Stropping Buck knives.

300Bucks

300Bucks

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Apr 19, 2005
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We have discussed in many posts the way we sharpen our Buck, and with photos which are always good, but very seldom has anyone talked about Stropping an edge to finish off the sharpen. How about some photos of your stropping, what type of of 'strop' do you use, what compound do you put on it, details please, etc. I use a 8 in piece of trim leather from a saddle shop I glued on a good level 2 X 4 (Yes, there are some around) and I glued some thin sheet cork on the bottom for a non-slip grip. How do you Buck knife sharpening experts do it. Yes, there are other spots on BF where they talk about this, but I think I would rather hear from Buck owners. 300Bucks
 
Here is my two cents. I'm not a fanatic about sharpening, but I think most people do too much sharpening and not enough honing and stropping. Honing doesn't do much to some of the high end steels, but for the more average steel it can help a lot. After sharpening, I hone the blade and then if I'm in the mood I'll strop it some. Nothing fancy, I use the rough side of a belt that's clamped down. I don't use any compound, and it might not accomplish much, but it makes me feel better.

Bert
 
Had to take a picture of my strop. Had been using it for a few years but never took a picture of it. I guy at work made the stick out of walnut and I glued a piece of unfinished belt leather smooth side down with contact cement. For compound I use the brown stick from a four stick set for my buffing wheel, I just rub the end of it across the leather. It is the last step I do after getting the blade edge from my Lansky. If the blade is mirror finish, I pass it over the strop also.

 
I don't currently have any pictures but might try to take some this weekend if time allows. For a light touch up where I don't have to do major sharpening I usually use a super fine translucent Arkansas stone. I usually will finish my knives off with a leather mounted on thin wood similar to the above post. I use Black and then green compound made by Bark River. The reason I use it is because that's what I bought when I bought my first Bark Rivers several years back.
 
Not sure if this photo will come out. It's giving me issues. I'll get it up later. In this is my IM313 at top. My 4 sided strop at bottom. An IB 8 on the right and a x fine India on the left.
Pressed leather is glued to 3 sides with a different grit slurry on each. They each perform different task. 300 SiC grit on one side. 800 on another and 1 micron on the 3rd. One side of the board is left with no leather and 200 grit slurry is rubbed into this. Stopping on the board does about the same thing as leather. Just less refinement. More for a quick touch up without metal removal. I shaved with a straight for over a year. Now I strop my double edge blades to return them to longer life. I once used one double edge blade for 2 years. Stropping preforms 2 maybe 3 functions. 1) burr removal, 2) refinement and 3)is bringing an edge back to sharp without metal removal. Thus, extending the life of your knife. All good pluses. Stropping will convex the edge. DM

s1180.photobucket.com
 
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Stropping with the right grit i.e. diamond will improve most any steel. It just does it quicker on simpler steels. Stropping should not be used as a crutch to improve poor sharpening technique. You should be able to remove the burr on a 2-300 grit stone without stropping. DM
 
My dad had a small leather wheel mounted to one of those hand crank grinders. He used it on his wood carving chisels.

Seems to me there are two camps when it comes to knife sharpening " so sharp I can shave with it" and "serated is best"

I fall in the middle, for a working knife, I sharpen it on a coarse diamond stone. Then leave it alone. To me it is like a very fine serrated blade.

A knife is either sharp or it isn't. Once it sharp on a coarse stone, you can't get it any sharper, you just make it a fine edge. Making the microscopic serrations smaller.
 
I agree with what you say.
One can keep their knife of 420 steel sharp for a long time without taking it to a stone and removing metal. Simply by stropping. Usually I can
bring it back to life 2 times before having to take it to the stone. For Buck's kitchen knives this could be one month. And if you only have to take your knife to the stone once a month. That's a good saving on the edge. Kitchen knives usually require more sharpening than our pocket knives and hunting knives. As we don't always get a buck or catch a good number of fish. DM
 
I should mention another tactic that works with Buck's 420 is back honing. Back hone the blade on a stone which works up a burr.
Try to minimize it and strop to completely remove. This technique removes minimal metal and saves the edge as well. A knife is a
consumable product. But these techniques give you additional options than just grinding metal off while creating an edge. DM
 
Point we'll taken. Sharpening is an art as well as a science. Always good to hear how others achieve results.

