Making a Strop got a few questions

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sketchbag

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I'm having an unbelievably hard time finding leather scraps, but Ive tracked down a supply of 8oz (1/8"?) leather, will that be thick enough?

Which style is better for maintaining a convexed edge (with a pronounced slope like on the Fallkniven F1?), a paddle or a strap? Do you need to look for different qualities in the leather for one or the other? I'm guessing you could get away with thinner leather if youre using a strap.

Should you always use the smooth side of the leather?

Sorry if this has been asked a lot, no search is killing me, and probably annoying the piss out of everyone who answers all these questions!

Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it.
 
I have both rough and smooth on my strop... I use the smooth after honing, the rough I use to remove minor blade scratches. I have a 3-1/2" x 3/4" x 11" piece of mahogany with leather glued on both sides - smooth and rough. Both are charged with green chromium oxide.

TO maintain the edge on my Bark Rivers, I use mousepads with 800 and 1000 wet dry, and a board with 6-7oz leather glued on, covered with 2000 wet dry. In almost all cases when touching up the edge on the knives, I start at 2000 and then go to the strop. Rarely do I need to drop down to 800, then 1000, then 2000.

Here is a photo of my setup. Simple and cheap.
ConvexSharpeningKit-01.jpg
 
Thanks Stretch! Very helpful.

Why do you mount the 2000grit to leather instead of a mousepad? To keep it firmer and have less wrap around on the edge?
 
I'm having an unbelievably hard time finding leather scraps
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Try a tack shop. The leather they use for saddles is perfect. It's about 1/8" thick and fairly hard (both on the smooth and rough sides). I prefer a minimum 10"x3" dimensions. You want the surface to be fairly rigid so that it does not compress and roll the edge. Heat it up a little (like with a hair dryer), put down a heavy layer of CrO, then dribble some mineral oil on it so that you get a CrO slurry, and rub it into the leather. After it dries, you'll have a premium stropping surface. Mine looks almost identical to StretchNM's in the post above.
 
sketchbag said:
Thanks Stretch! Very helpful.

Why do you mount the 2000grit to leather instead of a mousepad? To keep it firmer and have less wrap around on the edge?
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Yes, that's why I do it. In fact, I'm going to replace the mousepad with wood/leather for the 1000 grit too. I'll leave the softer pad under the 800 (and below, when I use it) because, as you sharpen a full convex edge, you should be honing the entire face. With the softer backing, I think you can pretty much hone the face and edge with moderately light pressure. When you get to the finishing grades (1k and 2k), there is more concentration on "just" the edge, and lighter pressure too. That's how I do it anyway.

The next time I reload my strop, I'm going to use mineral oil as Ted suggested. I've heard that before, but haven't yet tried it. I get my leather nice and warm, then rub the rouge in like scribbling with a crayon, but it doesn;t always come out even. So maybe the oil is the way to go.

Another source for leather is a craft store, like Hobby Lobby, et al. They'll have bags of scrap leather, from 6 to 9oz scraps, for $5. That's what I've used on my strops and sharpening setups. I keep my good vege-tanned leather for sheaths! :D

Also at Hobby Lobby you can get good leather lanyard material for your small and medium knives. Round leather, 2 or 3 mm, is great for small Barkies!
 
sketchbag said:
I'm having an unbelievably hard time finding leather scraps, but Ive tracked down a supply of 8oz (1/8"?) leather, will that be thick enough?
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8 oz will work wonderfully, but almost any weight will do. I've got one strop I've been using since 2003 that's made with 3/4 oz lining leather mounted on a paddle made from red oak. It has seem much use.

I recently made one out of a block of season cherry that's 3" x 3" x 12". I made it to be three sided. One side is coated with CrO, one is red rouge and one is white polishing compound. Leather was scrap 7/8 oz, left over from a belt I made for a friend.
 
nozh2002 said:
To my experience leather should be thin not thick. Also it should not be glued but stretched over.

Thenks, Vassili.
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Dick Sherer, a custom saddle maker in Colorado, did an article a few years back on constructing strops. From memory he said he'd use the old stirrup leathers that'd he replaced. Stirrups leathers are 9/10 and heavier. Of course he was also making them very large 4" x 24" or bigger. His method of attachment was to countersink two screws one end then stretch and screw down the other. Then load with abrasive. He said he got many years service from each one.
 
I just use scrap leather from Tandy. I cut it into strop sized hunks and us it unmounted. I just lay it on the work bench, crayon on the red or white polishing compound and go to town.
 
I use 1 inch X 1/4 inch oak firring strips from Lowe's, cut to 12 inch length. (wish I could take credit for this idea, but I got it from another member whose handle I cant remember at the moment. anyway, thank you for the idea, sir!)

I glue the rough side of the leather to the wood with Elmer's carpenter's glue. (That way I can peel it off if need be.)

