Stropping compounds and busse

[knife_nut73]

First I'll apologize ahead if this topic has been discussed, I'm not great with computers. I have a pair of the original team Gemini. One user, one queen. The user has been fantastic and my go to for years. Performance always outstanding as I always kept the edge maintained. Until recently.

Enter the girlfriend with a "project".

When she let me know one of my knives cut up the old carpet perfectly I was cringing as I'm sure sure some of you are reading this. And it was a big thick carpet. The old TG cut and sliced it all up till the job was done apparently but she is definitely not the maintained factory edge. After stropping a lot with the green compound it's still not quite right. Sharp enough for wood not so much like the original hair shaving sharp. I have a Delta belt grinder, sharp maker, strops and experience. I read on a post how even, when dulled, a fellow on here fixes and restores his edge with a just a couple of compounds and some stropping. I just couldn't find which to use for a dulled busse. My question is if you wanted to keep and maintain that factory edge, which compounds would you use from carpet cutting dulled to shaving sharp. If that's possible.

 

[Kdbutler2]

From what I remember black is the "corse/cutting" grit. I want to say from corse to fine it goes black, brown, white, green, blue, red.

 

[Andy the Aussie]

I have only used grey (black) and green. As noted grey is more course so start with that.

 

[Kdbutler2]

I have only used grey (black) and green. As noted grey is more course so start with that.

I usually use green and red myself. Got a two sided strop

 

[resinguy]

I'm pretty sure that the Shop still offers resharpening services.

 

[dogboye]

I only use black or green. Black always seems a little more toothy, so I'm assuming it is slightly coarser. I usually only use black on anything.

If it is sharp enough for wood right now, it sounds like you just need to work some more with black compound.

 

[apxpred]

I have the black and green combo, I only use the black as it gives a nice toothy edge that that that IMO aids in cutting and edge retention.

 

[coolbreezy37]

Bark river supposedly has one of the best compound kits with black/green/white for $35. It’s a little spendy compared to stuff for sale on Amazon, but I’d give it a shot.

 

[AntDog]

If it needs sharpened it needs sharpened. Strops are good for maintaining an edge that’s already sharp, but they won’t work magic. I’d take it to the stones.

 

[Kdbutler2]

If it needs sharpened it needs sharpened. Strops are good for maintaining an edge that’s already sharp, but they won’t work magic. I’d take it to the stones.

I've never cut carpet with infi, but I don't see you needing ceramic. My hr2 bearly needed a ceramic rod after cutting pig bones

 

[AntDog]

I've never cut carpet with infi, but I don't see you needing ceramic. My hr2 bearly needed a ceramic rod after cutting pig bones

INFI dulls like any other steel. Just takes more use to do it. I chopped up an old junk fridge with my basic 9 around 2001 or so and it had a roll or two in the edge but that’s it. It carved it up like a pot roast.

Old carpet, on the other hand, is abrasive as hell. It’s full of all kinds of particles that are harder than steel and will dull it quickly. Any steel.

If OP’s knife will cut wood but not shave it needs sharpened, not stropped. IMO of course.

 

[Kdbutler2]

INFI dulls like any other steel. Just takes more use to do it. I chopped up an old junk fridge with my basic 9 around 2001 or so and it had a roll or two in the edge but that’s it. It carved it up like a pot roast.

Old carpet, on the other hand, is abrasive as hell. It’s full of all kinds of particles that are harder than steel and will dull it quickly. Any steel.

If OP’s knife will cut wood but not shave it needs sharpened, not stropped. IMO of course.

Gotcha. Yeah, I cut out the trotters, ribs, took off the head, and split the pelvic bone with my hr2.

It was dulled, buti only touched it up with ceramic then went to green stropping compound.

Btw, the next day I started ordering more infi. I'm excited this winter during my hunt to see how infi and sr101 compare.

 

[AntDog]

Gotcha. Yeah, I cut out the trotters, ribs, took off the head, and split the pelvic bone with my hr2.

