Stropping diy. How to proceed

baxtrom

baxtrom

Joined
Jan 15, 2012
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858
Hi blade runners,

So I figured I should get into stropping a little bit more seriously (God damn you, autocorrect, don’t try that again), and thought I should be able to produce such a device using a leather belt. Hence, I proceeded to invest around $5 in a 2nd hand belt, as shown below (hideous thing but lots of leather):


B079246-A-1-B10-4-B1-C-B01-E-68245518-FAEA.jpg


A few question arise;
- glue it to a piece of wood or not?
- suede side I guess? Or are there different schools?
- compound? Maybe one side with, another without?

I could of course google all of this, but what’s the fun in that?

Thanks,
Daniel
 
Well, I some time ago I made my own DIY-strop. I asked myself the same questions. And I must say: I could not get them all fully answered.
I would glue it to a piece of wood (for a use at home). The piece of wood should be flat und smooth. Glueing the leather to wood has the advantage, that the leather is tight and even, what makes it easier to hold a constant angle.
Suede side...what I found out there are different schools indeed. Can't answer that for sure. I would try the brown inside as a strop, not the outside with that "Made in Italy" sign.
Same is the compound. Some use a strop with compound, some use it without (as the final step). There are a variety of compounds. Liquid or solid, in different grits, diamonds or chromium oxide or other.

What kind of steel are you going to strop? What do you use before the strop? That are questions that may be important, too.
 
maybe we can all agree that the optimal 'compound' on leather strops are diamond sprays (emulsions based on waters, alcohols, or petroleums), and not brick compounds, diamond pastes, or similar waxy stuff. of course they all work.

but i was referring to "optimal".

good luck with the diy strop!
 
I have and use all 3 kinds of strops: One strap-like as barbers use, one glued to a piece of wood, and Wicked Edge strops to use in my WE130.
 
A suggestion, use that one as a hanging strop, and get another belt and use that on a piece of wood. Just a thought. :thumbsup:
 
I can tell you what I did which has given me great success and with the material you are working with you should be able to do something similar.

I got a cheap block of carving wood from a craft store. About 10 inches long, 3.5 inches wide, and just under 2 inches deep. On one side I glued the leather with suede side up and applied my roughest compound (I think it was 3 micron) then on the other side I glued with the smooth side up and applied a finer compound (1 micron). On the sides of the block I have thinner strips that have non diamond compound (Alum oxide) for carbon steel blades, saks, kitchen knives, or anything else made from relatively soft steel that I dont want clogging up the diamond paste sides and really dont require diamond in the first place.

All told not including the compound it probably took $15 and less than an hour to cut the leather, glue it on, and apply the compound.
 
Well I'm a new guy, and hardly an expert on knife sharpening, as most of my experience is with chisels, and plane blades. So take anything I say with a grain of salt. But I like to glue the leather to a wood block of some sort. Here I used the tag end of some cabinet grade plywood that I had left over from another other project. I like it, because it's flat, and smooth. The leather is actually sold as bull hide, and it's thick and tough. I bought it on-line, and it was maybe 5' long. I made a couple of strops with the rough side up and one with the smooth side up, but haven't tried that one yet. Anyway, it seems to work pretty well, and I'm happy with the results.

original.jpg
 
Triple_D said:
Well I'm a new guy, and hardly an expert on knife sharpening, as most of my experience is with chisels, and plane blades. So take anything I say with a grain of salt. But I like to glue the leather to a wood block of some sort. Here I used the tag end of some cabinet grade plywood that I had left over from another other project. I like it, because it's flat, and smooth. The leather is actually sold as bull hide, and it's thick and tough. I bought it on-line, and it was maybe 5' long. I made a couple of
strops with the rough side up and one with the smooth side up, but haven't tried that one yet. Anyway, it seems to work pretty well, and I'm happy with the results.
Click to expand...

I use cut-off pieces of plywood also.
 
Personally I just use a sheet of paper wrapped around a stone or plate. I prefer the stick type compounds for steels that are not high Vanadium. Otherwise you definitely want diamond.

For more give, use two or three sheets, toss it when they load up.
 
baxtrom said:
Thanks everybody,
Great tips. Will digest before proceeding 😀
Click to expand...
Again, if you have a craft shop nearby like a Michael's or something, that can be a great place to pick up flat blocks of wood. Necessary for a city goer like myself.
 
Strops are some of my best sharpening tools, and I use highly refined leather on boards
after using a 250 - 600 grit DMT bench stone
I start a progression of strops
1. Black formax
2 white dry formax
3 finish 1 micron diamond spray

works great on carbon steel and stainless, some tool steel ZDP189
high carbide like s110v or maxemet is diamond only on basswood or cardboard
 
If the leather has a smooth side and a rough or swede side, I wouldn’t glue it on wood. Just hook one end on something and pull it tight. I like a rough side to clean the blade after coming off a stone. Then a final strop on smooth leather.

I like my compound, if Im using it, on smooth leather. But lately I’ve just used leather with no compound.
 
I much prefer a hard thin leather to the "found" old belt or used up leather from whatever. The thin hard leather will have less tendency to round over the apex and ruin the best edge geometry.
In addition, if you decide to use diamonds, a very light pressure is fine for best sharpening and preserving the ultimate apex.

Regards,
FK
 
I went with the wooden paddle style stropper. Am rather pleased with it, I put the suede on one side and the smooth side on the other. Now I’ve ordered some green compound for it. Curious how it will work out… 🧐

(I have no idea why the photo seems to gets rotated 90 degrees when I insert it here)

77E72FD1-276E-466E-A97E-6CDED29DB9CD.jpeg
 
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