Strops?

Mack

Mack

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John, with all the leather work you have been doing, have you considered making strops? I've been thinking of getting one and trying my hand at getting my knives "hair whittling sharp".
 
You mean like this little 10" one I made for myself?

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That looks alot like the one I used when shaving with a straight razor.
I was looking at some that are glued to both sides of paint stirrers so you can load them up with different grits.
 
John, do you strop on the smooth or rough side? I can't seem to find a good way to do it. I have made some rough and some smooth, neither seems to work overly well. Trying to fine tune them.
 
All leather is not created equal, if the desire is to strop on bare leather a quality strop leather must be used as it has gone through a special process to bring out the natural silicates. If using the leather with compound about any leather will work but it still pays to use the good stuff. The smooth side should be used but I've never used the rough side so I can't comment on the difference, though if used bare it will probably do very little. Stropping also takes some time to learn and usually the first many tries don't yield good results.
 
I don't know about John, and I imagine you can achieve the same level of sharpness either way if you want, but I do know a knifemaker who made a strop for himself that has a piece of leather smooth side up on one side of an oak block, and a piece of leather knap side up on the other side. He has a slightly coarser polishing compound on the knap side and a finer one on the smooth side, and after he uses his stones, he strops on the knap side and then flips it over and strops it on the smooth side. His blades can cut hairs that you are holding between your fingers.

~Noah
 
Thanks for that guys. I think it is time to make another one and give it a go. I do use compound on them.
 
John mentioned this to me a while ago and I would definitely be interested in one or two.
 
I`m thinking of making some 1 1/4" wide. How long do you guys think they should be? If we figure out a length, I can figure out a price.
 
The JK Warcliff got home today. It took a trip over to Knifenut1013 and came back like a lazier. e has sharpened several for me and did a great job. The grind angle was a bit steep on thos one.
 

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Glad its back to ya, almost didn't want to let that one go makes me want a wharcliff. Its been hand reground top to bottom but the sharpening angle will be around 15 deg per side FYI. :)
 
Stomper said:
I`m thinking of making some 1 1/4" wide. How long do you guys think they should be? If we figure out a length, I can figure out a price.
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Hi Stomper -

I have one that is around 2 1/2" wide and 8" long and that one seems to be about right - it is mounted on a piece of wood to make it stable for benching.

I sometimes wish mine was even longer when I have a bigger blade.

best regards -

mqqn
 
Here are a few of mine (all from JRE). The big bench one is 4"x24", but they only made 2 of them (I bought both) and there will be no more. It has 2 black compound sides, one green, and one half pink and half green side. JRE makes very nice strops.

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I would think 2-3 inches wide and 8-10 inches long. One could always cut it off a bit if it was to long.:thumbup:
 
The length really depends on how you want to use it! If you want one on a stick, I would say 8-10 inches long is good, and a width of about 1-1/2 inches seems to work well. I have one that I use to strop my lathe tools mostly but, I kind of use it for everything! It is on a stick, and it is rough side up, so you can load it up fairly well with any kind of compound! The other side it a fine grit sand paper, so you can kind of spruce up a blade if need be! It works fairly well! If you would want to hang one from your bench or a wall or something, I would recommend about 16 inches! I think the width of 2-1/2 to 3 is probably very good. I think the idea of one rough side and one smooth side it a good idea. That way if you want to use two different compounds on it, you can. I'd use the rough side for you first pass, and the smooth side for the final pass. That should work well!
Tom
 
5 large paint stir sticks from a big box store glued together with leather smooth side up on one side and knap side up loaded with compound on the other.. It'll polish the edges like money..
 
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