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Look at my strop please, and how it is loaded update post 13
- Thread starter okbow68
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Way, way, way too much compound there. At most, the leather should just be slightly tinted green by the compound, but still look like leather.
Use a paper towel moistened with WD-40, to wipe the excess compound off the strop. Don't be shy about it. The compound that'll come off onto the paper towel is all excess. The leather will hold onto as much as is needed. Let the strop dry after the WD-40 wipedown. Then, wipe it down again with a dry paper towel.
Use a paper towel moistened with WD-40, to wipe the excess compound off the strop. Don't be shy about it. The compound that'll come off onto the paper towel is all excess. The leather will hold onto as much as is needed. Let the strop dry after the WD-40 wipedown. Then, wipe it down again with a dry paper towel.
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For reference, here's a pic of my strop block with the green compound. Since this pic was taken, I've even scrubbed a little more off of it, with both the WD-40, and multiple wipedowns with a dry paper towel. Works even better that way.
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Something that helps to hold the compound on the leather surface, is to sand it a little bit. Some medium or fine grit sandpaper, wrapped around a block, works fine. It'll give the surface of the leather a velvety 'nap' (like zillions of microscopic fibers, such as in a carpet), which helps to hold the compound. That's what I do with mine. I use the stick of compound like a 'crayon', and lightly 'draw' some diagonal or cross-hatch lines on the surface of the leather. After that, if you wish, you can use a paper towel to rub that around a bit. Not necessary to do that, though. The stropping of your blade will also help to distribute the compound, over time. The WD-40 & paper towel will also spread & even it out a bit. BUT, the diagonal or cross-hatch pattern will, by itself, ensure that all of your edge will be in contact with the compound when you strop.
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Use that thing until it starts to turn blackish - then you'll see where low spots are. If you know where low spots are, go ahead and sand it down to fix it. Other than a few basics (direction 
and angle) there aren't any wrong ways to strop. Try loading it light, and try loading it heavy. Use them to with some pressure to polish your bevels, and use them with a feather touch to finish your finest sharpening. Some pastes I tried early on didn't give a good feel to the strop, so I kept trying them until I found some that I liked. By all means try diamonds or some of the other exotic abrasives if you really want to remove more material when stropping. I like to put big diamonds on mine, and it still surprises me how much metal they can remove.
and angle) there aren't any wrong ways to strop. Try loading it light, and try loading it heavy. Use them to with some pressure to polish your bevels, and use them with a feather touch to finish your finest sharpening. Some pastes I tried early on didn't give a good feel to the strop, so I kept trying them until I found some that I liked. By all means try diamonds or some of the other exotic abrasives if you really want to remove more material when stropping. I like to put big diamonds on mine, and it still surprises me how much metal they can remove.
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I've noticed recently, Simichrome works very well, too. Lots o' possibilities. 
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Don't worry about that. Mine's the same way (very crumbly). Just use it like a crayon or piece of chalk, it'll lightly 'color' the leather. That's all you need.
I say this, because I did exactly what you're considering doing, with the oil. I used mineral oil, warmed up a bit, and mixed it with the compound. It did spread on very smoothly (looked nice), but in retrospect, it was much heavier than I needed. Felt like stropping on mud, and didn't seem to work very well. I ended up removing at least 90% of it anyway (with WD-40). The compound works much better when it can embed itself in the leather fibers and really grab the steel, as opposed to rubbing the edge on a thick layer of the stuff which, in large part, will just push the compound around (it'll constantly be flaking off). When it's so thick, the top layer (0.5 micron thick) doesn't have anything to hold onto. It's less effective that way.
Yep...that's how they all look the first time you try. That is way too much but it doesn't hurt anything. Here's what you do. Get a paper towel and hit it with some WD-40. Rub it in and you'll find that the WD dissolves the compound. It'll smear around and quite a bit will come off on the towel. Work it around nice and even so you can see leather through the compound and you've got it.