It was dulled, buti only touched it up with ceramic then went to green stropping compound.

Btw, the next day I started ordering more infi. I'm excited this winter during my hunt to see how infi and sr101 compare.

My experience has been that INFI is better for big whompers that do a lot of chopping. It’s super tough and handles abuse like nothing else. SR101 holds an edge longer so I love it in the smaller knives, in fact prefer it over INFI in smaller blades. It’s no slouch as far as toughness goes either, but INFI seems to be tougher in what I’ve done with mine.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in either one.

 

[Kdbutler2]

My experience has been that INFI is better for big whompers that do a lot of chopping. It’s super tough and handles abuse like nothing else. SR101 holds an edge longer so I love it in the smaller knives, in fact prefer it over INFI in smaller blades. It’s no slouch as far as toughness goes either, but INFI seems to be tougher in what I’ve done with mine.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in either one.

That's what I've heard as a whole.

 

[scdub]

First I'll apologize ahead if this topic has been discussed, I'm not great with computers. I have a pair of the original team Gemini. One user, one queen. The user has been fantastic and my go to for years. Performance always outstanding as I always kept the edge maintained. Until recently.

Enter the girlfriend with a "project".

When she let me know one of my knives cut up the old carpet perfectly I was cringing as I'm sure sure some of you are reading this. And it was a big thick carpet. The old TG cut and sliced it all up till the job was done apparently but she is definitely not the maintained factory edge. After stropping a lot with the green compound it's still not quite right. Sharp enough for wood not so much like the original hair shaving sharp. I have a Delta belt grinder, sharp maker, strops and experience. I read on a post how even, when dulled, a fellow on here fixes and restores his edge with a just a couple of compounds and some stropping. I just couldn't find which to use for a dulled busse. My question is if you wanted to keep and maintain that factory edge, which compounds would you use from carpet cutting dulled to shaving sharp. If that's possible.

I’d suggest that you spend a little more time evaluating the edge, but I tend to agree with AntDog that you’re probably going to need to sharpen rather than just strop. Here’s what you do: 1) A sharp edge won’t reflect light. Use a bright flashlight (or the sun) to shine down directly onto the edge while you look for reflections. If you find reflections, those are dull spots and a strop (even with diamond compounds which is what I recommend) won’t fix that in a reasonable amount of time.
2) Confirm what the light trick is telling you with a fingernail. Lightly slide the edge across a fingernail (as if you were trying to cut directly through your finger). You will feel the imperfections in the edge and these should correspond to the reflections you see. Then sharpen until the reflections are gone/fingernail feels smooth. THEN strop.

People that “only” strop their knives are generally not using their knives hard, or not getting them very sharp.

 

[dogboye]

People that “only” strop their knives are generally not using their knives hard, or not getting them very sharp.

That's a good point. All my knives (except a couple I'll come back to) have to be sharpened using a stone or ceramic; just stropping doesn't generally work.
One exception is all the convex-edge blades that I have. I guess maybe I don't use them that hard? Just field dressing deer, later skinning, some butchering.
The other exception is all my S90V blades (all of two). I use them like a normal pocket knife, cutting wood, cutting up boxes, opening packages, etc. They almost never get put on a ceramic. Just stropped fairly regularly.

 

[scdub]

That's a good point. All my knives (except a couple I'll come back to) have to be sharpened using a stone or ceramic; just stropping doesn't generally work.
One exception is all the convex-edge blades that I have. I guess maybe I don't use them that hard? Just field dressing deer, later skinning, some butchering.
The other exception is all my S90V blades (all of two). I use them like a normal pocket knife, cutting wood, cutting up boxes, opening packages, etc. They almost never get put on a ceramic. Just stropped fairly regularly.

It would have been more precise to say “not using their knives hard enough to damage the edge”.

I certainly have some kitchen knives that almost only get stropped but usually my woods knives end up with enough damage to require sharpening to bring back quickly.