Strop question

kamagong

kamagong

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
Messages
10,954
This forum is full of guys who appreciate fine tools and know how to take care of them. That much is obvious from the attention you all lavish on your khukuris. I want to ask a question about something that is not that khuk-related.

I picked up a strop recently from HandAmerican. Well made, and should give me the ability to achieve new levels of sharpness. How do you guys take care of your strops? I'm assuming that since leather is a natural material that it will wear over time. How can I maintain it so that it will continue to serve me for a long time?

Thanks for the help guys.
 
You know, I've never thought about that. Did a search on the web and found this.
Strop paste should be applied initially to any new strop and completely worked into the leather. One small tube should condition a strop for approximately a year. The final appearance of the strop will be a little darker in color and with a waxy and oily look to the leather. Every 3-4 four months strop paste should be re-applied once less drag is felt on the blade during stropping.

I made a strop that I have used for a couple of years and have never put anything on it. I suspect that a strop would last for many years with no care. Maybe a little leather conditioner would make it last longer. If you want to buy some of the stropping paste mentioned above, you can find it Here

I'm sure that someone with more knowledge than me will post and educate us both.

Steve Ferguson :)
 
I've been using too much "goop". Maybe using more honing compound makes up for my lack of skill.

I recently made a strop from an old belt. The compound doesn't stick to the belt very well. Should I rough the surface up with some sandpaper?
 
Bruise, I'm not a strop expert by any means, but I don't think I would take sandpaper to a strop. I glued my strop onto the wooden base rough-side-up, and I believe it was Yvsa who said he prefers it smooth-side-up. I think sandpaper might make it too rough. What kind of compound are you using? I used some cheap buffing rouge that came in a waxy stick. I just heated my strop in front of my woodstove for a few minutes and the stuff went on really easily. I've used the strop for a while now, and haven't needed to reapply the rouge.
--Josh
 
I glued the leather smooth side up. The surface is very smooth and doesn't hold the compound very well.

I use the green honing compound from Lee Valley. Never thought of heating the stuff before applying. Perhaps I'll try this. :)
 
I bought my strop in 1972 or 1973, never used anything on it until about a month ago, I had searched on the web and posted in the forums asking about care of the leather but didn´t get a response, the strop had some bad scratches and I finally decided to rub some petroleum jelly on it. It´s working fine though it leaves a bit of residue on the edge of my knives.

I have also used an old belt which was varnished on one side, I sanded that side with rough sandpaper and now I can use either side (one rough one fine).
 
Originally posted by Don Luis
I have also used an old belt which was varnished on one side, I sanded that side with rough sandpaper and now I can use either side (one rough one fine).
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Finally something I already have, no longer need and don't have to buy. Other than being narrower than an ordinary strop, are there any drawbacks to using an old leather belt as a strop?
 
Originally posted by donutsrule
Finally something I already have, no longer need and don't have to buy. Other than being narrower than an ordinary strop, are there any drawbacks to using an old leather belt as a strop?
Click to expand...

Other than your pants falling down, no.
--Josh
 
If the strop darkens from metal particles during use, there's ought to be enough compound on it. If compound flys off or gobs up on the blade, that's probably too much.

Moistening the leather with a tiny bit of kerosene or similar immediately before applying the wax-based compound may help it penetrate. application of a lot of oil-based product will likely soften the leather beyond optimum.
 
Guys & gals: (Had to add that with the addition of our new female member Shirley.;))

Whatever you do, Do Not Add Any Petroluem Products To Leather Goods!!!!
Petroluem products will deteriorate leather over time. Use Neatsfoot Oil instead.
I make my strops from vegetable tanned leather these days. This type of leather is a "base" product that many items can be made from. It is carvable and will last for years properly cared for.
The leather most shoes are made from is chemical tanned, one form is chromic tanned leather. This type of leather is not carvable, but the finish does seem to toughen the thin leather which helps it to hold its shape.
The finish y'all are seeing on belts is probably some form of leather laquer. Tandy called their's Neat-Lac.
It can be sanded off, sort of. Like anything wet the laquer does penetrate the surface to some degree, doesn't hurt in making a strop though as neatsfoot oil will overcome it after the initial surface is sanded off.

"Other than being narrower than an ordinary strop, are there any drawbacks to using an old leather belt as a strop?"
Click to expand...

None at all, actually a thinner strop is more desireable for khuks IMO as it gets into the recurve easier.
My strop is a little too wide, but the ones I made for Dave K are narrower and work fine.
An alternative is to glue a wider piece of scrap leather around a dowel rod. I have one made with an old piece of split cowhide I had laying around.

"I glued the leather smooth side up. The surface is very smooth and doesn't hold the compound very well."
Click to expand...

Bruise the neatsfoot oil should take care of this. Sometimes you have to add quite a bit to get the dry compound to stick. But it doesn't take much compound to make the strop work properly.
If it comes off on the blade there's too much on the strop!!!!

"How can I maintain it so that it will continue to serve me for a long time?"
Click to expand...

Kam if your strop starts becoming a little dry the neatsfoot oil will fix it up as well.

