What strop to use and good Youtube vids?

The comments with leather and "hair splitting edges". Ok? Is that the use that knives are for you? Splitting hair? I don't see that as a practical thing. Splitting hair is probably the easiest edge to make. Just raise a burr on both sides and strop it away with a bit of force. A denim hanging strop with any abrasive works great for this. The edge has no bite but it can split hairs. I'd prefer my edges to cut actual things that need cutting not split hairs
 
EMN said:
Jurassic arrives tomorrow can’t wait. Thanks for sharing your experience taking it all in so much to learn and try. I have some inexpensive knives I will work on first.

I would like to thank everyone you never know what to expect going into a new experience and this has been rewarding.
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Welcome and good for you to want to learn more about sharpening and reaching out for help. Great folks here with a ton of knowledge, experience and generosity.

I'm not going to give any advice on the strop as you've gotten a lot already but as you're likely starting to notice is that there are generally many answers to the same question in sharpening. I think part of the reason is personal experience and expectations. For example, I have a lot of simple steels so stropping is pretty easy for those. Even some hard bare leather works pretty well and gives me edges I'm typically happy with. But if I grab some S90V, well now it's different. There's some many different notions about sharp, different steels, different sharpening media and methods, different end desires, and so that often there is no single answer that everyone agrees on.

Now for true science, you can go to @ToddS website and see outstanding detailed work: https://scienceofsharp.com/home/

To an extent I concede that stropping beyond the stone is something of a crutch. My edges often do crisp up after some light stropping. Sometimes I nail it on the stone, sometimes not. But while I strive to improve, I have no problem accepting the help of the strop. I also use a strop a lot of edge maintenance, especially in the kitchen.

I would offer that the key is to keep exploring, keep learning, and keep being honest with yourself about results.

There's some great sharpening channels out there such as Michael Christy, Big Brown Bear (known here on the forum as @DeadboxHero ), Jef Jewell, Outpost76, Rough Rooster Knife Sharpening and many more. I don't always have a desire to achieve what some of these folks have and are chasing, but I do enjoy watching them and hearing their thoughts.

Best of luck and have fun! :)
 
Ben Dover said:
The leg of your blue jeans makes a decent "touch up" strop.

(But do not use your pants leg after drinking or you may find yourself in the emergency room getting stitches.. Don't ask me how I know that!:oops:)
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The legs of my jeans is my #1 most used strop. Basically after any use, a couple quick swipes on my thigh and good to go!
 
EMN said:
So really there is no right answer for every situation. Different uses will require different methods.
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Yes, exactly.

I think a good place to start would be to read about the differences between coarse, toothy, low grit edges and smooth, high grit edges. There are many good posts on the forum about this. There is no use, and it would be a waste of money, to buy sharpening supplies for smooth edges if you decide you only need coarse edges.

EMN said:
Besides the reading above is there any other articles or videos that could be suggested?
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The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, by John Juranitch, helped me immensely to understand the basic principles of sharpening, which are actually quite simple. Before that I was just getting bits and pieces of information, some of it conflicting, without knowing how it all fit together. I was confused, frustrated, floundering around in trial and error, and wondering why I wasn't getting sharp edges. After I understood and applied the basics, and could get sharp edges, I better understood the great info and advice I got here.
 
Vicv said:
The comments with leather and "hair splitting edges". Ok? Is that the use that knives are for you? Splitting hair? I don't see that as a practical thing. Splitting hair is probably the easiest edge to make. Just raise a burr on both sides and strop it away with a bit of force. A denim hanging strop with any abrasive works great for this. The edge has no bite but it can split hairs. I'd prefer my edges to cut actual things that need cutting not split hairs
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You can easily get a cutting edge with a leather strop and proper sharpening

If you cant the there is something wrong with your skills

You dont need mdf, balsa, or even a leather strop for that

Hell you can do that with stones alone

Oh and my hair splitting edges have no problems bitting into tomatoes .... A standard test
 
MtnHawk1 said:
Yes, exactly.

I think a good place to start would be to read about the differences between coarse, toothy, low grit edges and smooth, high grit edges. There are many good posts on the forum about this. There is no use, and it would be a waste of money, to buy sharpening supplies for smooth edges if you decide you only need coarse edges.



The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, by John Juranitch, helped me immensely to understand the basic principles of sharpening, which are actually quite simple. Before that I was just getting bits and pieces of information, some of it conflicting, without knowing how it all fit together. I was confused, frustrated, floundering around in trial and error, and wondering why I wasn't getting sharp edges. After I understood and applied the basics, and could get sharp edges, I better understood the great info and advice I got here.
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thanks book ordered
 
I think nano nano was a cute phrase created by robin williams while filming Mork and Mindy. Other than that , not so much.
 
Vicv said:
The comments with leather and "hair splitting edges". Ok? Is that the use that knives are for you? Splitting hair? I don't see that as a practical thing. Splitting hair is probably the easiest edge to make. Just raise a burr on both sides and strop it away with a bit of force. A denim hanging strop with any abrasive works great for this. The edge has no bite but it can split hairs. I'd prefer my edges to cut actual things that need cutting not split hairs
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Splitting hair is just a figure of speech, let's chill a little? Just like slicing tomato, receipt paper, catching on a nail, inspection under microscope or splitting atom, pick your poison, I doubt most people are buying knives just so they could do those all day long.

I don't disagree with your method of using balsa/MDF with "diamond paste, spray, emulsion, green or white or black compound" may work, and I would like to try that sometime. But I do know there are a fair number of members and knifemakers here on forum use leather strop for sharpening, if I say their knives are 'hair whittling' sharp, will that just dull all their edges?
 
Easiest way into stropping is wrap a sheet of paper around a dry bench stone, apply compound and backhone.
You can use a sharpie to mark the edge and use a plain sheet of paper to get your mechanics down, get a feel for it.
 
check out Michael Christy on youtube, he’s over the top professional sharpener so watching him and using his methods might seem intimidating because you’ll never achieve his level, but still informative. another channel is outdoors55 , also extremely good but he explains things very well, i can relate to him more than other other top end sharpeners.
 
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