Strop?

[zpstl321]

I've been playing around with strops more the last few weeks. In the begining I just used leather, but after seeing a few threads on using compounds I gave them a try. Do you use compounds, either white, or green? The next question is do you just keep applying more or do you try to clean the leather every so often. The white sure removes metal fast from some blades. I found the edge on my Case pocket knives to be sharper than anything I've ever experenced before. I did the shaving test and split a hair in to. Crazy stuff.

I'm just using scraps so I can pitch them when they get too dirty, but I'm thinking about buying something a little better and need to know how to take care of it. I plan on trying it out on the new Becker blades I'm buying to see how sharp I can get them.

 

[Maqua]

I just use some scrap leather and Flexcut Gold. It doesn't take much. I'm sure there are better compounds like white, black, and green but I'm satified with my results as long as I don't round out the edge dues to poor technique.

 

[pialia]

I've read from several sources that you don't really need to clean your strop as the metal that's stuck on it will always be the same size or smaller particles than the grit on your strop, so it won't ruin the effect of the strop. But it can be good to clean off the compound and freshen up the leather so it doesn't dry out. I was using Bark River's black, green and white compound for a time before I got my 0.5um diamond spray from Hand American, this stuff is amazing. It seems to do the trick in far less passes over the strop which eliminates a lot of human error for rounding the edge. I'll admit I miss the therapeutic effect of stropping for 15 minutes, but I'll stick with what gives me good results

 

[Sagewood]

An easy way to clean your stop is to use a scotch bright pad. Simply scrub off the old compound, then reapply the new stuff. The easiest way is to heat up both the leather and compound with a hair dryer, then start apply the compound on like a crayon.

 

[stifa]

I use a piece of cardboard - not the corrugated kind but the kind you might find backing framed pictures or used to built architecture models (sorry - don't know the English name for it) . I apply Dialux green compound (found it in a local jewel-makers supply store) on it , and when it gets dark with metal particles I just throw it away and make a new one .
Then I use a piece of an old leather belt, rough side up with nothing on it . This combination works great for me .

 

[BushOgre]

Good thread. I need to learn the joys of stropping

 

[Moosez45]

I use heavy canvas, with chromium oxide (green) or jeweler's rouge (white) and crystolon powder (grey) on mine.

I have been using it for sometime now, and prefer the canvas to leather.

Moose

 

[zpstl321]

An easy way to clean your stop is to use a scotch bright pad. Simply scrub off the old compound, then reapply the new stuff. The easiest way is to heat up both the leather and compound with a hair dryer, then start apply the compound on like a crayon.

That tip is worth the price of admission! I have been using friction to apply it faster. Note to self...Steal the wifes hair dryer, but be prepared to buy her a new one.

 

[zpstl321]

I use a piece of cardboard - not the corrugated kind but the kind you might find backing framed pictures or used to built architecture models (sorry - don't know the English name for it) . I apply Dialux green compound (found it in a local jewel-makers supply store) on it , and when it gets dark with metal particles I just throw it away and make a new one .
Then I use a piece of an old leather belt, rough side up with nothing on it . This combination works great for me .

I bought a sheet of leather for a sheath, but it was to thin to use for that purpose. I wrapped it around cardboard and that is one of the strops I use. The others are 2" x 10" left over scraps.

 

[zpstl321]

I use heavy canvas, with chromium oxide (green) or jeweler's rouge (white) and crystolon powder (grey) on mine.

I have been using it for sometime now, and prefer the canvas to leather.

Moose

I found the white and green at Lowes in the town where I work. I started with the white and to be honest I never made it to the green yet. That white makes a knife sharp enough to scare the poo out of me. I hate to think what the green does.

 

[zpstl321]

I would think the canvas would work much faster than leather. Do you find that to be true?

