Strop questions?

wvriverats

wvriverats

Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
328
I could probably poke around here enough to find the answers, but I thought that I would just ask.

I just purchased a barber strop from NGK. From what I have read on here stopping is the necessary final touch to a sharp knife. I have been playing around with my new sharpmaker for 1 1/2 mos now trying to sharpen my skills. I am having good results, even though I have decided that I need either the diamond stones or a DMT coarse or extra course benchstone to bring some of my knives back to life.

The strop has a hook to hang from and a leather, plus (what looks like) a canvas side. It is the canvas side that has me stumped. Do I load it with compound? And what compounds and technique are best for each side. I am new to this and don't want to ruin my strop or start off on the wrong foot.

Also, is shaving sharp on the sharpmaker a good place to start with the stop, and roughly how many passes on each side. I have never been really good at detecting a burr on a blade and I think that that is a whole lot of my sharpening problem.

Thanks,

Randy
 
The canvas side is ment for de-buring it works well on carbon steels, no compound is needed on this side. The leather side needs no compound to work either but works much faster with. If you use a compound on the leather side use a high quality one something like this http://www.japaneseknifesharpeningstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=HADiaSp1 its not cheap but you get what you pay for. Shaving sharp can be many different levels if your edge is clean shaving usually that's a good sign, if its hair popping that's even better. Detecting the burr can be done several different ways one way is to look at the edge under a lamp or with a magnifying lens. When the burr is reduced as much as possible you can then move on to using your strop. If its a newer steel like S30V the canvas side will have almost no effect so I would just start with the leather. Start with sets of 10 (1 pass per side =1) check the edge after every set and watch how much pressure you are using it is very easy to round the edge with this type of strop. It should only take 2 or 3 sets to finish the edge and when done should be able to split hair. The amount of time spent on the strop depends a lot on if and what type of compound you are using.

I am not sure on this but I think some need to be preped before use but maybe some one else could answer that better.
 
You won't really get a burr on the sharpmaker because you alternate sides. Shaving sharp should come off the flats of the white rods, and it's a good place to start.
 
The canvas on the barber stropp you purchased has a definite purpose, but I don't believe it is for the type of cutting edge we are looking for. The barber stropp is used by those who shave with straight razors as a method of keeping a razor edge on their straights between hoaning. Here's why. When you purchase a straight razor it is usually sharp but not 'shave ready'. To get it 'shave ready' a honemeister will take the razor and hoan it generally on a 4000/8000 grit wet stone to a fine edge. The steel used to make these razors is usually either a high carbon or stainless and flat ground or hollow ground to achieve the fine edge needed for shaving. The spine or the top of the blade is used as the support for the hoaning angle and no more than the weight of the blade is used in this process. Any pressure on the blade will warp the edge and just make it thinner and not sharper. Once the blade is hoaned it is still not 'shave ready' though. The next step is to generally stropp the blade using some kind of compound to smooth out the edge even further. Some use a single soft stropp with chromium oxide applied and some use a 4 sided solid stropp with 5, 1, .5 and .25 micron diamond compound applied cleaning after each one to avoid contamination. Once this is done the blade is still not yet ready though. The next step is to use that canvas side of the stropp. This is probably equivelant to something like a 12000 stone. Maybe 10 to 20 strokes will be enough for this side. Then the razor will be stropped on the leather side to finish the edge. Now the razor is 'shave ready'. The compound filled stroppes will be used as the edge needs it and the clean leather will be used before each use, 10 to 30 strokes. This process will keep the razor in great shape for 6 to 8 months and then it's off to the honemeister again and the process is started all over. One key to using the barber stropp is that it needs to be pulled tight while using. Generally it is made from a softer leather and will have a tendency to wrap around the edge of the blade, causing it to actually dull the edge. For my knives, I went to the local cowboy shop and purchased a piece of scrap belt leather and made my own stropp. Cost $8.00 for 2ft. and works great.

Hope this helps.
 
Ray-man, welcome to the forums and nice first post but the OP will be using this strop for his knives not razors. Different ball game.
 
Sorry for the extensive explination into why a barber stropp really isn't suited for regular knife stropping and the purpose of the canvas side. I am both a knife sharpener and a straight-razor user with familiarity in both types of sharpening. I do realize they are a paradox to each other and only thought someone might be interested in the reasons to using one type as opposed to the other. Won't happen again. I do apologize.
 
The best strop for knives has to have a firm backing--ie leather mounted on wood or the like.
 
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