Strop treatment

T

thombrogan

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Nov 16, 2002
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Today, I got a 3"x15" piece of belt-leather from the leather store one town over to make my first strop. But....

I don't know how to "treat" it. Some strops come treated, others are sold with some kind of stuff to be used before compound is applied. What would you do with a fresh piece of leather?

Also, my wife got me some buffing compounds for the strop. White/coarse for the rough side of the leather and red/fine for the smoot side of the leather. Is the compound supposed to feel like the unholy offspring of chalk and a wax crayon? Or is it supposed to feel more like a pastel crayon?

Thanks in advance, folks!
 
Tom-if you look at the kung fu thread a few days ago it goes in to some detail about treating a strop and how to do it- hope this helps-I got one from knives plus already treated and love it-hope you enjoy yours:)
 
I used mineral oil to get mine going... Just rubbed enough in to get it dark and open. Then went at it with the compound. Need to load mine again soon, be the same thing but this time I just leave some on top to help spread it easier.

"unholy offspring of chalk and a wax crayon" is about right... I've got Veritas Green on my smooth side, nothing on the back. My spydie doublestuff stone has white on one side, green on the other(on the stitched sides).
 
This looks like as good a place as any to ask this. Does stropping really help or is it necessary? I am able to get an edge that will cut free hanging hair with my sharpmaker, without the ultra fine stones. I have tried stropping, but it rarely gives any significant improvement. I recently used sandpaper, from 180 to 600 to sharpen a kitchen knife, then stropped. I think I over did it, as the knife edge is really smooth, but doesnt seem to have any "bite". I tried cutting some Trident gum wrappers and sometimes it would cut, sometimes just slide across the paper.
 
me2

Stay with the coarser grits for your kitchen stuff. I've had the same problem, getting a blade super sharp and too smooth. With no fine serrations you lose the 'bite' for slicing. On the other hand I've gotten shop sharpened blades that were done on like a 150 grit belt that would shave and slice like crazy.

Rob
 
best way I've found for stropping is to super polish the edge and strop it, then hit a courser grit(like an 800grit A/O whet stone) for a couple strokes to add teeth. I've got 2 knives that I'm always stropping, but thats becuase I use em all the time on wood, twine, and 1/4" poly rope.

I prefer a plain edge thats polished and has teeth after.

use up to 1500 sandpaper, or work a long time on the spydie whites, strop it, and drop at least one grit(1200 paper or greys) to add teeth. My nicest edge was a calypso jr that I had a 20deg inclusive on, stropped, and then 800 grit stone. It'd shave, and bite on a tomato skin on first contact.
 
I use a 3" X 15" smooth strop loaded with chromium oxide for final polish.

Just sprinkle it on and smear it out with your finger. It adheres nicely. With use, it forms a 'glazed surface' - which doesn't generate any abrasive dust - thus no oils are needed to bind the abrasive powder to the leather.

Coarser powders (such as 600- or 800-grit) don't bind well to the smooth leather surface, so some bonding agent such as the 'crayons' or oil is useful.

For coarser powders, I use a roughed-surface strop, which will hold coarse abrasive powders such as 150-grit - but will generate 'abrasive dust' which is a worry for folder pivots. The roughed-surface strop is very convenient, since powders can be brushed off and replaced with other grit-rating powders.

Coarser grit powders, 400- to 800-grit, I find useful for polishing out grind marks, and may be preferable to fine-grit powders for a toothier edge for slicing applications.

Hope this helps!
 
Thanks, everyone.

Ended up rubbing mineral oil in the rough side of the strop and finished loading it with white rouge. Then, I found out the messy way that the smooth side takes much less oil and loaded it up with red rouge.

So far, just used the red side to finish off already shart edges on a Calypso Jr., ER Nemesis, and a generic Swiss-Army styled knife. Could snap-cut free-hanging hair and got high scores on an edge tester, but I don't know if it means boo or not.

Anyways, thanks to your help, especially Fulloflead for the motivation and VampyreWolf for suggesting mineral oil, I'm on my way. Probably to the emergency room, but I'm on my way.
 
Nothing finishes a nice honing like a light strop. I recently got a rainbow leek, and it was super sharp out of the box. I felt compelled to make my D2 Ares sharper. I just dressed the edge on my Gatco fine diamond, and finished with 10-12 light passes each side on a LeeValley smooth leather loaded w/ Veritas green.

The Ares is now Waaaaay sharper than the Leek.

Have fun!

Robb
 
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