Strops - How Sharp?

Joined
Jul 29, 2018
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13
Hi Guy's,

You guy's were super helpful in giving me advice on an edc. I ended up with a Delica 4 with blue scales, love it.

It's ridiculously sharp and will shave my arm with no foam easily. How do I keep it this sharp?

I was recommended a strop, I just don't understand how running your knife on a piece of leather would do a thing.

How effective are they? Buffing compound or no buffing compound? Amazon.ca has a bunch, is there one that is recommended?

Many thanks,
Oliver
 
cA strop is not going to bring back a dull knife, but helps keep one sharp. It works well, but is the mildest form of edge care. You may have seen photos or movies with the barber stroping his straight razor.

of course exactly what can and will be achieved depends on what you put on the strop. You can go from mildly abrasive up to attaching sandpaper

But to answer the ?-bare strop re-aligns the edge that gets out of alignment during use
compounds-polish
 
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Strops are very effective if you know how to use them. You can take an edge from shaving to hair popping mirror with the right compounds.

As for recommendations I use a two sided strop with black on one side and green on the other a second strop with white on one and nothing on the other will yield an incredible edge (the compound is from bark river knives)
 
Strops help eliminate that tiny burr that is left on your edge after sharpening. A few passes on a leather strop with compound helps eliminate this burr for a razor edge.

I recommend the knives plus strop which is preloaded with compound. They're relatively inexpensive but take a bit to master. Plenty of reviews on youtube on how to perfect your technique.
 
I use a strop with green compound and one clean. What ever knife I was carrying that day gets hit with the strop and put on my desk.
 
How effective are they? Buffing compound or no buffing compound?
I strop my straight razors before and after use. I don't use any compound. The difference between shaving with a straight razor straight off a 12k stone or shaving with a straight razor off the unloaded strop is definitely noticeable. I strop on unloaded linen every few shaves, and on unloaded leather every shave.

I strop my kitchen knives on cardboard if the steel doesn't bring them back but I'm too busy to sharpen them properly.
 
Stropping is effective for maintaining an edge because the give and flex of the leather allows the strop to conform to the bevel of the edge. This allows one to hone the edge quickly and easily without necessarily having perfect technique. The potential downside to this (upside in practice for most) is that this will end up giving you a more rounded bevel over time. The rounded bevel is, however, actually superior for edge retention (if I recall correctly).

Knivesplus and Flex Strops make some fine strops. For anything involving rolled edges or other tasks beyond the reasonable capabilities of a strop, I recommend the Spyderco Sharpmaker or the Smith 3-in-1. They're all reasonably intuitive to use and, if you are careful to match the factory angle, will keep that edge screaming sharp as long as you have the patience for it.

You might also consider, at some point, sending it off to one of the professional sharpeners that populate the market boards on this forum. Big Chris and Razor Edge Knives are two that I have personal experiences with, and redefined what I considered to be "laser sharp".
 
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Great info guys!

So strops with compounds beat stones in terms of getting my knives sharp enough to take hair off with no foam
 
Great info guys!

So strops with compounds beat stones in terms of getting my knives sharp enough to take hair off with no foam
I truly want to help you dude but you've mentioned foam twice? Is that an auto correct or something using foam that I'm not aware of? Not trying to be "that guy" just curious! Strops are very effective but I'm not familiar with the science behind it.
 
Great info guys!

So strops with compounds beat stones in terms of getting my knives sharp enough to take hair off with no foam

I don't use strops in that manner, but they can be used in the finishing touches to mirror edges. I personally have no need for hair popping edges(I use std. razors for shaving :) ), which are going to be less durable. I prefer what is called to as a working edge, which is less refined and more durable.

I do use strops in maintaining edges-the edge is made up of micro teeth. these get bent and out of align in use since they are thin and fragile. The strop re -aligns them, or at least that is what I have been told.
If you ask those on the Maintenance, Tinkering forum(which is where this likely belongs), they will be able to tell you more than you ever wanted to know about strops and stropping. My explanations are going to be very crude in comparison.
 
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All of the strops I have seen/used have two different kinds of leather depending on the side. Use both, AFTER you are done sharpening; I'm not going to get into exactly what it does and how (others here can explain that better). ;) I do know that it takes a blade from sharp to VERY sharp quickly and easily. :D I have also found that, after mild use (e.g. cutting a few veggies or opening some mail) it is all you need to bring back that really nice edge. :cool:
 
You might want to have this thread moved to the correct section for best results

https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/maintenance-tinkering-embellishment.794/

Also do a bit of a search and you'll find out more info. Here's a sticky on how to strop
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/stropping-angle-plus-pressure.750008/

Also depending on the steel you would choose your compound. If you have a knife with 3%+ of Vanadium you will probably want to use diamond paste or diamond spray. Cbn also works. This is because other abrasives don't cut Vanadium. It will give those edges nice bite too.

If you have less Vanadium and less hardness steel the green compound generally works great. Plenty of info in maintenance sub forum.

For vg10 most abrasives will work just fine. It's an easy steel to sharpen and strop. Green compound will work fine. I got some green compound I use that's a mix of alum ox and SiC. And it's great for the vg10 I have.

Stropping is used to remove the bur after sharpening and or refining that edge. It can also repair a worn edge a little. Though you cannot continue to strop only as that edge will get very weak and you will eventually have to dull it on a stone and re sharpen it.

The downside to having double or quad side strops is, contamination. Once you set that strop down, or store it into a bag that grit will get onto that surface and you'll probably get it contaminated with the grit on the other side. This is bad. You only want one grit on that specific strop. Else you'll get bigger scratches on it. So keep strops separate and don't contaminate them. Store them in labeled bags.

Thin leather works. Anything that's too thick and has too much give will round your edge. Basswood is commonly recommended in the maintenance forum also. It's fairly inexpensive.
 
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I'll throw my experience in on this.I was never a big believer in strops until I bought a Big Chris knife.He sharpens his knives and finishes with stropping.If you've ever had a Big Chris knife you know that it's a razor.The first time I bought one from him I kept looking for stuff to cut.I dont want to divulge his strop compound -unless hes okay with it- but trust me,stropping a knife is an excellent way to maintain an edge.
 
I have a four-sided strop that I bought online. Three sides are loaded with different compounds, and the fourth is shiny leather. I go from coarse to medium to fine to shiny leather. If you regularly strop, it seems like you can put off major sharpening for longer. If one of my knives seems like it is dulling, I am taking it to the strop or my Fallkniven FS4 and then the strop.

Stropping can be a bit soothing.
 
"Stropping can be a bit soothing." This! :cool: Same for most regular sharpening, though bringing a good edge on a really dull or badly ground knife can be a chore. :eek:
 
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