strop maintenance?

T

thesurefire

Joined
Jul 15, 2007
Messages
39
I have a stop I purchased from knifesplus (its covered in green compound), and have used it on a few of my more used knifes a number of times now. I can now see what I think it metal particles reflecting from on the green compound. Is it time to get more green stuff? what needs to be done to maintain efficiency for finishing knifes?
 
Use waterless hand cleaner (gojo, etc, often found in automotive at department stores). Make sure you get the kind that DOES NOT have pumice in it. Just slap a bunch onto the leather and use you hand/rag/nylon brush to scrub the surface a little, then wipe with a rag to remove the gunk. I usually let the strop dry off for an hour or two then charge it with a green crayon.
 
I believe you're talking about the pre-loaded one, same as I have, which means that you don't have any honing compound to refresh it with. If that's the case, as I recall, the instructions that came with it said to add a tiny bit of olive oil (they made a big deal about only olive oil), we're talking like a dime-size little dome, and rub it in thoroughly. If you don't have enough to rub into the entire surface, add another half-dime's-worth and proceed. After it's all rubbed in, let it sit for a couple hours. When I went through this procedure, it made a HUGE difference.
 
I see no reason to "clean" a strop. I don't clean my buffing wheels.
 
yoda4561 said:
Use waterless hand cleaner (gojo, etc, often found in automotive at department stores). .
Click to expand...

Would something like Cetaphil hand cleaner work? This is a product designed for people with dry skin and can be used with or without water.

I don't know what gojo is , but I was thinking that this would be milder.
 
I've never heard of it, but for some reason I'm thinking it's not quite what you want. The gojo type cleaners are basically a thick greasy soap with lanolin and some other stuff that happens to also be good for the leather, they're designed to cut through thick grease and dirt and they do it quite well, they're pretty much ideal for cleaning old compound and metal particles off of a strop.
 
annr said:
Would something like Cetaphil hand cleaner work? This is a product designed for people with dry skin and can be used with or without water.

I don't know what gojo is , but I was thinking that this would be milder.
Click to expand...

Gojo is a hand cleaner that you can find in the automotive department and is used by grease monkeys.

Gojo

It might come in an orange container.
 
Hard H2O said:
Gojo is a hand cleaner that you can find in the automotive department and is used by grease monkeys.

Gojo

It might come in an orange container.
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Does it leave the strop smelling like solvent? That was my concern.

Here's the link and the list of ingredients in the product that I was thinking about.

Cetaphil® Gentle Skin Cleanser http:/http://www.cetaphil.com/Products/cleansers.aspx

Ingredients: Water, Cetyl Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Stearyl Alcohol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben.
 
I did the olive oil treatment lucky bob suggested and got good results, a big improvement from where it was before :thumbup:
 
No it doesn't smell like solvent at all, and that skin cleaner is just not gonna cut it at all, you may as well just scrape off the old compound and reapply with some new compound.
 
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