Removing strop rouge?

M

mohab1993

Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
22
how can i tell i need to reload on rouge and how do i remove the current rouge? are there any household items i can use to do so?
 
A paper towel wetted with WD-40. Wipe down the strop with it. Wipe as much of the compound off as will come off, don't worry too much about getting the leather pristinely clean. Then let it dry a while. An hour or two in a sunny spot next to a window usually works, or use a hair dryer if you wish. Re-apply compound lightly. Don't need a heavy layer of it. Strops work much more effectively if the compound layer is relatively light.

A strop doesn't need this treatment all that often. More often than not, I just use a dry paper towel to wipe the excess black stuff (swarf/metal) off. That's usually good enough. When it seems as if the strop isn't so effective anymore, then give some thought to cleaning with the WD-40 and re-applying compound.

Here are a couple of threads on the topic of loading/cleaning/re-surfacing strops. Good info here:

www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthre...op-please-and-how-it-is-loaded-update-post-13

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/831937-How-to-re-surface-a-leather-strop
 
mohab1993 said:
can you over strop a knife?
Click to expand...

Probably. For the sake of practicing technique, doing a LOT of stropping might be helpful for training the hands and 'muscle memory' (I did this for a while). Otherwise, it's more likely to be counter-productive for the edge. Done freehand, it'll eventually round off an edge, because it's impossible to stay consistent with the angle. And if one feels the need to strop a lot, for the sake of improving the edge, then more work needs to be done on the hones, before stropping. Stropping is at it's best when only a few passes are needed to produce a noticeable improvement. Maybe 10 - 20 passes per side, and oftentimes much less than that.
 
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