Personal experiences with stropping. My first 4 months. Noobs: read.

[AaronJAnderson]

Background: I’m new to this. I’ve always had knives, but only in the past few months have I decided to take the time to really get to know them. Namely because I want to spend some money on a few good ones to have in my bags.

My main carry knife is a Syderco Delica FFG. I LOVE this thing. It deserves the best treatment. (Yes, it’s purple.) So I went to the local Woodcraft and picked up a sheet of leather and some green polishing compound.

I did what most noobs probably do and started using the rough side of the leather. After a few months of use and stropping my Delica and various other kitchen blades this is what it looks like. It works very well, but it’s got bumps in it, making it hard to maintain a razor edge.

I found this thread, and went about creating my own replica of what zyhano posted.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=770338

I ended up with these:

The only deviance I have from his instructions is that I used an electric random-orbit sander and some 220 grid pads to make quick business of the sanding and leveling portion. The leather came out very smooth but had a TINY amount of fuzz to it... almost like velvet. Perfect I think. Your mileage may vary with the type of leather you’re able to procure.

Right now I’ve got a real beef with the dia-paste. It’s sticky and I can’t get a good stroke accross it. Maybe I used too much, maybe I did something wrong, but it’s sticky. If anyone can comment on this I’d greatly appreciate it.

I had a leftover block of wood and strip of leather. I decided to try a mix of my old way, and zyhano’s way. I glued down the leather, sanded it, rubbed the compound on it, and then the magic part. I grabbed an old wash cloth and rubbed in the compound. I had to make fast and short (4-5 inch) strokes. The idea was to generate some heat from the friction to evenly spread the compound and pickup any extra.

The result:

Because the pictures came last, I had to take an example shot to show you what the leather surface looked like before I rubbed it with cloth.

I was feeling a little rushed with the pictures and didn’t take the time to get the lighting perfect to give you a great shot of the blade edges, but I think this photo will suffice. I should have some time tomorrow to get the fingerprints off and let some daylight into the room.

(That’s a CRKT KISS on the top. I really like it, It’s nice having a chisel edge. I’m a lefty so it’s not a good carry option for me, but that thing will REALLY slice. It’s got a serious tip on it too. Maybe that’s because it’s easier to sharpen because the blade isn’t curved. Topic for another thread)

That’s all really. I just wanted to share my experiences thus far. Live and learn. I don’t think I’m happy with the outcome of the dia-paste project. Hopefully someone can help me out. Hopefully I’ve helped someone else out. There’s a lot of conflicting information out there that confuses the hell out of the new people. I want to provide some empirical info for you.

I should explain why I prefer the green compound. It’s very hard and very smooth (that’s what she said) and gives a good feel when the blade is going accross it. The first few strokes on it after the diamond stone you can really tell it’s pulling material off the blade. It gives a good feedback, it’s smooth, and that 8 dollar stick will probably last me a lifetime vs the 23 I paid for the pastes.

Feedback?

 

[zyhano]

a little late reaction, but a nice writeup, good job! thanks for adding this information
I don't know where to get the quality honing compound here in europe so I'm sticking with dmt diapastes for the time being. Don't want to pay $30 for importing an $8 stick

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'm gonna have to get busy.

I've also recently purchased the 6/3/1 micron DMT pastes, but I've been holding off in using them. Been experimenting with a bunch of things otherwise (like Simichrome polish, which really impresses me as a stropping paste). I've also been wondering about the best way to go about applying the DMT paste, so I don't waste too much of it in the process. With the Simichrome paste, anyway, I've found it works pretty well to put a few 'dots' of it on the leather, and then use a thin plastic ruler, in sort of a putty-knife fashion, to spread it. If I lay the ruler more or less flat on the paste, it really helps to evenly spread it out on the leather, leaving a much more uniform layer. I think I'll attempt the same method with the DMT paste. I keep forgetting, I've also got a piece of the same leather from Woodcraft, bought several years ago, but never used it (yet). Looks like this might be the time...

Good post, Aaron. From what I can see, it looks like you're off to a good start. And zyhano's reference thread certainly doesn't hurt in that effort. :thumbup:

 

[Noctis3880]

The DMT paste will seem "sticky" due to it being oil based rather than water based. I prefer to point a hair dryer at my strop until it's nice and dry. At that point, you should no longer find the paste stuck to your knife edge:thumbup:.

As for the green honing compound, I believe I have the same one, and I'm not sure I can recommend it. I've applied it to a spare slotted paper wheel for use after the usual white compound from the paper wheel set. I found that the near mirror polished edge from the white compound would become clouded after honing on the green compound, so I would say it's safe to assume that the green compound is actually more coarse than the white compound. It was explained to me before that this is because the green compound isn't pure chromium oxide, and actually has some large grit aluminum oxide mixed in.

