Stropping help

G

Gradyw

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Jan 23, 2017
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Can anyone tell me why I have much different results stropping on plain leather compared to stropping on the rough side... doesn't matter what I load the strop with I don't have very good results with smooth leather for some reason
 
What kind of bad results are you getting when using the smooth side?
 
Yea I've read through that but I don't know I wouldn't think it's the angle I've been stropping/sharpening for maybe over a year I can hold an angle fairly close I just never have luck with smooth leather
 
Everything else the same (load, pressure, angle), it is possible that the skin side does not touch the apex. With a knife though, this is less likely given the fact that our angle control is never 100% if freehand.
 
"Worse" would imply that you are rounding off the apex, which is usually caused by too much pressure, overly steep angle or rotating the blade as you end the stroke. No improvement would imply you are not hitting the apex to remove the burr, which would be caused by too shallow of an angle or not enough pressure.

Maybe you are used to the feedback on of the blade on the rough side and have adjusted your stropping motion to that, and on the smooth side the feedback is different so your hand is unconsciously adjusting your strokes to try to find that same feel? Just a guess, I don't have any good answers for you.
 
I'm not a pro and I'm sure several on here may give you better answers but just from my experiences ... try less pressure you may be convexing or slightly rounding your edge ... or if you have a wire edge it may just be pushing it over

try a balsa wood strop or even putting your compound on a piece of paper and laying it over your stone or a solid piece of wood and lightly strop it.

Hopefully some of the people that have far more knowledge then me chime in and give you some more insight.
 
My guess, as others, is too much pressure. Subconsciously the smooth leather could be making you apply more pressure than the rough side.
 
Gradyw said:
Can anyone tell me why I have much different results stropping on plain leather compared to stropping on the rough side... doesn't matter what I load the strop with I don't have very good results with smooth leather for some reason
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What steel are you stropping, and what compounds have you tried with it? Depending on the steel type and the compound, results may never be as good as they otherwise could be, if the compound isn't up to cutting the steel or the carbides in it. That might be part of the issue. It could also be that a compound which is too aggressive for the steel, in combination with use of softish, compressible leather, might be aggressively rounding off and/or overpolishing the edge. That's also somewhat technique/skill-dependent, if pressure is too heavy or if the angle is held to high (obtuse) on the strop.

Could be any number of reasons you're not seeing good results on the 'smooth' side. Some compounds don't hold onto the smooth leather very well, whereas the 'rough' side (or sueded side) holds compound more effectively, and holds more of it.

It could also be that the edge you're stropping isn't as refined as it should be, and therefore isn't as responsive to stropping in the first place. The more refined the edge is, coming off the stones, the more it'll respond to most any kind of stropping, whether on smooth or sueded leather, with or without compound, or stropping on other materials like paper, denim/linen, wood, etc.

And it could be that the edge has just been overstropped, and is somewhat rounded off and/or burnished as a result. This can happen if the edge has primarily been maintained on a strop alone, for some time. If so, it won't be brought back on smooth leather, or likely with stropping at all, and may need reshaping on the stones first, per the point I made in the paragraph above.


David
 
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Have you considered dropping leather completely, and trying on a hard surface- washboard, coarse side of a stone wrapped in paper with compound, basswood on hard backing? Leather compresses too much for me, and I round the hell out of an edge using a leather strop for the most part. Hard surface stropping made me believe the stropping was an actual technique, not this mystical thing that only sharpening wizards could do.

You could feel your edge, and would eliminate what sounds to me like the rounding of the edge you are doing. Give it 10 passes a side and chill. See what you have. If you have proper technique that should be about all you need to refine edge.
 
Danketch said:
Have you considered dropping leather completely, and trying on a hard surface- washboard, coarse side of a stone wrapped in paper with compound, basswood on hard backing? Leather compresses too much for me, and I round the hell out of an edge using a leather strop for the most part. Hard surface stropping made me believe the stropping was an actual technique, not this mystical thing that only sharpening wizards could do.

You could feel your edge, and would eliminate what sounds to me like the rounding of the edge you are doing. Give it 10 passes a side and chill. See what you have. If you have proper technique that should be about all you need to refine edge.
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I have not but I will have to give it a try. I enjoy stropping on rough leather but smooth leather doesn't do it for me
 
I am curious what is the point of using the smooth (non hairy) side for stropping (thank you, Obsessed with Edges Obsessed with Edges , for clarification). I use only the rough side with abrasives and have good results.

What is the benefit of using the smooth side for stropping? Would it be better using a hard flat surface for lapping instead of stropping, like D Danketch said above?
 
miso2 said:
I am curious what is the point of using the smooth (non hairy) side for stropping (thank you, Obsessed with Edges Obsessed with Edges , for clarification). I use only the rough side with abrasives and have good results.

What is the benefit of using the smooth side for stropping? Would it be better using a hard flat surface for lapping instead of stropping, like D Danketch said above?
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With abrasives, I generally prefer using something firmer than leather. My favorite is hard-backed denim, used with aluminum oxide compounds (mainly because stick-based AlOx compounds apply very easily to denim and it holds them well). Real fast, aggressive polishing, done with a very, very light sweeping pass. More effective with longer strop length. My denim strops are ~ 18" of actual stropping surface; one is made from a 24" paint-stirring stick from Home Depot. With other compounds, like diamond compound, I prefer to use it on very firm wood, like basswood or mdf. They'll tolerate more pressure without risk of edge-rounding, and I find that useful in polishing edges on more wear-resistant steels like S30V and D2.

I use the rough (sueded) side of a leather belt occasionally for simpler stropping on basic steels like 1095, CV and 420HC. I use that belt like a barber's strop (hanging), which minimizes compression of the leather and therefore reduces risk of edge-rounding. I use it with essentially no compound, aside from some green compound I applied a long while back; just traces of it left on the leather, and I've chosen not to replenish it on that strop. I sometimes flip that belt over and strop (with no compound) on the smooth side; but I notice most of the benefit in burr cleanup from the rougher side, in my own uses. The smooth side can be effective for realigning a very fine and slightly rolled apex; that's about as much as I generally expect from it, when I use it. But I can also generally do that on denim or other materials, like wood, paper, etc.

BTW, most of the stropping I do anymore is just with the leather belt, to strip away any fine burrs left. I don't pursue polished edges that much anymore, so I don't use loaded strops that much. But they can be very effective if/when I do use them. Very burr-prone stainless steels are easily handled on a AlOx-loaded denim strop, and that's where it really 'shines', so to speak (pun not intended, but it works). ;)


David
 
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