What stropping compound do you use?

DMT 3 pack of paste has worked great for me. A little more pricey at $20 for the 3 different micron sizes but it makes getting that mirrior edge easier.

080.jpg
 
Black and green compound from Bark River. I hear from a youtube viewer (virtuovice) that he prefers the white compound over the green.
 
No, not all equal.

I use DMT 6, 3, 1 micron, Handamerican 1 & 0.5 micron diamond plus 1 micron boron carbide and 0.5 micron chromium oxide. Not all at the same time but for different needs.

Bar compounds are for buffers, I don't use them on strops.
 
knifenut1013 said:
No, not all equal.

I use DMT 6, 3, 1 micron, Handamerican 1 & 0.5 micron diamond plus 1 micron boron carbide and 0.5 micron chromium oxide. Not all at the same time but for different needs.

Bar compounds are for buffers, I don't use them on strops.
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Knifenut do you feel an increase in sharpness when going from 1 micron to .5?
 
I mean no offense, but since you are asking this question, it suggests that you are new or relatively new to stropping. Green chromium oxide is what I think you want.....in my opinion. You can get more refined later with the diamond pastes if you want.

The black compound is more coarse, and you will find the green chromium oxide about right for most stropping. The whites can be both more coarse and more fine than green, depending of the maker of the compound.

Here is a picture of my strops - green and white. The green gets used most. The strops are 7-8oz leather glued to a piece of 3/4x3"x11" pieces of wood or MDF. The other strops (with sandpaper) are for convex edge sharpening and do not apply to your question, they just happen to be in these particular pictures.

Front side:
convex-01.jpg


And with all strops flipped over:
convex-02.jpg
 
I have quite a few. 1,.5,.25mic monocrystalline diamond, .25 Real polycrystalline diamond, 2mic silicon carbide, 1mic boron carbide, .5mic and .125mic cubic boron nitride, .5mic CrO, and 6 different grits of buffing compounds.
 
1 micron is about as fine as you will ever want on a knifes edge, its about 14,000 grit. The 0.5 is 50k and at that level you can start comparing edge finish to your bathroom mirror and edge sharpness with straight razors. Its a fun level to take your edge to but not pratical.

With most compounds you already need to have a edge finish of 8k or better for them to work effectively. Your best bet would probably be the DMT compound, having 3 coarser grades would be more useful than one very fine.
 
StretchNM said:
I mean no offense, but since you are asking this question, it suggests that you are new or relatively new to stropping. Green chromium oxide is what I think you want.....in my opinion. You can get more refined later with the diamond pastes if you want.

The black compound is more coarse, and you will find the green chromium oxide about right for most stropping. The whites can be both more coarse and more fine than green, depending of the maker of the compound.

Here is a picture of my strops - green and white. The green gets used most. The strops are 7-8oz leather glued to a piece of 3/4x3"x11" pieces of wood or MDF. The other strops (with sandpaper) are for convex edge sharpening and do not apply to your question, they just happen to be in these particular pictures.
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No offense taken. I am brand new to using a compound or paste when stropping. I've used an old leather belt from time to time, but I'm educating myself now on how to do it right. Thanks for the info.
 
The DMT 3-pack is really pretty excellent if you want something more dramatic than chromium oxide (green) compound. The $20 for the good stuff is well spent. In my experience it likes shiny hard leather the best. If you want to polish something it also works well on razorblade sized pieces of loaded balsa.
 
I use hand American 1 & 0.5 Micron diamond spray. I originally tried green chromium oxide and I would actually make my blades more dull. I got the diamond spray and didn't change anything else but immediately had the sharpest edges I have ever had. I would highly recommend ordering the diamonds if you are going to spend the time, effort, and money to start stropping. You can just get the 1 Micron and get great results. I notice an improvement with the half Micron but not nearly as big a jump in sharpness as the 1 Micron makes.

I don't go through all the grit and remove the previous scratch pattern like Knifenut does as I don't have the patience. Instead I will take a knife I got good and Sharp that easily shaves arm hair and strop it. That is enough to increase the sharpness. I can strop a new knife with a coarse grit factory grind and improve the edge. It doesn't work as well as if I progress through the grit getting a near mirror edge but as long as it is Sharp to start with I get positive results with the diamonds. Maybe because I don't progress through the grits like I should is why the green paste did not work at all for me. Spring for the diamonds and you won't regret it.
 
Obviously, the preferred method is to try them all. :p

Actually, I'm not being facetious. Diferent compounds cut differently on different steels. A compound like CrO, which is, IME, near ideal for ATS34, is virtualy worthless when used on S90V. (except perhaps if used on a leather sanding belt)

Cubic boron nitride and diamond will leave tiny, but visible scratches on AUS and the 400 series steels.

It has been my experience, that for optimization, the compound should be matched to the steel. :thumbup:
 
I have handamerican 1 mic boron carbide and .5 mic chromium oxide. I also use 1 mic dmt paste occasionally.
 
Ben Dover said:
Obviously, the preferred method is to try them all.
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Absolutely!

I want to get a seat on two bandwagons, though:

1. Some compounds work better with some steels as compared to others.

2. Just get some diamond or cubic boron nitride compounds - even if some steels don't get as shiny as others with them, they'll still let you strop every steel to scary sharp™ and beyond.
 
thombrogan said:
Absolutely!

I want to get a seat on two bandwagons, though:

1. Some compounds work better with some steels as compared to others.

2. Just get some diamond or cubic boron nitride compounds - even if some steels don't get as shiny as others with them, they'll still let you strop every steel to scary sharp™ and beyond.
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Thom, I noticed that most of the guys and gals over at Fred's Cutlery Forum use boron nitride for their 1 micron level stropping on kitchen knives. I'm sure some use diamonds but they seem to be in the minority. Do you have any insights as to why the kitchen crowd go for boron over diamond at that grit level? Is the boron nitride less aggressive than diamonds?

I'm singling you out because you're one of the few names I recognize who actively post both here and there.:)
 
Ben Dover said:
Obviously, the preferred method is to try them all. :p

Actually, I'm not being facetious. Diferent compounds cut differently on different steels. A compound like CrO, which is, IME, near ideal for ATS34, is virtualy worthless when used on S90V. (except perhaps if used on a leather sanding belt)

Cubic boron nitride and diamond will leave tiny, but visible scratches on AUS and the 400 series steels.

It has been my experience, that for optimization, the compound should be matched to the steel. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

What do you like for 1095?
 
KarlMaldensNose said:
Do you have any insights as to why the kitchen crowd go for boron over diamond at that grit level? Is the boron nitride less aggressive than diamonds?
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I can think of a few reasons:

1. The edge left by diamonds; spastically sharp though it is; often feels less smooth while cutting compared to boron carbide and boron nitride.

2. Mark and Sue are selling it so you know it has to be good.

Also, with the boron nitride, it can be bought for around $5USD per application from us-products.com, so some folks are just being frugal in their high-polish desires.

I usually use 1 micron polishing paper over float glass or hubcap polish on leather, but that's me.
 
perfect, this thread answered some of my questions. all i have to ask now is what should i get to put these compounds on? suggestions?
 
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