Spyderco Sharpmaker + Stropping.. What compounds do I need to get the best edge?

Ares1307

Ares1307

Joined
Jun 14, 2012
Messages
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I am obviously new to sharpening at this level, so I could really use some advice from some of you experts out there. I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker which is amazing, but I only have the medium and fine stones for it. Im planning on buying some Ultra Fine stones for it soon, but I have to order that and the strop I can get locally. I have three knives I am most concerned about, one is my Kershaw Speed Bump with a 14C28N Sandvik Steel blade, the other two are a Zero Tolerance ZT0350SW and a Spyderco Zulu both with S30V blades. I heard the best way to keep a S30V edge is to polish it, How do I do that and can I do that with either a Strop with Compound or the Ultra Fine rods for my Sharpmaker?? And what compounds and brands of compounds are best for my knives' steels and where can I find them? Also, what is the best lower priced strop you know of? And If I make one myself, what would be the best leather, or best size (thickness, length, width)? I know Im asking ALOT.. but you guys are geniuses! ;)

I would like to thank you all in advance for sharing your knowlege, advice, experience, and for having patience with a newbie like me. :D

ARES
 
The strops from stropman.com are excellent and are very well priced and Robert that makes and sells them seems to be a very good guy.
 
Reading some (or all) of the stropping sticky should help you get started. All at once is probably going to confuse you, but read some of it until you get the idea. Watching someone on youtube like jdavis882 or a Murray Carter video that features stropping might be a good idea too to show you the motions.

As for strops, I've used a few things over the years, but I'm not any kind of expert. Hardware store green compound on thin cardboard works. That same compound on scrap leather works if the leather is thick. I've had limited luck with bare leather or bare cardboard, but others think it works great.

I've only purchased one strop and that was recently. It's from stropman.com and I think it's a great strop. I got his black, white, and green compounds too because they were a bargain and I wanted to try compounds other than the hard to apply hardware store buffing compound that I had.

I think the strop has a great soft but firm feel to it when stropping. The black compound is quite coarse as compounds go and I'm not sure where it's going to fit into my routine. I *did* use it on a serrated Delica with very good results though, as an intermediary step before stropping it with green compound.

The white compound is, again, sorta coarse (but not really) and I'm not sure if it's really helping my edges a lot or not. The green compound seems to work almost exactly like the hardware store compound with ONE big exception: Application. The hardware store stuff is a bear to apply. It's hard and waxy and kinda flakes as you try to crayon it on.

All of stropman's compounds apply smoothly and easily. It's really a dream compared to my previous experience. Covering the strop is quick and easy. I was able to get really nice, even, edge to edge coverage without using any heat source or very much force.

So two thumbs up for the strop and the compounds, even if I'm not sure what I'll use the black and white for. The whole package was a bargain in my opinion.

Brian.
 
Thank you for the info. No i didnt read the stickys yet. :foot: newbie mistake. I was thinking of only getting the green for touching up my edges daily/after use, and getting a polishing compound for my s30v blades. I just dont know which polishing compound would do a better job than the Ultra Fine Sharpmaker Rods. Or which polishing compounds would be best for final touches after UF rods.
 
Use different compounds with different steels. With a very finely grained steel you probably want a more aggresive one than with a toothier steel. Green compound (Cr2O3) gives a very smooth finish, great for push cutting,. My favourite though is newspaper, especially with a lot of black ink. Great for slicing.
 
Well the only steels I have right now is a Kershaw Speed Bump 14C28N Sandvik and ZT0350SW, Spyderco Zulu both with S30V. Any suggestions for either of those? Ive heard polishing the S30V is the best way to go for that steel, but I dont know how to polish.. Any suggestions or forums/stickys to point me to? Remember I have the Sharpmaker and Im ordering the Ultra Fine rods, so What would I need after that to polish my S30V?
 
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