leather strop questions...

I apply the compound (Veritas) to the strop then I put a few drops of mineral oil on the strop. I spread it around with my finger and make a thick slurry with the compound. This seems to even the compound out and works well for me.

Gary
 
VigilantGuardian said:
Thanks guys... I'll definitely try the baby oil:)
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You may just do this under desk lamp, which will warm it. At least Green rouge from WoodWork is wax based.

BTW on my understanding and experience only Green rouge - chromium oxide works all other stuff not hard enough for hardened blade steel but for gold or silver which is much softer (I mean red, wight, etc)... You may check jewelry sites with tables which compound is good for what.

Thanks, Vassili.

P.S. Red rouge (actually Rouge is red in French) is Iron Oxide - known also as a rust... So it may work on steel if you use it for quite a long time.
 
I do what Vassili does - warm the leather under a 100W lamp then spread the green rouge on. I haven't tried any oil yet, but I might.

My wife worked at a large jewelry supply store for years. The on-site jewelers used red rouge for buffing rings and other jewelry. Someone posted in another thread just the other day that red is the finest of them all. I have some in the shop, but I don;t use it on my knives - I use green.
 
For heating the leather, my electric oven goes all the way down to 170 degrees. With the hot sunshine gone from the high country until next June, I tried heating the strops in the oven.:p

170 is far lower than the 400++ degrees needed for the wood to kindle, and it works beautifully on opening the pores of the leather.

Just remember to wear gloves when removing it from the oven, and smearing the paste on.:eek::eek: (ask me how I know that!:rolleyes:)
 
StretchNM said:
My wife worked at a large jewelry supply store for years. The on-site jewelers used red rouge for buffing rings and other jewelry. Someone posted in another thread just the other day that red is the finest of them all. I have some in the shop, but I don;t use it on my knives - I use green.
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Most compound manufacturers I've seen usually list CrO as the last coloring compound for ferrous metals. Red rouge seems to be for soft metals like gold, coper, and silver. The residual color from the iron oxide "warms" the color of the metal, or so I'd heard. This chart is from Enkay:

 
Keep in mind that here stainless steel, most likely cookware steel not 60HRC blade steel.

I did not warm intentional, just keep lamp close to sharpening surface and it is good to see precisely what I you doing if you want precise edge and as I side effect it melts slightly - actually just soften compound.

So, I finally found catalog of WoodCraft (not WoodWork sorry):

Green rouge in WoodCraft Catalog - 06L01 "Micro fine honing compound" 20 oz Bar, $20.99 it is actually 0.5 microns!!! And I thought why it is sometimes better then 1 micron diamonds and I was able to split/shave hair right after it? Ha!

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3112

Tip - Best way to wash this thing off the blade coating (I had problem with Busse) is soap.

BTW: I also found there
124629 - sharpening paper wheel for grinder
15T31 - Leather powerstrops

Thanks, Vassili.

P.S. Oh Sorry, here it is actuall Green Rouge (#85H28) from Same WoodCraft:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=4240&cs=4242

For $7.50! I remember that it was less then $10, not $20...This is what I have - other one, may be different.

Leather they have for honing is too thick to my taste. It is hard but not good enough to split hair.
 
Thanks for the suggestions on using the mineral oil to smooth out the compound. I have been having a heck of a time lately and my knives have ended up worse after I used the strop. Using the mineral oil to create a paste has made the world of difference. I still have a ways to go, but that was great advice!
 
Apply the compound like a crayon, rub into the leather with your fingers and remove excess with a rag. If the compound is hard, shave off some into a film cannister, add mineral oil and mix until you have a thick paste. Apply what you need, rub into leather and wipe away excess.

I've also used the powder that remains after flattening an aluminum oxide bench stone with a diamond stone rubbed into leather with some mineral oil to make a terrific strop also. Can do the same thing rubbing powder into a soft pine plank or MDF to get the same effect without the compression issue which dulls the edge if you apply the edge with too much pressure or at the wrong angle. Works great! I've even done this with silicon carbide stones powder for a slightly more aggressive effect which gets you a slightly toothier edge.

Just my $.02.

NJ
 
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