Awhile back I used a clothing Iron to load my strop. It worked very well however, don't know if there are negatives to using it. It did allow me to get a even coat as the excess turned to powder and I just wiped it off. I used the steam feature also as a experiment. Just don't know if there are negatives to doing so, so don't consider it a recommendation, just information and use your judgement.
Now that you have your strop cleaned up a bit, take your compound bar and use it like a crayon, and with very little pressure make a couple of "X" marks on the strop. 3-4 will do. Don't worry about covering the strop. Now take a paper towel and rub your strop for 2-3 minutes. This will move enough compound off the x marks and on to the leather. You don't need to even see the stuff. It's there. You do NOT need to make the surface absolutely smooth. The proper motion of stropping will do the rest.
Don't re-apply compound until you've stropped about 75-100 knives.
Stitchawl
Don't re-apply compound until you've stropped about 75-100 knives.
Stitchawl
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+1 :thumbup:
What he said. I've learned much about stropping from this guy's advice. He speaketh the truth.
Keep in mind that you don't 'have to.' You can add compound after every knife if it makes you happy.
It just isn't going to do anything more for you. If you wanted, you could flatten the surface of the compound bar and strop on that. It just isn't going to get your knife any sharper than a couple of light marks on your strop.
Compound grit is very small. Smaller than you can see with your eyes. If you rub your thumb over the block of compound, getting some on your skin, then rub that onto your strop, even though you don't see it, it's there and will affect your edge. Feel the surface of a piece of Black Hard Arkansas oil stone... It feels as smooth as glass, right? But it still manages to put a kick-ass edge on a blade. Now imagine it being even finer...
Stitchawl
Campbellclanman
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Interesting, I hope this doesnt sound too silly, but I have had no-one here to show me..stropping is what I need to learn more about, I have recently bought two strops, one..a very smooth one, and the other looks a textured ( a bit like jigged bone )..which do you prefer, and could you describe just how you Strop?
It was suggested to me to use a Automotive cutting compound on the leather strop when stropping..but I just dont seem to have any luck in having a real obvious difference once I have finished sharpening-then stropping..OR just stropping once I have used the knife, as I have read that it is better to strop more than use the stone more for obvious reasons
Thank you
Duncan
It was suggested to me to use a Automotive cutting compound on the leather strop when stropping..but I just dont seem to have any luck in having a real obvious difference once I have finished sharpening-then stropping..OR just stropping once I have used the knife, as I have read that it is better to strop more than use the stone more for obvious reasons
Thank you
Duncan
Not to put you off, but do take a look at the 'sticky' at the top of this forum. It's one of the very best 'how to's' of stropping. Then do a forum search. You'll find dozens of threads here all about stropping, how to, when to, with what to, etc.
Stitchawl
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Hello Duncan.
The sticky mentioned by Stitchawl ( Stropping: angle plus pressure ) is a very good primer on the technique. Here's another good thread on making a strop block:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/770338-demo-how-to-build-you-own-strop
As for compound, lots of possibilities. I've grown to like using Simichrome polish, and I'm sure something like Flitz would work too. I haven't tried automotive compound, so I won't offer an opinion there. I have heard that Mother's Mag wheel polish is a favorite among some of the knife nuts around here. There's also the diamond compounds (DMT Dia-Paste, Hand American paste/spray), and the green stuff (chromium oxide), which can usually be found at woodworking supply shops (it's often used with buffing wheels for sharpening woodworking tools).
The results obtained from stropping will be much better, the more refined the edge is prior to stropping. Stropping is designed to make an already sharp edge VERY sharp. The nature of stropping (very small abrasive particles on a softish backing) means most of the real metal removal is best done prior to stropping. When done correctly, it makes the difference between shaving sharp, and really hair-popping/hair-whittling sharpness. Otherwise, you'd have to strop a VERY long time, at VERY consistent angle, to produce a noticable difference.