 

[Magnaminous_G]

More and more each time I sharpen, I find myself challenging myself to do all the work on the stones and finish on bare leather. There is a lot of feedback in this technique as the bare leather is less forgiving. If you don't completely apex your edge and remove the burr on your final stone, the bare leather won't respond much. But if you've done your stone work right, the few minutes spent stropping on bare leather will put the final refinement on the edge and make it as near to perfect as you can get it.

So... I tend to spend a little more time on my last stone and finish on bare leather these days. No deburring medium, either wood or otherwise, and no compound on the strop. All the work on the stones.

 

[zpstl321]

At one time (25 year stretch) I only used stones, finishing with the black surgical stone for a polish. I had one knife that i spent a month or more on getting the edge just right. I can't stand to own a knife without a perfect edge and now days everyone sends blades out finished by a sanding belt. I've not seen an edge done right yet with a sander. Sharp, yes. They are all uneven as heck and some are just plan bad. Now I just use a diamond system and I know the angle is perfect. I can do in an hour what use to take me days and might be impossible with some of the new steels on the market.

I do understand the burr, but I could remove it pretty easy with my last stone. The thing that got me all hot for leather and paste was a video I watched. The guy had more high end stones than I have knives. He used a 8000 grit and a 12000 grit stone and showed the edge under an electron micrscope. The edge still looked like a saw blade. Next he brought out the strop and went to work, after which he showed the edge again. What a difference it made to have that polished edge. The end result also helped the knife retain the edge longer.

I guess just known it is not possible to create a perfect edge without a jig gets my OCD wound up tighter than a watch spring, so I turned to the jig. Turning the stone made serrated edge to a razor simply puts a smile on my face.

 

[Moosez45]

Here is my strop. I picked it up at SMKW's like, a decade ago, I think.

willis was there with me, got him one too.

Here is what I find, I don't hit my knives more than a few times on each side after sharpening them. And by the time I get to the strop, my burr is all but gone. The strop just adds some "finish" to my little ritual. By the time they come off the strop, well, you don't wanna have an accident with them.

Also, I've found, that the strop tends to "warm" the blade as it goes. Not much, but there is some warmth when I'm done.

Moose

 

[BushOgre]

I want to learn the moose ritual

 

[Moosez45]

I want to learn the moose ritual

Here it is.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...and-BKT-s-A-sharpening-tutorial?highlight=kme

Moose

 

[willworship]

An easy way to clean your stop is to use a scotch bright pad. Simply scrub off the old compound, then reapply the new stuff. The easiest way is to heat up both the leather and compound with a hair dryer, then start apply the compound on like a crayon.

This works really well. I use Green and Black compounds, and it works out great for a woods knife. I have pieces of leather rubber cemented to both sides of a paint stirring stick, black compound on one side and green on the other. It's great for taking along in the field.

 

[worldwood]

I tried leather from belts and wallets, newspaper and mousepads, cardboard, and jeans. All of them worked to a degree. but none of them worked as good as this one. I think its a personal prefference thing, find which works best for you and enjoy.


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[knifehunt]

I made this thing about five years ago, and it works as good as any. I recently switched over to Porter Cable white & green compounds and they work just fine (all of it likely comes from the same manufacturer anyhow) and it's $2.50 per bar at Lowes. I hardly ever need a stone as long as I just touch the blades up once in a while.

I clean them with Schotchbrite pads, and heat the leather with a heat gun on LOW, and then apply the compound.



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[Uncle Malice]

I've got a few of Flexxx's strops. Good stuff. I use white, green, and black compound from TheStropMan - was the first one that came up in google... I've had excellent results. The black is super aggressive. I rarely even touch my knives to the sharpener unless I have a major ding I need to work out or something. I keep a set of DMT diamond cards in my pack. I can clean up pretty good dings in just a few minutes between coarse, fine, extra fine diamond cards, then stropping it out on the field strop. 15 min or so and its back to perfect. Took some time to learn to use the diamond cards well... but now I think they're pretty handy to have around.