stropping and steeling??

BOK

BOK

Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
2,413
can anyone tell me if it's better to strop a blade or use a steel on it?? do they have the same function??:confused:

is stropping mainly for sporting and steeling mainly for kitchen??

sometimes I would use a steel on my AFCK and that would somewhat prolong the life of my edge without having to take the shoulder off again...

I tried stropping it for the first time the other day on the back of a notepad (the brown cardboard side) and I couldn't really tell the difference between that and using the steel...the edge may have been slightly cleaner annd smoother but perforamce of the knife was the same...
Any help would be much appreciated..
 
(did the best I could with this one, improvements welcome)

Stroppin' And Steelin'

Because getting’ sharp knives's what we're all about
I'm gonna sharpen that knife and cut it on out
No soft sucker with a dull knife in his pocket
'Cause I'm sharpenin’ this knife and it’s just getting’ sharper
Terrorizing suckers with a razor sharp blade
And if you've got beef - you'll get sliced in the head
We got sixteen cuts on a dead man's chest
And I cut those suckers and I'll cut the rest

(chorus) Most illingest b-boy - I got that feeling
Cause I am most ill and I'm stroppin' and steelin'

Slicing gold chains - vicking pieces of eight
I cut your money and your honey and the fly name plate
We carved wenches on the benches - and bitties with titties
Impressing all girlies from city to city
One for all and all for one
Taking out M.C.'s with a big Sifu
All for one and one for all
Because the Beastie Boys have got sharp blades
Friggin' in the riggin' and cuttin' your throat
Big biting suckers getting thrown in the moat
We got maidens and wenches - man they're on the ace
Captain Bly is gonna die when we slice his face


Most illingest b-boy - I got that feeling
Cause I am most ill and I'm stroppin' and steelin'


Ali Baba with his forty blades


Torching and crakin' and stroppin' and steelin'
Slicing and shaving - busting two in the ceiling
I'm wheeling - I'm dealin' - I'm drinking, not thinking
Never cower, never shower - and I'm always steeling
Yo ho ho and a pint of Brass Monkey
And when my girlie sharpens her blade - she sure gets funky
Skirt chasing, free basing - killing every village
We drink and rob and rhyme and pillage


Most illingest b-boy - I got that feeling
Cause I am most ill and I'm stroppin' and steelin'


I've been drinking my rum - a Def son of a gun
I fought the law and I cold won
Black Beard's weak - Moby Dick's on the tick
'Cause I pull out my blade and shave off six
My blade is sharpened - I cut Betty Crocker
Deliver Colonel Sanders down to Davey Jones' locker
Stroppin' and steelin' in a drunken state
And I'll be sharpenin' my knives all the way to Hell's gate
 
Steeling, when performed with a smooth steel, aligns metal, and removes just a hint by abrasion. It will not sharpen a worn edge, but can restore one that has rolled, and for many types of cutting this is the primary cause of blunting.

Steeling, when performed by a butcher steel on softer blades, or by ceramic or diamond rods, will align, and remove visible amount of metal. These will again restore rolled edges, and at the same time sharpen worn ones by creating a new micro-bevel.

Stropping, on plain leather, is an aligning operation, unless the steel is very low alloy and soft, as then the silica in the leather will act as an abrasive. The main difference from steeling, is that the pressure is much less, and thus the alignment not as much.

Stropping, on loaded leather (buffing compound), is a honing operation, which will also do some alignment. Unlike the steeling, it doesn't create an additional micro-bevel, but grinds down the existing bevel.

Stropping lends itself more naturally to convex bevels, and steeling to v-grinds. They can be used on the opposite but will tend to create the profile that they work best on. Thus if you strop a v-ground edge you will turn it slightly convex, and if you steel a convex edge you will create a slight v-bevel.

-Cliff
 
Man that seems complicated. I always strop a knife at the end of the sharpening process, except when I polish up the edge on my EdgePro with the 3000 grit tape - this actually seems to do better on my "best" edges.

I steel large knives between uses on a smooth steel or a ceramic rod. Kitchen knives, my Busses, etc. Right or wrong, I do it 5 times on the right, then 5 left, 4 right, 4 left, etc. The Busse only gets it on the "back" side. I will strop folders in between use on leather, or even blue jeans and it seems to help. Particularly for the folders I use which are bg42 and ats34 steels.

For what it is worth.
 
Zero knife content, but, medusa/Jason...

Dude, that rocked!

How long did that take?!!?

-Jon
 
When you allign an edge with a steel or a plain leather strop there is a tendency for the steel to partially recover back to the unalligned state. The result is that your edge will be sharpest if used soon after the alligning process. So you should strop just before you shave and steel right before you cut.

A steel is used in the meat preparation business before and during long sessions of cutting. One nice advantage of using a steel is that it won't absorb contaminants that present a health hazard like a strop would if used in a butcher shop. The steel is a natural in this application. This is not a problem when you are shaving and a strop works well for the extremely fine edge of a razor.

For sharpening your carry knife you don't want to bring out your strop or steel before you use your blade in the field. I generally do more than simple stropping or steeling for this application. For hard alloys I use a steel and for soft alloys I use a strop or a steel depending on what is handy. I haven't had much luck stropping really hard alloys (without really hard abrasives) so I prefer a steel for them. I don't do my strop/steeling step as a final measure. I use my aligning tool and expect it to pull small edge indentions and bends more back into line. I expect some of these realligned materials to be weak and/or unstable. After alligning I lightly abrade the edge with a ceramic hone stroking edge-first. This tends to cut off weak material or remaining unaligned material. I like the texture and strength of the edge done this way. It only costs me a slight amount of material over straight stropping/steeling.
 
thanks for all the info ..that helps a lot..I'm in the process of experimenting with different knives (kitchen and sporting) so I can see all the differences and results for myself...

Seemed complicated at first but I have a better understanding now..thats great help Cliff and Jeff..
 
Medusaoblongata-- that's one of the funniest things I've read on Bladeforums in a long time. Thanks.
--Josh
 
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