I would recommend the chromium semi-paste from Hand American, as it is much more pure.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

That's interesting, about the green compound. I have that exact same brand, in the same yellow box, purchased at Woodcraft. I've noticed it's never quite produced as 'shiny' a finish as I would've expected. Never tried any other brand or variety of the green stuff, so I didn't have a basis for comparison. I've heard lots of vague references to 'impurities' in the stick compounds (in general). But, this is the first I've heard, that it's aluminum oxide. It's a little ironic to me, because I've grown to really like using Simichrome polish for stropping. It's aluminum oxide based, although I'm betting a much finer grit, based on the improved results I've been getting with it.

 

[HeavyHanded]

Likewise, that's the same green compound I use. In my highly scientific laboratory, I find the green to be very smooth and does a nice job. I was able to dry shave the stubble from my cheek (my standard field test) using just a Smith's coarse (325 grit) diamond stone and a few passes on this stuff on an Aus8 blade. It made the bevel quite shiny and eradicated a surprising amount of the grind pattern - I usually don't bother with the green unless I've ground the edge at least to 1500-2000 grit. I'm sure there's better grades, but in my experience that particular compound is finer than my Flexcut Gold, which is finer than white compound, which is finer than black, and down into the large grit stuff. I base this on how much color is left behind after a like number of passes, and how it affects the edge. I'd like to try some other brands, but not enough to buy any more than I already have. For day-to-day working edges I usually don't go any finer than the black.

HH

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I have to keep reminding myself, when it gets down to the really fine grit stuff (like the green), other factors play into the finish a lot more, like dirt or any other extraneous grit on the strop.

 

[HeavyHanded]

I have to keep reminding myself, when it gets down to the really fine grit stuff (like the green), other factors play into the finish a lot more, like dirt or any other extraneous grit on the strop.

Another factor is the texture and hardness of the strop itself, and this affects every level of stropping. I can casually deburr a coarse edge with 220 grit SiC powder on the rough side of some leather. Use the smooth side of some fairly hard leather with this stuff and anything but the lightest of touch will actually raise a burr instead of removing it. I've had similar experiences with the black compound as well.

 

[hiwa]

I'm finding the black compound a little too aggressive.
I've been doing Ankerson's method of using Norton Silicon Carbide stones and then going to a green compound strop and I'm getting very nice, sharp edges without lengthy sharpening sessions.

 

[FlaMtnBkr]

I use mainly newer 'super steels' and had bad luck with green compound. Using it on leather would actually make a shaving sharp edge more dull than it was. I switched to diamond spray and using the exact same process I had the sharpest knives I ever had. Many of the steels I use have vanadium carbides which are in the mid 80s HRC if I remember correctly. One of the only things harder is diamond so it makes since the diamond spray cuts the blade steel and makes it sharper. The green compound probably made the blades dull because it wasn't cutting the metal much and any bad form would round the thin delicate edge off. I had no luck with the green but had great results with diamonds. Maybe steels without many hard carbides would react better to the green compound.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Another factor is the texture and hardness of the strop itself, and this affects every level of stropping. I can casually deburr a coarse edge with 220 grit SiC powder on the rough side of some leather. Use the smooth side of some fairly hard leather with this stuff and anything but the lightest of touch will actually raise a burr instead of removing it. I've had similar experiences with the black compound as well.

That's a good point, and it has me considering another 'experiment'. I've been trying out a piece of chamois leather lately, laid atop my regular strop block, as the final 'light buff' after stropping & polishing with the Simichrome. Might have to try the chamois with a little green compound, to see if there's a noticeable difference in results.

I'm liking how this thread is evolving. Has me thinking of new things to try out. That's always a good thing, in my book.

 

[chogue1980]

Very nice thread. I use the green, same brand, then switch to a .5 diamond paste. mirror edges. Might have to try the simichrome as a step in between. great ideas

 

[pwet]

I use mainly newer 'super steels' and had bad luck with green compound. Using it on leather would actually make a shaving sharp edge more dull than it was. I switched to diamond spray and using the exact same process I had the sharpest knives I ever had. Many of the steels I use have vanadium carbides which are in the mid 80s HRC if I remember correctly. One of the only things harder is diamond so it makes since the diamond spray cuts the blade steel and makes it sharper. The green compound probably made the blades dull because it wasn't cutting the metal much and any bad form would round the thin delicate edge off. I had no luck with the green but had great results with diamonds. Maybe steels without many hard carbides would react better to the green compound.

not the same experience here. i've had very good edge by stropping even S90V with hand american CrO.......

read here, the last chart if you follow your logic the only abrasives able to sharpen high vanadium steels are diamonds, titanium diboride (????) and boron carbide. a lot of people reported great result with SiC stones, SiC sandpaper, i've successfully (slower than diamond obviously in the grinding stages, not in polishing imho) sharpened S90V on jap. waterstones wich are most likely aluminium oxyde ....

it's a bit more complicated than that i think. the bond that holds carbide together, that's what you abrade when sharpening.