some strop issues from my wicked edge.

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whitefox

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Mar 3, 2011
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so i been using my strops for my wicked edge sharperner to finish off my knife, until recently. I been using them for a while i have noticed now my edges will go completely dull once i use this one side of the strop. i guess what is happening is that the strop is making the edge rounder. i assume.

i know its not my technique because when i use the other side (2 sided strop) the other side doesn't do this since my edges come out with very nice sharp edges.

what is causing this? what can i do to fix it? and if i can fix it, will i have to make any adjustments to my wicked edge when i used these "repaired" strops?
 
Decrease your angle a small amount so the strop doesn't round your edge. Use feather weight pressure when stropping at the same angle. These are just ideas from what I've read on the wicked edge forum. I have no experience with the wicked edge and have never seen one in person. I'm sure the experts will chime in soon.
 
^ this + perhaps there's a difference in thickness between the stones and the strop which affects the resulting angle.
 
i will give it a shot. the weird thing is i never had this issue before, so now it is happening out of the blue? it happens when i use "black compound". i use black plenty of times and i am now starting to have issues? whenever i use green compound on a differen't strop i never have this problem. i guess what i should try doing is cleaning the strop that has black compound on it currently, throw some green compound on it and see if i get this rounding edge issue again. maybe the black compound is really thick when it goes on. i dunno.
 
Depending on what the 'black' compound is, it may be a lot more aggressive than the green, and might be over-polishing the edge. I have some 'black' corundum (natural aluminum oxide, a.k.a. 'emery') that I've had to be careful with on some steels, for this very reason. If the compound is too aggressive for the steel type, even at small particle size, it can over-polish and take the 'bite' out of an edge. Even more-so, if pressure is a little heavy or if the leather is a bit too soft.

Cleaning the black strop might be a good place to start. Assuming the black is more aggressive and has been used a lot, it'll likely be loaded with more swarf. That can contribute to the problem as well.


David
 
Are you using too much force? I try not to use any more pressure than the weight of the strop itself, if not less! That goes for al stones from 400 up.
 
WhiteFox,
From your description of the problem, I would suspect that the strop that you are having trouble with is thinner than the others. Any change in thickness of strop or hone will create angle changes in the EP and WE. Worse in the WE because you also have to take into consideration the manufacturing tolerance of the paddle and its holes for the rods.
The tolerances/thickness can and will effect angle and this will certainly 'round over ' the blade edge. You might need to adjust the angle a little to compensate.
 
Even if the angle increased a few degrees, the edge shouldn't be 'OP: completely dull', a little rounded perhaps but should be sharp. Try OWE's suggestions.
 
Still having some issues with this whole stropping thing. I've been using the green compound right after I finish my stones off with the 800 grit. Quit using the black compound. I notice the edge doesn't seem really sticky, aka: bites. It barely shaves arm hair. The steels I am stropping on right now is vg-10 and zdp-189. It has no trouble biting into my thumb nail and removing slivers from it. Like I said before never had this issue before. Never had to make adjustments for stropping either on the wicked edge. I've also been using some de-greaser to help apply the green compound on the strops. I dunno if this could also be dulling the edge as well. Its a chain cleaner for motorcycle chains. Its called Motorex. Can't remember if I was using this stuff awhile back.

edit: when i strop its about 3-4 passes on each side. someone suggested when i finish stropping, run the stone 1 more pass on each side.
 
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