maintaining sharp edge after using edge pro

[stitchawl]

How did you get the compound to take to the leather like that? I can never get it on good.

No need to coat the strop like painting a wall. The compound does its work at a microscopic level so actually just the barest amount on the surface of the substrate is all that actually contacts the steel. If you get a green tint to your substrate, that will be more than sufficient to work effectively. Streaks are fine, circles are fine, (just not big lumps!) or just a green overall haze. Putting compound on so that there is a thick coating does nothing other than give you a nice place to store more compound. It's only the microscopic layer at the top that does the work.

Strop it regularly and watch the edge retention decrease

This confuses me. I strop my edges to increase my edge retention. I only put my knives on stones a few times a year, relying upon stropping for my EDCs. (My kitchen knives get steeled on glass instead.) This has worked for me for the past 20 years or so. Can you explain why you feel stropping will decrease edge retention? Thanks.


Stitchawl

 

[Razorsharp-Travis]

This confuses me. I strop my edges to increase my edge retention. I only put my knives on stones a few times a year, relying upon stropping for my EDCs. (My kitchen knives get steeled on glass instead.) This has worked for me for the past 20 years or so. Can you explain why you feel stropping will decrease edge retention? Thanks.


Stitchawl

You are pulling stressed metal back into apex, that weakens it at a TINY level. And the soft abrasives on strops cant abrade the hard elements in the modern steels effectively (Vanadium for example) and thus abrade around the carbides leaving them less supported. I good way around it would be diamond, but you still have the problem of pulling the weakened edge back into apex.

I want you to try coming off the stones when apexed, cut into the stone gently to remove the very apex then sharpen to an apex again careful not to form a burr.( only dulls it a tiny bit, it will be like you cut up a box, if that) Maybe strop at a maximum of 5 passes per side on a very fine strop just to clean up a few microscopic dings- I feel this will leave you an outstanding edge that lasts a long while.

 

[Razorsharp-Travis]

DOuble

 

[HeavyHanded]

Only issues with stropping and edge retention I have noticed tend to stem from microscopic rounding of the cutting edge. My edges maintained by backhoning on a waterstone, jointer stone, or paper over Washboard seem to last a loong time. If its been burnished with plain paper too may times, edge retention will suffer, or it might no longer respond well to the plain paper anymore. A bit of compound or some backhoning passes on the water/jointer stone cleans it right up. On a softer strop, it might be the abrasive cannot generate enough action to remove steel and refresh the apex without rounding, but that would be a very case by case, specific materials and methods issue. Lacking that, I would think most of it might come down to margin of error re angle control/feedback after prolonged or repeated stropping as a maintenance method. In general, stropping has only a fraction of the feedback one gets from a stone.
YMMV
Martin

 

[Sadden]

Maybe the abrasives you use on strops are too soft to handle abrasian resistant steels. I use CBN and Diamond. In regards to pulling the weakened edge back into place using a good compound will abrade off the weakened material leaving fresh metal.

 

[eKretz]

Hmm, from my experience, if one strops properly, there is no loss of edge retention. Strop with a coarser compound for slicing/draw cuts, and a finer compound for push cuts. Diamond compound works great for draw cuts, chromium oxide for shaving/push cutting. Use a fairly stiff leather or a very thin piece of softer leather. The stiffer the better to prevent excess convexing. It's best to strop as little as possible to get the edge you need, but if you are using the proper compound/strop material it won't harm the edge to do more stropping than absolutely necessary.

As an example, when I hone my straight razor I get all my work done on the stones, then I run a couple light draw /dulling strokes with the blade perpendicular across the corner of my finest stone to remove irregularities or any foil or wire edge, then make about 5-10 more sharpening strokes to finish my work on the stones. After this I add a layer of tape to my razor's spine and very lightly strop on an 1/8" thick piece of lightly chromium oxide loaded leather fastened to glass plate (about 20-30 swipes) and the shave is fantastic. Between shaves I use a plain leather strop. I use pretty much the same technique for all the kitchen and steak knives with no problems also.

 

[stitchawl]

This confuses me. I strop my edges to increase my edge retention. I only put my knives on stones a few times a year, relying upon stropping for my EDCs. (My kitchen knives get steeled on glass instead.) This has worked for me for the past 20 years or so. Can you explain why you feel stropping will decrease edge retention? Thanks.
Stitchawl

You are pulling stressed metal back into apex, that weakens it at a TINY level. And the soft abrasives on strops cant abrade the hard elements in the modern steels effectively (Vanadium for example) and thus abrade around the carbides leaving them less supported. I good way around it would be diamond, but you still have the problem of pulling the weakened edge back into apex.

Wait a second... What soft abrasives on my strop? What ARE soft abrasives? That's a contradiction in terms. My strop has natural silicates, certainly harder than most steels. I wouldn't try to strop titanium with it, but it's fine for any knives I own.

Metal isn't being 'pulled back' when we strop. Where did you get this concept? Especially as the pressure one should be using when stropping, there isn't enough force to move metal.

I want you to try coming off the stones when apexed, cut into the stone gently to remove the very apex then sharpen to an apex again careful not to form a burr.

I guess our sharpening methods differ. While it's true that I raise a burr when using my coarse stones, by the time I've reached 600 grit I stop just before a burr is formed. You can both hear and feel that point when sharpening if you pay attention. Using a Sharpie, you can see it as well. No magic involved.

Maybe strop at a maximum of 5 passes per side on a very fine strop just to clean up a few microscopic dings- I feel this will leave you an outstanding edge that lasts a long while.

I generally don't strop much more than this. Maybe 8-10 passes on bare horsehide. If the edge would need more, I'd spend more time on the polishing films before going to a bare strop. This leaves me with an edge on my EDCs that only require going back to the stones 3-4 times a year. That's the sort of edge retention I can be happy with.



Stitchawl