Palm Stropping?

C

Chewy1

Joined
Jun 5, 2006
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1,564
Usually before I start to use a knife, I'll strop it on my jeans. Today, I picked up my recently won Old Timer 80T and checked the clip blade for sharpness. I like to pick at my fingerprints to see if a blade is sharp. Well, it was sharp but not that sharp. So, I stropped it on the palm of my hand carefully and it perked right up. All three blades responded the same.

Weird, huh? I mean, it isn't a bunch of toilet paper rolls, but it worked.:D
 
Your hands must be a bit more abrasive than mine:p


edit- seriously though, I have acually heard of that before, but never done it, or seen it done. Don't think it would work for me.
 
will have to try that. i also strop on my jeans. i read that cowboys used the leather patches on jeans to strop their knives - hard to do, in my experience.
 
I remember as a kid watching my grandfather hold his knife in his hand and "strop" his blade with his thumb. At least that's what I think he was doing. I've done it at times with some success actually. Afterall, isn't leather simply skin to some degree?
 
I use the palm of my hand all the time. Good strop from that, too. Jeans, belts, boot tops, card board boxes, underside of Ceramic cups, the top of a car window, mouse pad, even on wood. I'll strop my blades on a variety of objects. Works good in a pinch.
 
i've done this for years & it does perk up the edge. this said one can also get a decent cut if he is not careful.
 
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Meh, I tried it this morning after reading this...seems duller

Guess I'll just stick to the legal pad method.
 
I like to use a leather strop - I try to keep the edge of a blade away from my skin....unless I need to remove a splinter and a good splinter tweezer is not available.
 
Here is a nice video of Maesto Live, a very well respected Italian razor/knife maker, sharpening one of his razors and stroping it on his palm.
[YOUTUBE]uBXOP9tGqZs[/YOUTUBE]

JD
 
Son, you best stop doing that or you're gonna go blind!

Seriously, this the first I've ever heard of it. Does this work on any patch of rough skin like rough heels, too?
 
Cool video, but I'll stick to stropping on cow skin instead of my own...:thumbup:
 
i know people who after they shave w/ a disposable, the strop it up the back of their arm, it' makes the disposable last like 3 times as long
 
Chewy1 said:
Usually before I start to use a knife, I'll strop it on my jeans. Today, I picked up my recently won Old Timer 80T and checked the clip blade for sharpness. I like to pick at my fingerprints to see if a blade is sharp. Well, it was sharp but not that sharp. So, I stropped it on the palm of my hand carefully and it perked right up. All three blades responded the same.

Weird, huh? I mean, it isn't a bunch of toilet paper rolls, but it worked.:D
Click to expand...

My first restaurant job I worked with a cantankerous old chef from Germany who stropped all of his chef knives on his palm every time he used them. He also tested the heat of the deep fryers by sticking his index finger in them. Pretty accurate too, we tested him against a thermometer. The stropping thing must have worked he had the sharped knives of any chef I ever worked with (except me of course;))
 
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