Hey all!
So, this week i set on creating a bunch of strops.
Tuesday, i acquired a large flank of 8oz vegetable tanned leather.
Wednesday i acquired several 10" and 12" lengths of pine, and created 3 10" strops. I also acquired a small container of powdered chromium oxide from a friendly jeweler.
This morning, i got a small jar of aluminum oxide from a carpentry supply shop.
As a result, i currently have:
-3x10 chromium oxide strop, with the powder worked in with mineral oil.
-3x10 aluminum oxide strop, powder worked in with mineral oil, but with less success, as the powder gets caked if applied to thickly, and seems to rub off until clean leather with use, no matter how thinly applied, or no matter how much oil.
-and a plain strop of the same dimentions.
I whipped out my cheap sharpening practice knife from the surplus store, and went to work dulling it on a branch of hardwood. I then went through my current freehand setup of a coarse/medium Norton cryostolon, then to a hard arkansas stone (this: http://www.bladematrix.tv/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=31937, which isn't all that fine, at least not significantly finer than the med. side of the cryostolon). after grinding even bevels, and stropping i got it as sharp as i've ever done, i think. it eats through paper like nothing i've ever seen, and it pops hairs. and, if held against a hair correctly, it curly whittles them (though for some reason, it also glides, or snips the hairs at an angle. hard to describe)...
With both compounds, with this cheap "stainless" steel of this knife, i managed an almost mirror polish, with very faint remnants of the previous scratch pattern if inspected closely. this is after an hour with the aluminum oxide and chromium oxide.
with my relative success, i decided to whip out my sebenza and have been attempting to achieve similar, if not better results. so far, i have had to re-surface my aluminum oxide strop several times (there must be a better way to coat the surface or work the leather), and have yet to achieve anything better than a dull shine with a slight scratch pattern.
It's still sharp, but not as sharp as my cheap knife, or how sharp it's been off the UF stone.
So i ask, what next? I think i need to replace or add a stone to my setup, preferably an ultra fine stone. I'm finding stropping more difficult and time consuming than my stones, so perhaps an ultra fine would be more efficient in lessening the scratch pattern and beginning a polish + scary sharp edge.
I'm considering all the cheap options, though there doesn't seem to be all that many. Japanese water stones, or an even harder arkansas stone.
Sorry to be so long lettered, and i appreciate any advice.
So, this week i set on creating a bunch of strops.
Tuesday, i acquired a large flank of 8oz vegetable tanned leather.
Wednesday i acquired several 10" and 12" lengths of pine, and created 3 10" strops. I also acquired a small container of powdered chromium oxide from a friendly jeweler.
This morning, i got a small jar of aluminum oxide from a carpentry supply shop.
As a result, i currently have:
-3x10 chromium oxide strop, with the powder worked in with mineral oil.
-3x10 aluminum oxide strop, powder worked in with mineral oil, but with less success, as the powder gets caked if applied to thickly, and seems to rub off until clean leather with use, no matter how thinly applied, or no matter how much oil.
-and a plain strop of the same dimentions.
I whipped out my cheap sharpening practice knife from the surplus store, and went to work dulling it on a branch of hardwood. I then went through my current freehand setup of a coarse/medium Norton cryostolon, then to a hard arkansas stone (this: http://www.bladematrix.tv/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=31937, which isn't all that fine, at least not significantly finer than the med. side of the cryostolon). after grinding even bevels, and stropping i got it as sharp as i've ever done, i think. it eats through paper like nothing i've ever seen, and it pops hairs. and, if held against a hair correctly, it curly whittles them (though for some reason, it also glides, or snips the hairs at an angle. hard to describe)...
With both compounds, with this cheap "stainless" steel of this knife, i managed an almost mirror polish, with very faint remnants of the previous scratch pattern if inspected closely. this is after an hour with the aluminum oxide and chromium oxide.
with my relative success, i decided to whip out my sebenza and have been attempting to achieve similar, if not better results. so far, i have had to re-surface my aluminum oxide strop several times (there must be a better way to coat the surface or work the leather), and have yet to achieve anything better than a dull shine with a slight scratch pattern.
It's still sharp, but not as sharp as my cheap knife, or how sharp it's been off the UF stone.
So i ask, what next? I think i need to replace or add a stone to my setup, preferably an ultra fine stone. I'm finding stropping more difficult and time consuming than my stones, so perhaps an ultra fine would be more efficient in lessening the scratch pattern and beginning a polish + scary sharp edge.
I'm considering all the cheap options, though there doesn't seem to be all that many. Japanese water stones, or an even harder arkansas stone.
Sorry to be so long lettered, and i appreciate any advice.