Stropping and Steeling

C

CarlRexHubbard

Joined
Jun 6, 2001
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After viewing the leather hones on www.handamerican.com, I seem to have a problem understanding why someone would order a leather hone. It seems to me that if you need to put 220 grit silicone carbide on a leather hone and "strop", then you would be better served with a stone, not a piece of leather. I also do not understand why someone would use 800 grit silicone carbide on a leather hone to bring an edge back to life, when a stone with a much finer grit would prove more effective. Can someone please clarify this, as well as tell me if you have had any experiences with them. Not being critical, I just need an answer to the question. Also, what is your opinion of steeling with a traditional rod verse a Razor Steel from www.razoredgesystems.com. Thanks in advance.
 
Leather strops and smooth steels are use to return the "feather" edge of a knife by bringing it back in line with the cutting surface.

Naw, that's not too clear is it.
Most knive that have a "razor" edge has the edge very thin at the cutting point. While using the knife this very thin edge tends to get a little "bent over" so the knife does not cut as well as before. Thats when you use the strop or steel to bring this thin edge back to where the cutting takes place.
Strops and steels can also be used to polish or burnish the edge which make the cut seem smoother.

A lot of people use the strop and steel so as not to remove metal as you do with a stone. Where the strop/steel just returns an existing edge a stone actually removes the original edge and puts on a new one at the cost of blade material.

Hope this has made some kind of sense to you. :eek:
 
Ron is right that a strop or steel works on refining an edge while removing the minimum of material. It is common to use them on a worn edge to restore it without doing appreciable abrasion. You can often do some good even with no abrasive applied to a strop at all.

What Ron didn't mention is that a strop or steel also helps refine an edge that has is freshly honed. The honing process tends to leave a lot of micro-indentions and even mashed-down spots on an edge. A strop or steel pulls or pushes these micro-dings into a smoother contour at the edge. A steel or strop can frequently give you the razor edge that your hone just didn't want to provide.

When you use a strop with an abrasive it has the advantage (over a hard hone) of following the original honing contour rather than cutting a flat bevel. If you have a convex (curved) bevel contour a "loaded" strop will maintain the curved bevel.
 
Thanks for the responses. How are these leather hones different from strops? Has anyone used them with positive results?
 
Is is necessary to keep a consistent angle using these leather hones? When I say consistent, I mean as consistent as you would need for a decent edge using a stone.
 
I think that "leather hone" is another term for a leather strop that has been loaded with an abrasive compound.

In both cases, yes it is important that the blade be moved accross the strop at a consistant angle, however, you do not want to "drag" the edge accross the strop. Place the blade flat onto the strop and then raise the spine up a few degrees and then start moving the blade accross the strop in a motion AWAY from the edge instead of INTO the edge as you would on a stone. You will see the leather move up and into the blade as it polishes the edge or removes the burr from a stone. Repeat this action on both sides of the blade in alternate strokes.

Hope this has helped some.:rolleyes:
 
Carl :

It seems to me that if you need to put 220 grit silicone carbide on a leather hone and "strop", then you would be better served with a stone, not a piece of leather.
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If you actually need to reshape the edge, then yes you would not want to use a leather hone as you would end up loading too much metal into the leather. However a knife does not have to be that blunt before you would want to use a SiC abrasive on the edge.

First off there are people who like the edges on their blades at a rougher finish. Thus they would use the SiC on the rough leather to keep their blades in the condition they prefer. Secondly, many knives with high alloy content would benefit from the edge being recut with SiC on occasion to keep the carbides fresh.

As well, as noted in the above, a leather hone is not as demanding in regards to angle control as a solid hone. Nor does it have to be lapped on a regular basis (however neither do Diamond or ceramic hones).

The leather hone + abrasives combination is also much cheaper than what you would pay for a set of quality hones in the same grit range. You also don't need water or oil to use them (same benefits as Ceramic and Diamond hones).


Also, what is your opinion of steeling with a traditional rod verse a Razor Steel from www.razoredgesystems.com.
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The Razor's Edge steel provides an angle guide which you can use to make the process more consistent.

-Cliff
 
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