpening up on SM going through all the stones on some pretty dull knives and finishing with UF's and really working with strops with the white ryobi compound only, here is what I am finding.

Steels I have been sharpening are: 8crmo13v, s30v, cts-xhp, and elmax

I had sharpened 8cr in the past but after putting it on a strop, the results are just incredible. Level of sharpness is extremely hair popping.
S30v on several different knives of the same brand after UF's and stropping yields the same results, just absolutely screaming sharp.
CTS was the same, really, really sharp.
However after going through the same exact sharpening procedures with all other steels, elmax will just not get as sharp as the others. Is this stuff just harder or is it me or what? I am perplexed at this point and just walked away from the bench for awhile.
I have some diamond spray coming and hope this will work.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Its possible that your not hitting the apex, have you tried the sharpie trick on the Elmax blade? I've actually found Elmax to be easier to sharpen then s30v and it also seems to take a finer edge. I would try spending some more time on the stones and make sure your actually hitting the apex before you do anymore stropping. Dont get discouraged I'm sure you'll get it sharp. Good luck:)
 
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