What do you strop your eatin' slippie with.

K

kidwholaughs

Joined
Jan 17, 2004
Messages
1,189
Hey guys

When I was stroping my Case wharnie copperhead yesterday on a cardboard and jeweler's rogue strop, something dawned on me. Has anyone ever wondered if jeweler's rogue or other stropping compounds are "food safe"? Back in the day I wouldn't think twice of about stropping my knife and then cutting an apple with it. Now I am a little hesitant. What do you guys think? Thanks

God Bless
 
I've never used a loaded strop. Untill recently my strop was a strip of leather glued down on the bottom half of a 5 gallon paint stir stick. I would just use that, and it seemed to work pretty good. I used to be able to get it shaving sharp.

I say used to, as I don't strop as much anymore. I have that little cut down red plastic Eze-lap diamond hone in the zipper part of my wallet, and I just touch up the blade if it gets a bit dull. I just have been using the edge as it comes off the hone. It works just fine for what I do. A pretty sharp utility edge works for my Opinels and sak's. The only knives I still strop are my family hand down knives like dad's peanut and granddads stockman.
 
I strop on leather glued down to a piece of walnut, and it is loaded with Tripoli buffing compound. I imagine as long as you wash or wipe down your blade you should be fine, however I may be wrong. joe
 
I'm like jackknife, no loaded strop here either. I have an old belt that I just lay on any flat surface close to me. I like having the whole belt, so that I have plenty of strop if I'm working on a knife with a longer blade.
 
I use several different strops, and never gave much thought to the food safety of the knife. Its not like you leave a bunch of rouge or metal polish on the blade and go use it on food. I'm guessing if you're that careful about the edge, you clean that blade off pretty good after stroping it. Plus, a strop polishes the edge so I'd think it would be even less likely to hang onto any polishing compounds.

I've got a bottle of some kind of spray oil for kitchen knives. Can't tell you what it is, because the label is in Japanese. Picked it up from Murray Carter a few years ago at Blade. I use it to coat all our high carbon kitchen knives. I also use it to wipe down the blades of the knives I carry figuring its probably a lot more digestive tract friendly than ren wax or other oils.
 
Well, jeweler's rouge is rust suspended in some sort of paraffinic wax or grease, so I'd wager the danger is minimal. Chromium oxide is listed as a digestive tract irritant on some MSDSes I've seen. I think most of the danger with the abrasives in those compounds is if they are inhaled. Still, it doesn't stop me from giving my kitchen knives a good, hot scrub after stropping them.
 
I heard that Jeweller's Rouge also contains LEAD....

A good wipe down is essential for any knife that is used in raw food preparation, particularly carbon which can impart a strong taste anyway.
 
Do you clean your knife after you clean your toenails and before you cut your apple??? Toe jam I can think is full of grit. I'm a jeweler, use rouge alot on precious metals, and you don't want to breath it or eat it. Clean your knife before you cut food with it. Metal filings, carbides, abrasives of all sorts are not good for the human bodily functions even in small quantities.
 
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