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Sharpmaker and Stropman Billy - How to best work together

slim4511

slim4511

Joined
Dec 8, 2014
Messages
131
Looking for some advice here. I have about 10 knives that I want to maintain and keep in good condition. Here is the equipment I have:
Spyderco Sharpmaker with Coarse, Fine, and Ultra Fine ceramic rods.
Stropman Billy 4 sided strop with Black Coarse compound, White Medium compound, Green Fine compound, and Red Ultra Fine compound. I will load the Coarse, Medium, and Fine, compounds for the three "flesh side up" surfaces and the Red Ultra Fine compound on the "flesh side down" surface.

My blades do not get real heavy use so do not plan on having to do any major maintenance. I do not plan re-profiling a bezel either. I am not worried about getting a mirror finish but simply want to maintain them in Very Sharp condition.

To date, I typically go through the various Sharpmaker rods and get a pretty good result. I just now received the Billy Strop and would like to know what you guys think my sequence should be utilizing both pieces of equipment keeping in mind that the blades really won't get very dull at any point before sending them through the process again. Thanks for your input.
 
If u do it right all the way to the UF rods, there should be no need but for the finest compound as the last step and u should have a hair whittling edge at that point. For carbon steel that could be a high quality "green compound" of 0.5 micron, on "super steels" rather 0.5 diamond spray.
 
I wouldn't bother using the Red compound. That is too soft for hand stropping steel. It IS excellent for a final polish for silver, gold, and platinum though...
You'd really need to use that on a powered muslin wheel to really see any difference red compound will make.

Were I in your shoes, after the Ultra Fine rods I'd skip right to the green compound for 10-20 strokes, followed by a bare strop for an additional 10-20 strokes. If that doesn't give you the sharpest edge, you didn't stay on the stones long enough before switching to the strop.


Stitchawl
 
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