Leather Strop Cleaning Questions??

peppercorn

peppercorn

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Thanks to all of the great stropping discussions and tutorials posted here I've been motivated to study and practice stropping techniques and actually just made some 3 1/2 X 14 inch strops glued to 2X4 substrate. I've loaded them each with .5 micron and 1 micron Hand American diamond spray. I can't say enough as to how well this combination works on both high carbide and low carbide tool steels and also on the ''super steels'', such as CPM M4 and S30V for example.
My question is, when do I need to clean the strop and, when I do clean it, what do I clean it with?

Thanks in advance.
 
I'd imagine you're going to get many good suggestions here on BF, regarding cleaning your strop. As for me, I've found that a little bit of WD-40 applied with a rag/paper towel/cotton ball seems to do a pretty good job. Don't spray it directly on the leather, and don't use too much. I prefer to spray just enough directly into a cotton ball (use the red 'pipe' nozzle on the WD-40 can) so it's reasonably moist, but not dripping. Use the cotton ball to wipe the leather, you'll immediately see how much of the black/dirty stuff it takes off of the leather. And to further minimize the mess, some disposable latex/nylon gloves are perfect for this operation.

I'm sure you'll get many other good suggestions from some of the real experts here, so stand by a bit. See what other good ideas will come your way...
 
When you are using a compound like your diamond spray I would think cleaning the strop is not as important as if you were using bare leather and relying on the natural silicates to 'cut' the metal. An occasional spritz of spray every so often should keep it working well. For me that is maybe every couple months stroping a couple times a week. My strop is pretty black and still working great. The bits of metal are probably about the same size as the diamond particles and the diamond should still be exposed for the most part. When you do clean it you will be removing the diamonds and might end up using more than if you didn't clean it. Have you noticed the strop not working as well? Just curious why you want to clean it.

As a side note, I think the hand american spray was the biggest improvement in sharpness that I have used so far. If you can get a knife to where it is shaving ok, stroping with the diamond spray makes a big difference in the final sharpness of the blade.
 
Thanks OwE and Flt Mtn, great feedback.

Flt Mtn, I only asked because my new strop, with the 1 micron spray, turned very dark after only approximately 20 minutes of stropping a 16 inch blade of A2. Your answer makes a lot of sense, so , I think I will do just that, when it gets to the point where it isn't cutting, I'll spray more compound on.
I would also add, that the Hand American spray is really in a league of its own as to how fast and how well it polishes an edge. Also, when I went from the 1 micron to the .5 micron I was really shocked at how much further the edge, already hair whittling, went.

I must also say, that thanks to all the great debates and tutorials right here I am at a much higher level of sharpening knowledge and skill.
 
You can order it from the hand american website for best prices. I think wood craft carries it if you have one close by. You might get lucky and find it at any wood working or lapidary supply store.
 
When to clean? When the strop turns black and becomes "sticky" when stropping its time to clean.

How? WD-40 and a product called "awesome" are some of the things I have useds with good success.
 
I've had pretty good luck using the hand cleaner 'Goop' for cleaning various old strops. It has very high lanolin content, I'm told.
 
A product called "Lexol" is made for cleaning leather. I think I got mine at Tandy.

For all the leather hones that I have made for my friends and me, I use a vibratory sander with used 180 grit to new 220 grit paper. It not only cleans them beautifully, but it also gives them an ever so slight "nap", that is softer than mouse fuzz. They seem to take and hold CrO better, and have great "bight".

I use compressed air to thoroughly decontaminate from the sandpaper.
 
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