Stropping. What am I doing wrong?

HikingIsLife

HikingIsLife

Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
766
Hey all...I'm new to stropping a 0 convex egde. I have the Bark River Compound and KSF strop. I am having a hard time getting my SAR 4 LE back to shaving on the strop. The first 1/3 of the blade is hair popping sharp, but for whatever reason, I cannot seem to get the back 2/3 of the edge to even cut paper anymore. I am using the green compound. The edge is looking nice and shiny too! What am I doing wrong!?
 
Well, it is possible that you aren't holding the knife at the angle of the original edge. LAy the knife flat on the strop, then tilt it until the very edge just barely touches the leather, then press very gently against the leather and pull it in the direction away from the edge of the knife. That is all I can think of on stropping directions. I hope it helps.
 
You may have a wire edge that just moves back and forth when your stropping... if you take a couple of passes on a knife steel that should remove the wire edge and you can finish dressing the edge with your strop.

Hope this helps.

/dusty
 
if you are pulling the knife to you as you move it across the strop, the back part of the blade is on the strop the least amount of time. Lay the knife on the strop and move it strait across without drawing it to you, if this is what your doing.
 
The edge may be to far gone for green compound, you may need something more abrasive than that.
 
It could be possible that you are putting too much pressure on the back end of the blade as you pull it on the strop. I have seen that happen before because generally we are too paranoid about the belly and the tip that we barely put any pressure when passing on the strop which is actually a good thing. Also you might not be holding it at the right angle on the back end and then when you sweep around the belly you actually are adjusting it to the right angle.
 
Sounds like it's time for the old sharpie trick. Colour in the edge and see wear it wears away.

You can also very gently push the blade forwards along the leather and see where it bites in by gradually lifting the spine from a flat start. That will give you an idea on angle necessary to sharpen.
 
I think it's a lost cause....better send it to me for disposal.

Your's in eternal helpfullness.;)

Stump
 
First, too much pressure (pretty common).

Second, angle is not steep enough (pretty common).

Third, you let it get a bit too dull, and now need to move down to some sandpaper to get it back where it needs to be, before stropping again.

forth, you might be rolling your wrist at the end of the stroke, so you are actually polishing and rounding the edge instead of making it sharp.

Any combo of these will cause a nice polished looking edge that is not getting any sharper.

Try the sharpie trick.

also, on the spot that you can't get sharp, pay attention to what you were doing for part that seems to be getting sharp, and duplicate it.
 
I don't know if this will help but will tell you what I did. I made 2 strops, one for black compound, the other for green. I had some 1x6 oak boards and made my strops with them. I cut them to the width of my strop's. I then glued them together. In the center, where the two come together, I drilled a hole long enough to accommodate my Croc stick's. I sharpen at 20 or 25 degree's with Croc stick's. When I go to strop, I slide the strop over the Croc sticks on the angle I used to sharpen be it 20 or 25 degree's. All I have to do then is hold the knife verticle, start at the bottom and bring the knife up and out across the blade. Your just reversing the direction that you used for sharpening to do the stropping. It 's low tech I know, but work's fairly well with maintaining angles. The Croc stick's do a surprisingly good job on Infi and Sr101 for a $12.00 sharpener. I hope to get something better one day like a wicked edge or paper wheel setup but for now, it's working fine.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top