Maintaining with strops?

D

DavidR.WV

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Sep 9, 2025
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I sharpen with the Wicked Edge, Hapstone R2, Edge Pro, or freehand, depending on the knife and my mood. I have usually touched up the edges with an Idahone ceramic rod or the Sharpmaker. I recently bought a Sharpal strop to experiment with for burr-free maintenance. So far I'm not really successful. Is it realistic to expect stropping to maintain the edge? What do you all use?

Thanks,
Dave
 
I use a Wicked Edge. For blade maintenance a 1500 and 2200 diamond stone followed by Wicked Edge Strops using 4 micron and 2 micron emulsions.
 
It depends. I do use a leather strop for maintaining my kitchen knives at home. Usually a few swipes on the coarse side doped with 9 micron diamond followed by a few passes on the fine side with 0.5 micron brings the edge back nicely. Once it doesn't the knife gets a full sharpening.
 
Leather strops loaded w BRKT white compound or diamond emulsions for high HRC stuff.
Usually I only use diamond plates to fix damage and to reprofile the edge.
 
I mostly use the strop on the work sharp field sharpener. With some sort of block of green stuff.

It works fine.

Aparently the strop will work better the older it is.

I think that might be the case. But I am just kind of eyeballing it.

But my knives will go from not cutting paper to cutting paper with a strop.
 
I haven't found that stropping has much effect on super steels; if anything it takes away that biting edge. A few light strokes with a smooth steel seems to work better, for me at least. (I have a wood-backed paddle strop, plain leather on one side, the other with green chromium oxide compound worked in.)
 
I've had mixed results.on my whittle knives they only touch strops not ever a sharpener and it's the way to go. On pocket knives I seem to end up ruining the edge. Not sure why. I'm guessing I'm rolling over the edge. But why am I great with one and not the other. I suspect the lower angle of the whittle knives somehow rolls over less. But it's also very likely me. YMMV. Practice on something you care about less. It's all about consistent angle from what I hear. There is also debate over using the flat side and the rough side of the leather. Too large a rough knap can cause issues also. I son find I am way better on the cheap old strop with a thin knap. And the green compounds vary quite a bit. The greasy one seemed to work better than the hard one. Try, fail, try something else...
 
Yes and no.

Yes, it will bring back some sharpness but will also add to the smoothness. The more you strop to maintain the smoother the edge will become. Meaning, the edge will have no bite. It will feel sharp but not cut very well.

On the other side, it depends on how dull you let the knife get. If you can see flatness, small dings or rolls the its a big No. The strop will only work if the edge is just barely dull. Like, almost shaves but not cleanly.

Lastly, the abrasive compound you use will be a major factor. If you try using Chromium oxide on something with 4%+ Vanadium content then you would probably have the same success rate as trying to stare at it in hopes that it will get sharper.

Basic compounds are great on most carbon and stainless tools but it takes Diamond compounds for super steels.
 
The biggest issue with maintaining with strops is that most strops use a soft material that deflects under pressure, meaning that you have a lot of variability in your effective angle. In general you will have a cumulative ratcheting effect where harder pressure results in thicker apex angles that progressively worsen over time. Periodic resetting of the edge angle is needed to maintain cutting performance.
 
My preference these days is heavily biased toward a more toothy bite in my working edges - something that really only comes from a coarse or medium grit stone.

Years ago, I used to rely more on a strop with compound when I was doing more polishing of my edges. But if the desire is to maintain a toothy bite, then that'll only diminish with prolonged stropping. The edge will always become more polished and less aggressive in slicing cuts, if nothing but a strop is used to maintain it. I also tend to believe that even if one is careful to avoid the rounding effect from a soft substrate like leather or fabric on a strop, the edge will still get too drawn out and too thin on a strop to be durable for anything much more than shaving hairs.

I like the fine balance between slicing aggression and edge durability that careful edge-leading finishing on a medium grit stone provides. Any stropping I might do beyond that is always very, very minimal and is done using no compound at all. Just basically enough to remove any loose, weak remnants of sharpening from the apex and no more.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
My preference these days is heavily biased toward a more toothy bite in my working edges - something that really only comes from a coarse or medium grit stone.

Years ago, I used to rely more on a strop with compound when I was doing more polishing of my edges. But if the desire is to maintain a toothy bite, then that'll only diminish with prolonged stropping. The edge will always become more polished and less aggressive in slicing cuts, if nothing but a strop is used to maintain it. I also tend to believe that even if one is careful to avoid the rounding effect from a soft substrate like leather or fabric on a strop, the edge will still get too drawn out and too thin on a strop to be durable for anything much more than shaving hairs.

I like the fine balance between slicing aggression and edge durability that careful edge-leading finishing on a medium grit stone provides. Any stropping I might do beyond that is always very, very minimal and is done using no compound at all. Just basically enough to remove any loose, weak remnants of sharpening from the apex and no more.
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It may have been both you and Cliff Stamp who put those ideas in my head, and I have been very happy ever since. I love the edges I get off a medium or coarse stone/plate. Saves time and I don’t fuss with strops anymore. I’ll use a piece of cardboard if need be.
 
I mostly use strops for intermittent light touchups or for assisting the deburring process on freshly set edges where a wire edge has formed, and in those circumstances I prefer to use a piece of solid wood since it has less deflection than leather or fabric, but I usually just finish the edge with light edge-leading strokes on a stone.
 
Alberta Ed said:
I haven't found that stropping has much effect on super steels; if anything it takes away that biting edge. A few light strokes with a smooth steel seems to work better, for me at least. (I have a wood-backed paddle strop, plain leather on one side, the other with green chromium oxide compound worked in.)
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Agreed about leather strops taking away the bite, but denim strops seem to be an exception to that.
 
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