Stropping Question.

N

NickM

Joined
May 1, 2002
Messages
43
Hey guys,

I want to start stropping my knives and I was wondering which compound everyone uses? Thanks for the help.

Nick
 
Lee Valley (Veritas) Green Honing Compound.
 
i use nothing. just an old leather belt. after sharpening my BG-42 CRK knives, i take about 10 passes on the belt and it is simply STUPEFYING how much of a difference the stropping makes. absoloutely, without a doubt, makes my knies TRULY scary sharp. even without any stropping compound!!
 
I have actually had great results by doing the following:

-Sharpen knife with stone, stick, diamond, whatever you prefer.

-Rub sharpening implement on you strop to transfer the metal particles you just removed from the blade onto the strop.

-Strop normally.


After I did this a few times the metal shavings had apparently become ingrained into the leather and it didn't require any more charging. Seems to work great.
 
Thanks guys. I'll consider everything. Most likely I'll purchase whatever I can find locally. Anyways, thanks again for the ideas. They are all a big help.

Nick
 
I use the red rouge that came with my Dremel's "Cleaning/Polishing Set" Model 684. You can find this at Wal-Mart.
 
I use coarse vegetable tanned cowhide and rub it with a black buffing compound that is designed for polishing steel. I use the same compound on the buffer as well.
 
Second the Lee Valley green compound. Plus they have a nice strop which is set up on a wood block.
 
Here's an idea for you Talonite owners. The "wire edge" that must be stropped off on Talonite is a somewhat tougher to remove than on steel. I found that sisal wheel polish works great on a leather strop for Talonite. This polish is much more aggresive than the green polish "knifemakers" polish. Sisal wheel polish is available from Brownells. I would start with fresh leather and not mix it with compound already on an existing strop. I don't recommend it for steel. It will remove the wire edge, then the cutting edge before you realize what happened :D

I buy the 1 1/2" leather belt blanks from Tandys or Hidecrafters and cut them in half. They can be mounted to a board or I just use mine on top of my work bench! With the right compound they work better than any factory made strop. You could easily order 3 belts and 3 compounds and have 3 EXCELLENT strops for under $30.

One last thing, it takes a few knives to break in a new strop. You also need to rough the surface of leather up when it gets black and shiny and apply more polish. I use a piece of carbide to rough up my strops before each use.


Neil
 
I use some green microfine honing compound I got from woodcraft. $20 buys a bar big enough to strop with for about another 300 years :) Grit is supposed to be .5 microns. Makes a VERY fine edge.
 
Guys: It always amazes me how much information I can get from this board. I'm glad I found it as I'm starting my knife obsession/ collecting.

Thanks

Nick
 
I've used lapping compound, available at some autoparts stores, and also used buffing compound, available in the same place.

Currently I'm using the white stick compound used on buffing wheels, with excellent results.
 
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