I hand rub the leather (HandAmerican stroppng leather) with Fromm's strop dressing, and let it soak in for 24-48 hours. I then heat the leather to about 140 degrees, and apply the polishing paste and rub it in. ( wear a rubber glove for this!:rolleyes:)

The best way?? :confused: Maybe, maybe not. But it works extremely well for me!:):)

I use single sided strops loaded with 6 micron, and 2.5 micron SiC, and 1 micron Cubic Boron Nitride, (CBN) and .5 micron diamond. And lastly, a plain leather strop.

When I don't feel like setting up the belt sander, the 6 micron will sharpen a relatively dull convex pretty quickly. For general touch up, I usually just use the 2.5, 1 and .5 micron strops.

(Did I mention that I'm fanatical about keeping a true "razor edge" on all of my knives?? :p:p )
 
I used an old belt cut in two and glued down to a piece of wood. One side smooth and the other side rough. Works great.
 
THe issue of whether to glue down, clamp down, or screw down seems non-critical to me. As long as the strop lays flat and the edges don;t curl up, I suppose it doesn;t matter.

But if guys are clamping or screwing the leather down, or paying money for something that does that, consider this first:

A strop glued down is going to last a long time. A good, long time. Granted, eventually we have to replace or refinish the leather, at which time we glue another strip down on a piece of wood. Cheap. Simple.

Unless I'm missing something, is there really a need to go unclamping the leather and replacing it every so often? THis is a serious question.
 
No it does matter because most what good strop system need to is preenting edge rolling out. So for this reason soft or thick or glued leather will not work - it will work to some extent. But to make edge hair whittling you need to be very careful. If it is not glued then it can absorb some move which otherwise will leed to edge being rolled out.

I can prove that my strop work, and before with "HandAmerican stroppng leather" glued to flat wood I was not able to make edge better then 70 gramms on thread test. Actually measurements shows that in many case I loose sharpness after this stropping (while it continue shaving arm).

Prove: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI_iqAyb3xA

I can speak only about my experience. If someone else can whittle hair like I do and made it different way - I'll be happy to see this. Please post you whittled hair picture.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Well, no Vassili, I can;t whittle hair like you do...not yet anyway. But I attribute that to lack of experience and technique. I've got alot to learn just at the stone and wet/dry setup, let alone the strop. I can get my edges literally razor sharp, even if I can;t whittle hair, so I think I'm on the way to a good edge, while not quite "there" yet.

I'm pretty careful when gluing the leather down and I've done it many times through the years in making leather topped desktops, however, it is possible that I'm missing something somewhere. If we're sloppy when laying the leather or using the wrong type of glue that shrinks and pulls the leather as it drys, I imagine we can affect the strop. Or if we use an unstable wood that shrinks and expands, thereby pulling on the leather, I guess we can affect it. THis is why I use mahogany and luan (Phillipine mahogany)....because it is cheap and stable.

Is it possible that the HandAmerican strop wasn;t as carefully laid and glued as you or I might have done in building our own? I mean, even if you're clamping or screwing the leather down, doesn;t there need to be extreme care taken if you want it to be better than a glued strop?
 
StretchNM said:
Well, no Vassili, I can;t whittle hair like you do...not yet anyway. But I attribute that to lack of experience and technique. I've got alot to learn just at the stone and wet/dry setup, let alone the strop. I can get my edges literally razor sharp, even if I can;t whittle hair, so I think I'm on the way to a good edge, while not quite "there" yet.

I'm pretty careful when gluing the leather down and I've done it many times through the years in making leather topped desktops, however, it is possible that I'm missing something somewhere. If we're sloppy when laying the leather or using the wrong type of glue that shrinks and pulls the leather as it drys, I imagine we can affect the strop. Or if we use an unstable wood that shrinks and expands, thereby pulling on the leather, I guess we can affect it. THis is why I use mahogany and luan (Phillipine mahogany)....because it is cheap and stable.

Is it possible that the HandAmerican strop wasn;t as carefully laid and glued as you or I might have done in building our own? I mean, even if you're clamping or screwing the leather down, doesn;t there need to be extreme care taken if you want it to be better than a glued strop?
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My point is that stretched leather if you push to hard will stretch-move with blade, because it is not fixed to the wood, absorbing this way wrong move! It is not about it being flat or not, it is about being fixed or hang free (sorry I try to use words I know) as an additional level of flexibility which more forgiving to wrong move, which absorbs this wrong move.

Second - if leather thick it will bend under pressure (like pillow under head) and so edge will be rolled out. This is why thin leather preferable to thick tooling leather from HandAmerican, I use upholstery leather from Tandy - it is relatively thin and has many pores to keep Green Rouge in. And of course I apply almost no pressure at all at final moves.

As a base I use Shadwa - it does not look too nice for knife handle, but as tough as Zebra wood.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I could say I'm one of the few fortunate to have inherited some leather strops originals from babrer shops in the bronx area, wide and thick
 
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