Strop help!

[knifeandgun]

Hello everyone,
I jist got a Stropman HD compact with white and green compound and to be honest I'm not 100% sure what to do

For instance when do I switch from the white to green?
Like if I have a factory edge/sharp edge knife do I go straight to green for final polishing? Or do I do the white to start polishing?
Should I apply light pressure or?

The stropman seems very nice and high quality and from what I've heard it'll put a sweet polish on my blades, but I just don't know what I'm doing ha
Honestly I have no clue and any help/tips would be appreciated
Thanks in advance!

 

[Strauss95]

On a fairly toothy factory edge, I'll always start off on the white. Use light pressure, edge trailing strokes. Hard to say exactly how many passes to do on each, it's really up to you (and the steel!). But I'll generally do 20 or so passes on each side, then do the same on the green. Stropman makes great strops, the HD compact was my first one. Good luck!

 

[ncrockclimb]

I have the Big Boy. It is a great strop and the leather is awesome. These days, I stop sharpening after the 300 or 600 grit diamond hones on my KME, then strop 10 or 20 strokes on the Stropman white to remove the burr.

I use the Stropman black to bring back a dull edge without using a stone. I used it on my brand new 3V Adventure Sworn knife today, and 20 strokes vastly improved the factory edge.

You have a great tool, but it takes some practice to get the most out of it. I found stropping to be one of the most frustrating and difficult sharpening skills to learn. However, with practice you will 100% be able to learn how to do it and put an awesome edge on your knives. I found this thread to be very helpful:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/750008-Stropping-angle-plus-pressure

 

[knifeandgun]

On a fairly toothy factory edge, I'll always start off on the white. Use light pressure, edge trailing strokes. Hard to say exactly how many passes to do on each, it's really up to you (and the steel!). But I'll generally do 20 or so passes on each side, then do the same on the green. Stropman makes great strops, the HD compact was my first one. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips!

 

[knifeandgun]

I have the Big Boy. It is a great strop and the leather is awesome. These days, I stop sharpening after the 300 or 600 grit diamond hones on my KME, then strop 10 or 20 strokes on the Stropman white to remove the burr.

I use the Stropman black to bring back a dull edge without using a stone. I used it on my brand new 3V Adventure Sworn knife today, and 20 strokes vastly improved the factory edge.

You have a great tool, but it takes some practice to get the most out of it. I found stropping to be one of the most frustrating and difficult sharpening skills to learn. However, with practice you will 100% be able to learn how to do it and put an awesome edge on your knives. I found this thread to be very helpful:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/750008-Stropping-angle-plus-pressure

Thanks for the advice!
And that thread is quite helpful!
Would you say I could get a mirrored edge with the green and white?
I assume it would take a good amount of time no?
Side note: I have been stropping a factory edge manix for about 30 mins and it doesn't seem to be taking a polish:/

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thanks for the advice!
And that thread is quite helpful!
Would you say I could get a mirrored edge with the green and white?
I assume it would take a good amount of time no?
Side note: I have been stropping a factory edge manix for about 30 mins and it doesn't seem to be taking a polish:/

The factory edge is probably below ~200 grit, maybe anywhere between 120-180. More work on a progression of stones would be needed up through 1200+ grit before any stropping could approach polishing it to a mirror. Assuming the steel is S30V or a similar high-vanadium steel, those compounds (white, green) will likely fall short of polishing anyway, as they won't handle the vanadium carbides well. Diamond or CBN compound would do a much better job, and much faster, especially if used on a hard substrate like wood (balsa, basswood, poplar, maple, etc); but only after the extra stone work is done first.


David