strop from start to finish

williamsld8

williamsld8

Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
226
what is the process used when presented with a strop and compound? How do you appropriately load it, and how should it be cleaned and how frequently? And then is the re-loading orocess the same?

also, I tried my own little makeshift stroping project which involved using mothers metal polish on a piece of cardboard,the kind used as the back cover of a notebook. At first it worked absolute wonders, and then once it dried out, applying more proved to decrease the results although it still worked, then after another time after the polish drieda second time, results stopped altogether. Is this cardboard method temporary enough to require replacing the actual cardboard once/before one blade can even be finished?
 
I'm no expert, but I'll tell you what I've learned. I would suggest getting a good leather-on-wood strop (probably more accurately referred to as a hone). There are plenty of online vendors, and a gentlemen who goes by "mr2dark" or "mr2blue" on some of the forums makes beautiful ones at reasonable prices. Actually, I'd get two strops, or one that is two-sided.

Get a bar of black (coarser) compound, and a bar of green (finer). Some people apply it to the leather pretty thickly, and others, myself included, prefer a lighter pattern of striping. One hone is for the black, the other (or other side) is for the green.

For stropping/honing, use the coarse (black) coated strop/hone first, and then you can finish with the fine (green) if you want a more polished edge. Use light strokes---just the weight of the blade, don't press down.

Getting the angle right can be tricky, and there are various ways to do so. There is the "sharpie" method, which is greatly aided by viewing your edge with a good LED lighted loupe. Faster and simpler is to lay the blade flat on the hone and then lift it as you slowly move it in the direction the edge is facing. When the edge catches the leather, that's the angle to use in stropping/honing---by moving the blade in the opposite direction, edge trailing.

You don't need to clean your hones often, but if they become slick and you're not getting the same sharpening effect, it may be time to do that. Use the spine (blunt side) of a straight knife, and scrape the compound off. You can then lightly sand the leather surface to remove most of what's left of the old compound. Then re-apply the compound.

Some people heat the hone and/or the compound before applying, some don't. It may also depend on the particular leather and/or compound you are using.

There is lots of info. on this subject all over the web, esp. in the forums. Hope this brief summary helps a bit.

Andrew
 
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