What grit to sharpen to, before stropping

Sharpnessis

Sharpnessis

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Aug 11, 2012
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What do you guys sharpen to, grit wise, before you strop?

Normally I go to 3,000 but I saw a youtube video of a guy sharpening to 220 then leather belting.

I want to know what you experienced folks have to say.
 
I have been wondering the same thing, I just ordered a strop. I sharpen with my Lanky up to the 1000, and am hoping a strop will help.
 
I know the answer will be, it depends what you are going to dcut with it. But I'm talking about an edc user. My buddy wants me to sharpen his knife. Now I don't know exactly what he plans on cutting.
So do I go to 3,000 or stop at 220?

Btw stropman compounds work awesome!
 
For my EDC, I usually sharpen to 8,000 using stones and polishing tape. Then I strop on bare cordovan horsehide about 20 alternating strokes. From then on, if I use the blade during the day, I either strop on a chromium oxide loaded strop (if I've used the blade for some serious cutting,) or just another 20 alternating strokes on bare horsehide if I've only done light cutting. This will keep the edge working well for a few months. I never strop more than 20-30 strokes. If it takes more than that, I'll re-sharpen the edge starting with a 600 grit stone and work back up. I've kept a Benchmade 710, a Benchmade Stryker, and a Spyderco Endura going for many years with this routine.


Stitchawl
 
You can sharpen to any grit you want and strop whenever you want, stropping is intended to just remove the slightest bits of burr and debris while slightly improving the sharpness. There is NO set grit to go to before you strop.
 
I'll add you should be careful what grit abrasive you strop with and the backing you select - stropping is a discipline in itself, more complex than grinding IMHO. In my experience using a very fine abrasive to strop after a fairly coarse grinding abrasive will leave you with an underperforming edge, I prefer to use a larger grit.

The same compounds on a softer leather or canvas will create a very different effect than if used on MDF or similar. On a hard enough backing your strop compound essentially becomes a lapping compound.

For EDU I generally stop at the fine side of an India or Crystalon stone and strop on black emery - I wrap a sheet of paper around my stone and apply the compound to that. It can just shave my face but still has some grab, holds up very well, and is easy to maintain - so your 320 grit and strop plan is pretty sound for the average user. For my large kitchen knives, machetes, hatchets I'll actually go a bit further and use white compound or Flexcut Gold - it reduces their draw cutting efficiency but dramatically boosts their chopping/pressure cutting efficiency. For a higher polish, you might consider a higher grit count to stop grinding at prior to stropping, something in the 1000 range depending on method. Also remember there's a world of difference between ANSI, FEPA and JIS grit values...

HH
 
Ok so I ground to 320. Then stropped with leather from course, to medium then fine and extra fine. The edge looks like I ground it to 3000.

is stropping just as good as grinding?
 
HeavyHanded said:
I'll add you should be careful what grit abrasive you strop with and the backing you select - stropping is a discipline in itself, more complex than grinding IMHO. In my experience using a very fine abrasive to strop after a fairly coarse grinding abrasive will leave you with an underperforming edge, I prefer to use a larger grit.

The same compounds on a softer leather or canvas will create a very different effect than if used on MDF or similar. On a hard enough backing your strop compound essentially becomes a lapping compound.

For EDU I generally stop at the fine side of an India or Crystalon stone and strop on black emery - I wrap a sheet of paper around my stone and apply the compound to that. It can just shave my face but still has some grab, holds up very well, and is easy to maintain - so your 320 grit and strop plan is pretty sound for the average user. For my large kitchen knives, machetes, hatchets I'll actually go a bit further and use white compound or Flexcut Gold - it reduces their draw cutting efficiency but dramatically boosts their chopping/pressure cutting efficiency. For a higher polish, you might consider a higher grit count to stop grinding at prior to stropping, something in the 1000 range depending on method. Also remember there's a world of difference between ANSI, FEPA and JIS grit values...

HH
Click to expand...
Once again Heavy is correct.
After sharpening to say like the guy in the video to 220grit you must strop on slurry of like 300 grit for it to do any good. Yes, coarse stropping is a whole different effect than fine stropping. If your going to sharpen to around 300 grit you should procure some slurry of around 400 grit to strop on. Or learn to remove the burr on that last stone. DM
 
Sharpnessis said:
Ok so I ground to 320. Then stropped with leather from course, to medium then fine and extra fine. The edge looks like I ground it to 3000.
is stropping just as good as grinding?
Click to expand...

I would say no. The two your doing for different effects. I would not spend that much time with it unless I'm becoming OCD. If I desire a finer edge, I'll sharpen on a finer grit stone then strop it on finer. At times I'll need such an edge for a particular task. Just me, you may do what you like. DM
 
Sharpnessis said:
Ok so I ground to 320. Then stropped with leather from course, to medium then fine and extra fine. The edge looks like I ground it to 3000.

is stropping just as good as grinding?
Click to expand...


Prep a different knife in the same way only use a stone to get it there. You will likely notice a difference in how much bite they exhibit with the advantage going to the ground edge - it'll have more microscopic variation in the cutting edge along the apex and no convexing of the apex - it'll still have the inclusive angle you started with. Nearly all stropping with an abrasive will round the apex to some degree - whatever backing you use is likely softer than a stone and will deflect some under pressure. Good technique and a firm backing can minimize this effect quite a bit, but most folks that maintain their edges with a loaded strop acknowledge that, at some point, they have to go back to a stone to restore the edge. Play around and see what shakes out. IMHO stropping with an abrasive is a cross between lapping and sanding - removes metal but is not the same as grinding. I will occasionally use compound on a piece of hardwood and lapp with it as a stone - in that case I don't notice any microconvexing or absence of micro-variations.

The variables compound (no pun intended) very rapidly - there's a lot to stropping if you care to delve.

HH
 
Yes, good. Thinking about Sharp's question; you can arrive at where you want to be with the edge by doing it as you describe. Not having the stones and making up this by stropping is more economical. Just keep in mind the maladies of this route which HH, lays out. DM
 
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