strop and compound???

K

kane22

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Feb 25, 2013
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Like everything else something that sounds simple is turning into something more complicated the more I read. I just have a homemade one now that I used an old leather sling to make. It does ok for getting a burr off, but I want something a little better.

I was going to go with a DLT double sided strop and bark river white and black compound. From what I have read the green compound is not that good, or not needed???

Any info you guys could give me would be great...if I should look at something else ect.
 
Whether green compound is needed or not, depends on what you're trying to do with it. For burr cleanup on most typical steels, it can do that very well without otherwise being too aggressive (removing too much 'bite' from the edge). For that type of task, green is my favorite for simple carbon steels like 1095, CV, or basic low-alloy stainless like 420HC. On the other hand, if you're aiming for higher polish, something more aggressive than green, like a white rouge (aluminum oxide), or diamond/CBN for high-wear steels with a lot of vanadium content, might be a better choice. Any compound can also work better the more the edge is refined on the stones prior to stropping.


David
 
Yeah, I wanted to try for a polished edge. I have knifes in everything from 1095 to m390. I was thinking that a polished edge on the high carbon blades would make them a little more resistant to rust. Not sure is that's true or not, seems like there would be less surface area that would hold moisture?

The bark river compound is listed as black-3000 grit, green-6000, white-12000.
 
Any abrasive stropping or honing on a knife's edge will generally keep rust at bay, just due to the frequent cleaning effect it'll have on the steel at the edge. Edges that are well-maintained will always stay 'clean' of rust or other contamination, no matter how coarse or polished they might be. Polishing the blade, as a whole, could help resist rust, but even that usually isn't necessary to prevent it. Just keeping the blade clean & dry after use will do 95% of it, and a little bit of oil will do the rest.

Even if listed at a finer grit than green, if the 'white' compound is aluminum oxide, it'll still work more aggressively to a quicker polish. It's considerably harder than the chromium oxide 'green' compound, which is why it can bring about a fuller & faster polish than the green, even at smaller grit size. The 'black' compound will be very aggressive at cleaning the edge of heavy burrs, but is also usually prone to overpolishing or removing too much of the teeth, if used too far. It could be useful for quickly cleaning up very coarse, low-grit edges, used with a minimum of passes.

All of the above compounds will work more effectively on a firmer strop, like hard-backed fabric (denim, linen) over hardwood or if used on wood alone, like balsa, basswood and others. Leather strops can work well on simpler steels, mainly for cleaning up burrs; but they generally won't polish as fast, nor leave as clean & crisp an edge as a harder-backed strop. If you're looking for a faster & higher polish on your edges, in a manner that also protects or enhances the crispness of the apex, that's the direction I'd take.


David
 
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kane22 said:
Yeah, I wanted to try for a polished edge. I have knifes in everything from 1095 to m390. I was thinking that a polished edge on the high carbon blades would make them a little more resistant to rust. Not sure is that's true or not, seems like there would be less surface area that would hold moisture?

The bark river compound is listed as black-3000 grit, green-6000, white-12000.
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Bark rivers compounds are a little different IIRC usually black is the coarse then white then green then red at least in the compounds I have .

I have a stropman double sided with black and white and a knivesplus block preloaded with green .

The knives plus is the best finishing strop I have right now . It may not bring an edge back but the final edge it gives you is worth the 20 bucks IURC I paid for it .

The strop man is great for bringing back an edge . The black cuts a lot and doesn't really polish and the white is a great mix of cut and polish .
 
After some more research I've found that the bark river green isn't the "normal" green, and most people don't seem to like it.

I've also come across the knives plus strop block, that seems to get good reviews.
 
The Bark River black is about 20 micron particle size in a pretty hard binder. I don't know about the white but would assume between .5 and 1 micron.

The black worked pretty well when I tried it out, nice that it doesn't go on too gooey.

In my opinion I'd try some regular paper wrapped around a combination stone, unless the pre-made strop is a better deal if ordered with the compounds. You can vary the amount of give your "strop" has by changing the number or thickness of your paper sheets. Per David, the harder strops are a lot more forgiving and using paper allows for easy swapouts when the strop loads up, rather than having to clean it and re-apply.
 
kane22 said:
After some more research I've found that the bark river green isn't the "normal" green, and most people don't seem to like it.

I've also come across the knives plus strop block, that seems to get good reviews.
Click to expand...

Some 'green' compounds in stick form seem to be kind of irregular, and probably not too tightly controlled in grit size, or even composition. Sometimes other abrasives might be mixed into them, or just other impurities. Doesn't really surprise me when some turn out not to be so popular. I've been using chromium oxide (green) in dry powder form, which I found at a local lapidary shop for rock-polishing hobbyists. I've found it to be much better than the green 'stick' compound I've tried, which occasionally left scratches far, far bigger than the assumed grit size of 0.5-1µ for most 'green' compounds.

In applying the dry powder to a leather strop, I've used a little bit of hand lotion to help it bind to the leather. The hand lotion I've used is a mineral oil-based product, so it DOES have some petroleum-originated content, but without the waxy stuff to get in the way; the light portion of mineral oil in the lotion doesn't interfere with the compound's effectiveness. In using just a little bit to bind the compound to the leather, I've not had any issues or problems with it. One additional thing I've liked about it is, it's really done a good job in keeping the compound in the leather; I haven't had to frequently reapply any of the lotion to the strop (a leather belt I use as a hanging strop).

Having said all that, one could likely get by just fine without using green compound at all. Other compounds like white rouge can be a lot more versatile for use on most mainstream steels lacking large amounts of vanadium carbide content (use diamond/CBN for those).


David
 
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Thanks everyone! I went with the stropman large double sided strop, and his white and green compound. They are back ordered for a while but i'll let you know what I think when I get a chance to use them.
 
Strop man's are good mine is about 5 years old and going strong .

Knives plus strop block is hard to beat too for the money .. Let me know when you order it lol. Seriously the thing is awesome I've only had to "recharge" it once with olive oil best 20 bucks I spent on a strop
 
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