Loving my Wicked Edge pro pack 1 so far. Getting almost hair whittling sharp edges with 1200-1500 grit sandpaper before stroping. My questions are, when I began stroping for the first time I cut in to both the strops by going in to the blade. How many cuts can the leather take before it's no good? Thinking about getting the balsa wood strops could they still be cut like leather if not pulled away from the blade? And how do I know when the stones are broken in? I've sharpened about 5 knives
Thanks in advance
-Jack
Clay and others have shown some pretty chewed up strops that were still performing just fine. Probably more of a psychological thing of a cut strop not working as well. If you're seeing improvement in the edge after stropping, no big deal. Balsa wood can still be damaged like leather, if not used "edge trailing".
The cutting of the strops usually occurs out toward the tip, or at the very tip. While you may think you're still using a 'trailing' motion, as you rotate around the tip you can actually start bringing the strop (or stone) back toward you. I'll often strop in sections... not specifically dividing the blade, but just using several strokes to get from heel to tip, so that I'm always using a trailing motion. Works better for me.
Also keep in mind that what you're doing with the strops you're probably also doing with the stones, you just don't notice because the stone isn't damaged. The reason I mention this is because, for example, if your cutting the strop with the very tip of the knife, with the stone you may ever so slightly be grinding that tip off. You may not notice it at first, but over time, the tip will become more blunt. Something to pay attention to, if the strop is indicating this.
Stones usually are decently "broken in" after a dozen or so knives, although they'll still improve a bit more with additional knives. (Of course this depends on how much work is done on each knife).