It takes me 30 years to wear out a 110, not sure I'll ever wear out another one in my lifetime.
 
I only have three Buck knives - a two dot (·110·) in 440C that I bought new in 1979, and a 301 and 303 from the last of the yellow Delrin runs from a few years ago in 420HC.

I usually strop them on hard leather with green buffing compound, Porter-Cable PCP5 that I bought for under $3, rubbed into the leather.

I have a couple of similar strops - one I made from an old leather belt and another I made from leather I bought specifically for strop making.

These are not Buck-specific strops. I use them for anything they work with. I have a balsa strop loaded with 1 micron diamond that I use for kitchen knives and knives with hard carbides.
 
ev, yes, I see your point. Granted I've seen a few 110's that I was embarrassed to sharpen for the customer. I don't know if he ran it on a grinder or was a bad sharpener. One 2 dot was so recurve at the choil. -- Plus, this recurve created a obtuse thickening at the edge. So, I had to thin that down first. Then go about
sharpening the edge. I don't doubt some of us run across a few of these at pawn shops. Also, eveled it depends on the Amount of use. For most anybody a early 110 (2 dot, 3 dot & 4 dot) should last any one 30 years. With good sharpening. Take Buck's kitchen knives. A 8" chef knife and let a professional meat cutter use it. During his normal duties 7 hours a day, six days a week. He would be very happy if it was still in use after 3-4 years. I have seen this many times. DM
 
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JC, I hope you post some pictures of your strops as I think you have some good strategies going. For the better steels it mostly takes diamond slurry applied to the strop to get some benefit. DM
 
Just to keep you guys thinking. (as I wouldn't want us to get set in our ways) I've encountered a school of thought that adheres to stone only sharpening. Hey, why strop the blade that you just sharpened?
Remove the burr on the stone and leave it at the last grit you used. Any thoughts on this? DM
 
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David Martin said:
Remove the burr on the stone and leave it at the last grit you used. Any thoughts on this? DM
Click to expand...

Maybe it depends on the last grit and the anticipated use. If you work your way up to something like an 8000 waterstone, that might be good enough. I never feel the need to strop my plane blades and chisels.

Bert
 
David Martin said:
Just to keep you guys thinking. (as I wouldn't want us to get set in our ways) I've encountered a school of thought that adheres to stone only sharpening. Hey, why strop the blade that you just sharpened?
Remove the burr on the stone and leave it at the last grit you used. Any thoughts on this? DM
Click to expand...
I've seen this suggested before and have even done it occasionally with my kitchen knives - rather than hitting the diamond-on-balsa I just finish with alternating light trailing-edge strokes on my finest water stones (Shapton Pro 5000 or the 6000-side of a Shun 1000/6000 combo), sometimes using them for that purpose dry. It seems to work ok on those finer grit stones. I've stropped on a single sheet of paper or magazine cover on a hard substrate before too.

But in general I am somewhat lazy and prefer to use the fewest tools and least time to achieve my desired result. I find that I get a little better edge when using a more traditional strop that has a slight give. I am probably compensating for less than perfect sharpening skills, but it turns out that the letters and packages I open and apples I slice don't judge me very harshly. I can get an arm-shaving sharp edge on simple steels like Case CV or 420HC off of a Norton coarse/fine Crystolon stone and then going to the leather+Cr2O3 strop, much better than if I try to deburr completely on the fine Crystolon side by itself using just trailing strokes.
 
Bert, I know that is Japanese particle size but I never take mine that high. Still, by the time you finish on that, there should be no burr. DM
 
JC, deburring on a stone is challenging. Especially at the grit level your working at. But that is the way I do most of my sharpening. On a 2 grit
SiC stone and strop. Sometimes, if I know the purpose the knife will be used for I don't strop it. Or depending I'll take it on to the fine India and
strop it. My wife likes this edge on her kitchen knives. Around 350 grit and strop it brings it to about 450 grit (scratch pattern). Meat cutters really like the edge coming off the fine SiC stone because they steel it. And this edge responds nicely to this maintenance technique. Guys, thanks. I'm enjoying this topic and learning. DM
 
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