Disclaimer:
Guys, and Gals this is the way I maintain my strops and I have had no trouble with them.
When I have to add more compound I find I have to also add a little neatsfoot as well to get it to stick properly.
I don't know how barbers maintain their strops and they might share the info is asked.
The problem I have seen with a lot of old barber razor strops is that they have become dry and started cracking. Guess what will prevent that.:)

Need to add:
I have tried a Carnuba Creme product that softens leather really well, but it didn't work as well as the neatsfoot.
The dangleing type of strop will curve into a recurve better, but I like to put a lot of pressure on the blade when I'm stropping a blade so a board mounted strop works better for me, personal preferance.

That should cover the strop issue, If I missed any questions just holler and I will do my best to answer them.:)
 
Thanks fellas.

Another question though. Does anyone know the grits of Tripoli, Jeweler's Rouge, and Chromium Oxide? The HandAmerican strop I got came with compound in grits of 800 and 1200. I want to know if those grits are equivalent to the Tripoli, JR, or CO as it means one less product I have to buy.
 
Kam, I'm not for 100% sure, but it seems like Cliff Stamp once said that the C/O was 10,000 grit. I know it's dayumed fine and will polish an edge to high heaven!!!!:)
The J/R is fine enough for the average khuk use, it's only the guys who are wanting to shave thin slices of paper with their khuks that are looking for the highly polished edge.;)
However a highly polished edge is a lot less likely to chip out from any stress risers generated by little scratches in the edge.
It would be really interesting to know just how small a scratch would generate edge failure. This doesn't just pertain to khuks, but also to axes as well.
I figure the old timers knew what they were talking about when it came to the subject of axe edges as their axe's were to them what our khuk's are to us.
 
I like the belt that I have been using for all kinds of edges. It started out the vegetable tanned leather that Yvsa is referring to. I wore it for many years and put a bit of neats foot oil on it once in a while. It never had any of the laquer on it. I just enlarged to buckle tongue hole and hang it from an old coat hook. It is limber enough to get into the curves of the khuks with no problem and, I can switch sides at any time. The only thing I have used besides the oil is jewelers rouge.

No my pants didn't fall down either. My youngest son bought me a new belt. About ten years ago now I guess. All my other old old belts are attached to khuks. :)
 
You have to be careful not to confuse apples and oranges here. There are at least four systems, CAMI (USA), FEPA (Europe usually with F or P prefix), one for Japanese waterstones, and also mesh size. For all, the bigger the number the finer the grit.

Best way IMO, is particle size in microns--microns is microns, not some big number that could be one of the grit systems or mesh size. Be aware that there also seems to be another system that the smaller the number, the finer the particle size, so make sure it's in microns!!

From handy link below:

Chromium oxide polishing compound: 0.5 microns

6000 Japanese waterstone:__________2 microns

Green chrome rouge_________________3 microns
4000 Japanese waterstone___________3 microns
CAMI (USA) 1500 grit wheel_________3 microns

Hard black Arkansas________________9 microns
CAMI (USA) 1000 grit wheel_________9 microns

I present a few entries from the extensive table for reader's calibration. Chromium oxide is the finest entry on the table.

http://www.ameritech.net/users/knives/grits.htm

for micron/mesh size conversion:

http://www.gemsociety.org/info/chmesh.htm

Dunno what the oxymoron "green chrome rouge" refers to:p , but the Veritas chromium oxide honing compound I have is finer than my 6000 waterstone, so I think it must be 0.5 micron. I think that maybe the Lee valley catalog says it's 0.5 micron, and I'm pretty sure that I've seen others say that this was the case.

Anyone know if I'm correct in thinking that sandpaper made in the US will use the CAMI grit system?

The finer grit measurements are derived from empirical sedimentation measurements (not sieves)--the correlation to size in microns is not a simple function. The table doesn't provide a CAMI equivalent for 0.5 microns. But at some point very fine particles will take forever to settle out of a liquid to form sediment leading to very large numbers, so the system loses meaning at the extremes anyway. Another reason to like microns.:)

I've read that the various grades of Arkansas stones have the same size abrasive particles, but differ in their spacing . The closer packed, the finer the equivalent grit, and the denser the stone. They are graded by density.

So as usual, things aren't as simple as they could be, some due to nature and some due to people inventing a bunch of different ways to do the same thing.

Unfortunately, Tripoli and Jeweler's rouge are not on the linked table, but I'm thinking again that the Lee Valley site could have more info. But the memory bank could have a glitch, as it often does. :)
 
I picked up some Tripoli and Jeweler's Rouge yesterday. I used the JR on my new HandAmerican strop to hone my Spyderco Endura. It's weird though. My knife looks sharper, but it doesn't feel as sharp. I guess I'm going to have to use it before I form an opinion.

The tripoli and jeweler's rouge I bought came in stick form. I don't know, but I guess I expected it to come as a powder. Instead, it is waxy in texture. It was difficult to apply to the strop. I pounded it until it became a powder, and then rubbed the particles into the strop. This was very messy though. Is there a better way of applying compounds to strops?
 
Yvsa suggested using neat's foot oil on the leather for better adherence from the compound. I haven't tried this yet but will probably try to get some oil from my feet this week.
 
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