Off Topic The MAGIC of Stroping/Stropping/Schtropinkc - whichever one it is...

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For Busse in particular and other knives as well...it is amazing what (let's go with stroping) does for a Busse blade, convex or otherwise...

On users, direct from factory (even if really sharp), the difference a good stroping can make is incredible...

Best purchases I ever made were a set of flexxx strops...I have others as well, hand made ones from knife shops and others i have picked up for field...

What a full stroping regimen can do for a knife is just incredible...

I do black, green and then back of my trusty stroping belt - I stand on the buckle and hold tight and go to town.

For Busse in particular, stroping this way can even remove any very minor dings, dents, etc...I think it is the black/grey medium that does that...

I have had great results on all other kinds of steels as well. They are already slicers to the max, and that regimen I mentioned can produce magical results, taking hair popping to surgical.

Anyways, another testament to INFI and its ease of field touch up, as well as a general ODE TO STROPINGLINGUS

C
 
It's really only "stroking" your knife....and you can do it with family members around.....not just strangers in the Park.

:D


Seriously, though.....you can use those compounds on a sheet of heavy cardboard, in a pinch....or on a mouse pad to convex your edge.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
.....you can use those compounds on a sheet of heavy cardboard, in a pinch....or on a mouse pad to convex your edge.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Mouse pad with 3M sandpaper on top is an excellent way to deal with a convex edge...just don't apply so much pressure you "roll over" your apex

And I agree with Cam, INFI behaves very UNLIKE any other blade steel I've ever used.

It loves to be stropped and I've found it's quite fond of ceramics, also.

I bought a TG-M off the Exchange a couple months back and it had a couple waves in the apex. I noticed it reflecting light back at me when I turned it back & forth in my garage lights. Then I felt it with my thumbnail.

I reached for a big ol honkin round shaft screwdriver I've had for years that was at hand and "steeled" those little ripples back in line...I love this stuff! :thumbsup:

here's the subject, post steeling, she shaves hair now:

oUyHr48.jpg
 
I don't like stropping at all, but I understand it's popular. There are a number of problems when you rely heavily on this to keep your knives sharp, much better to abrade the entirety of the damaged steel with some sort of abrasive stone and reset the edge completely (much longer lasting sharpness).
 
Stropping is not grinding.

I view stropping and steeling as expedients.

Many times it's not practical to: stop, prepare hones/stones, grind, stow gear, clean blade. That's why barbers used strops and why butchers and chefs still steel their blades.

Both of those function to keep the blade at a certain level of sharpness, as long as practical, without removing steel.

There is no replacement for grinding-- when needed.

INFI responds very well to steeling, stropping, and grinding in my experience.
 
It extends the time between full sharpening.

I love compound on cardboard after a full grind too though.

EXACTLY...

The sharpest blade I ever received off the exchange was a blade you sold me Dan. That sumbeotch was the genuine example of "scary sharp." :eek:
 
Which one was that? I've sharped and sold so many that I forget what one that was.... shoot a PM if you'd like

Thanks for that compliment btw. Now I wanna go strop some friggin sr101
 
Every sharpening technique has a place.

I find that stropping with red compound produces a nice, sharp edge and also works great at removing the last bits of a wire edge after I get to the end of my abrasive grits.

I need to get some higher grit stones, I admit, but I'm a big fan of the loaded strop.
 
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