Learning to Strop changed EVERYTHING

BePrepared

BePrepared

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Aug 26, 2010
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Before yesterday, every time i sharpened (or resharpened) a knife, i took a huge risk that i'd do massive damage to it.

I am almost completely stupid with a stone or rod setup, and can't even come close to sharp with one, so i bought a Work Sharp, and i was able to get very good edges...

The downside was the perpetual risk of doing huge damage to my knife if i slipped.

Most of the time, when i sharpened ANY knife, even one which had been profiled previously, i had to REprofile it just to get it back to sharp, which was eating up a lot of steel.

yesterday, i chopped up an old leather bag, grabbed the black polishing compound that i never had a clue how to use, and MADE myself a strop with a cardboard backing. I used a hairdryer to melt the compound and fully load the leather, then i went to work

I now have every knife in my home SHAVING sharp.... that's a miracle to me.

if you don't know how to strop, or haven't done it before, DO IT... take it from a sharpening moron, it's so easy even I can do it
 
this morning, i ordered a JRE strop bat... if i can make my own out of a worn out crappy leather bag and some cardboard, and create hair popping sharp knives with ONE color compound, i can't imagine what 4 colors, and high quality construction will produce
 
I agree, stropping is a wonderful thing. A couple of things though, if the black compound you are using is aggressive enough to bring dull edges back to sharpness, it is probably too aggressive (coarse) to use as a finishing strop. Now, that I'd not a bad thing, it means you have a way to bring slightly dulled edges back to a high level of sharpness. But, what it also means is that there is a lot of remaining edge refinement that can be done with finer compounds to get even sharper edges. You would be wise to pick up some white and green compounds and make 2 more strops. The white and green compounds will continue ton polish and refine an edge, but will struggle bring one back from dull.

Usually the compound colors are as follows:

Black-mostly cut, not much polish
White-some cut, some polish
Green (except bark river green, which is coarse)-not much cut, mostly polish

I can recommend the compounds (and strops for that matter) from stropman. You can get a nice double sided strop and 2 compounds of your choice for around $20.

With practice and by using the white and green compounds after your black you will be able to get your edges FAR past shaving sharp and into the hair whittling and tree topping level of sharpness.

Another option is diamond sprays. They are available in a variety of grits (1 micron, 0.5 micron, 0.25 micron), and due to the fact that they are diamond, cut much faster and more aggressively than traditional compounds. The result can be a mirror polished edge that still bites hard like a coarser edge. Really cool stuff...but not cheap.

Good luck and keep practicing, you'll be amazed at the level of sharpness you can attain.

EDIT: I just noticed you said you ordered a 4 sided strop with compounds, with a little practice you'll be amazed at the results.
 
BePrepared, Please start taking the time to place your topics in the appropriate forums. General Discussion is not an all purpose forum.
 
Yup. Stropping, for certain cutting, is the bees knees.

With a cheap medium Smith diamond stone and ceramic sticks I can get an edge shaving sharp pretty easily.

With a loaded strop, I can get the edge to whittle curls off a free hanging hair.

It makes sharpening so easy, because you can just hit the edges with a few passes per side after use, and maintain them easily.
 
And I just ordered one..the final piece in the sharpening puzzle. I just got a DP chefs knife that I hope to keep as sharp as it came..scary sharp..vegetables beware...
 
I like loaded strops too. I got a razor strop of some sort first, but it didn't do much for me. Later I got a dlt strop and brkt compounds to try out convex sharpening, but I found that the white compound works very well for light touchups for me for all my knives.
 
I have been stropping for a couple three years now...and yes, it changes everything.

I just tried something new and I love it. Get a piece of Balsa wood. Craft stores sell it and I got mine at a Do-It-Best Hardware. You will need some kind of compound. I use the green. It comes in a bar about the size of a bar of soap cut in half lengthwise and it will last for YEARS. You just "crayon" some on so it is halfway even from side to side like in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX pattern the length of about a foot and then strop away.

When the green starts turning black, and it will...that's steel...spray some WD-40 on a paper towel and rug it out and then crayon on again. At this stage the entire thing will be green. Don't put it on too thick...that's just a waste.

Good luck.
 
HoosierQ said:
I have been stropping for a couple three years now...and yes, it changes everything.

I just tried something new and I love it. Get a piece of Balsa wood. Craft stores sell it and I got mine at a Do-It-Best Hardware. You will need some kind of compound. I use the green. It comes in a bar about the size of a bar of soap cut in half lengthwise and it will last for YEARS. You just "crayon" some on so it is halfway even from side to side like in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX pattern the length of about a foot and then strop away.

When the green starts turning black, and it will...that's steel...spray some WD-40 on a paper towel and rug it out and then crayon on again. At this stage the entire thing will be green. Don't put it on too thick...that's just a waste.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Balsa is fun to strop with! One caveat to your advise if I may is that to be careful when rubbing block type compounds on the balsa. Excess pressure will compress the balsa and make it uneven. Unless of course you get the non-Hobby Lobby stuff which tends to be really dense.
 
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