Strop maintenance roughing the leather?

Obsessed with Edges said:
If you do try the WD-40, just moisten a paper towel or rag with it, and wipe the leather. Avoid spraying it directly on the leather (I'm betting you already know this). Wiping the leather should leave it just moist enough to darken it slightly, but it should dry back to normal-looking within an hour or two, if not quicker. The little bit of mineral oil in the WD-40 will remain in the leather for a bit, and that is what helps prevent it from becoming excessively dry. Strops that I've cleaned with it show no signs of it (by sight, feel or smell) within a day or two, and I've not noticed any change in character of the leather. Pretty easy to get along with, used this way.


David
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Thanks David.

It occurred to me to start a new thread, but my pics and stuff don't seem like enough to me to warrant that. Hopefully the OP doesn't mind me posting these in his thread?

I cleaned my AlumOx strop, the one I use most heavily for my carving knives because I've started working with a harder wood that requires more knife maintenance.

Dirty strop interior lighting

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Sun lit (first pic shows better)

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Wd40 and a microfiber towel

IMAG1173_zps65f326b2.jpg


Swarf

IMAG1174_zpsb0a08593.jpg


Cleaned in shade

IMAG1177_zps544c8028.jpg


And in the sunlight

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It's drying now, but I can already tell you 100% that I like it much better this way. As has been pointed out, every strop is going to be different from the next. There are too many variables to make blanket statements, that's true, but for me, with this strop, I'm going to say that I'm very happy with the results using wd40.

:thumbup:
 
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^^Awesome!! :thumbup:

Looks good (very good, actually). I hadn't even thought of the microfiber towel for use with WD-40, but that makes good sense. These towels are great 'scrubbers'. I frequently use microfiber towels dry, for wiping down strops and hones when they get dirty, so I guess I should give it a go with WD-40 the next time.


David
 
And ready for action.

IMAG1178_zpsa310c12d.jpg


The compound looks to be applied heavily in the pic but it's used fairly sparingly. I'll run a junk blade over it a bit to help settle the abrasives as they are slightly aggressive in this carving knife specific compound, then it's game on. :)
 
Thanks. I've never seen it in any of the home centers or hardware shops on this side of the pond, but maybe I just wasn't 'seeing' what I was looking at!


Stitchawl
 
knifenut1013 said:
Now I use high quality leather without compound, personally I feel it works better but it also means you must do better on the stone because it won't "fix" anything.
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help I'm confused by this - if no compound is present then how is the leather able to polish the steel? the most it should be able to do w/o compound is to straighten a wavering edge, like a butcher's steel, and if so then why bother with it tx
 
Sub 100nm silicates will refine the edge somewhat. But I think, most abrasive affect from bare leather strop are actually from contaminated grits and metal particles came off the blade (ok, this probably burnish more). That said, over all bare strop still has much less density and finer abrasives than those loaded with compound. In turn reduce the chance of over stropping.

As for skin vs flesh side of leather for stropping - I discussed flesh/nap side in my Balanced Strop thread. Further more, nap/rough side functions similar to bristle in toothbrush. and compound=toothpaste. yes, the trick of refining teeth on your edge - coarse or fine. While hard surface stropping only refine the edge & apex surfaces, it serves the primary 2D sharp function but lacking on 3D geometry.
 
You could start by searching some of the stropping threads, especially those where Stitchawl has posted extensively.

Leather naturally has abrasive in it, depending on the animal (cow, horse, kangaroo, ect) and how it was processed it will have varying amounts of "polishing" effects. To me the edge from a stone stropped on a good piece of bare leather far exceeds the ability of any compound.

P.S. a butchers steel doesn't work like you think it does. Reading this will clear some things up
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/956235-A-very-quick-and-close-look-at-steeling
 
Sweet! Thanks for posting that, I've always wondered about steels. I know what people say about them, but it's cool to see some evidence.

To HH too, of course, for writing it.

;) :thumbup:
 
I wonder if certain textures of leather work better for different grinds and geometries? For instance- a leather strop with a rougher nap would work more efficiently at sharpening a thicker stock convex blade with a large cutting geometry. And a finer or smoother leather strop would work better for a thinner stock flat grind blade. Just a thought.

I don't mind the pics guys. Anything (pics, links, etc...) that helps me fine tune my blade sharpening skills is much appreciated. Thanks for the pics strigamort.
 
120 grit sandpaper works for me. Then I just give it good dust off with a blower nozzle attached to my air compressor.
 
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