Where to buy strop materials?

J

JoeMySwords

Joined
Jul 19, 2013
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Hey guys, I have a couple knives I need to polish up, but have neither the time nor the requirements to get any kind of strop materials online. The closest knife shop is a town over, and I wanted to know if I could buy everything I need for stropping from something like a hardware store? If not I can make the drive, I just want to know if there's any place closer I can get the materials from, first. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me! :thumbup:
 
Leather belt, paint stirrer stick, glue, compound...Sears, Home Depot, etc...a few bucks and a good strop...many links, threads, etc...let your "search" do the walking...
 
Thank you Kai, you my friend are fantastic. Where exactly would I find the compound, though? Would that be in the hardware section, or is that more likely going to be in the car parts section for car polishing?
 
JoeMySwords said:
Thank you Kai, you my friend are fantastic. Where exactly would I find the compound, though? Would that be in the hardware section, or is that more likely going to be in the car parts section for car polishing?
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Look for the stick-type or 'crayon' compounds (usually black, white, green) in the section where the wheel-type bench grinders/buffers are found. Often displayed next to the supplementary cotton/buff wheels & other accessories for such grinders. These compounds were created for those uses originally, but are likely the most popular and commonly-used for stropping purposes as well.

Forgot to add:
Regarding looking in the car parts section (at hardware or automotive supply outlets), many seem to like using Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish (pic below) for stropping as well. So that's another option. I've never tried it, but many seem to swear by it. Depending on what abrasive it uses, it may not work as well for high-wear steels, but it still is quite popular.

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David
 
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I made my strop out of a leather belt and a piece of 1x3 pine I had in my pile of left over project wood pile. The belt came from a store. It cost me ten bucks...I did not have one at home I was willing to cut up. The belt had a hard shiny finish that I sanded off with some sand paper. I used "liquid nails" as the glue...I had a tube of it on my shelf of stuff.
I cut the piece of wood to 12 inches and cut a 3 inch handle onto one end. I wrapped the handle with some handlebar tape I had lying around.
I glued a nine inch length of belt to each side. One side had the finished side up the other had the unfinished side up.
After lying the strips of leather on each side of the wood I used some scrap wood to hold the leather on and used some C clamps while allowing the glue to dry.
Once dry I gave each strip of leather a bit of a sanding using 150 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. I used green compound on one side and honing oil on the other. I use the non compound side to give the knife edge a final few strokes for no good reason other than I want to.

There are so many different ways to make a strop and so many different materials people use that there is no perfect material or method. Half the fun is in the trying and experimenting.
I spent ten bucks on the belt and three on the green compound.
You can just see it in the background of this pic.
photo1.jpg
 
Awesome, thank you a lot Kai. As for the belt, did you have to split it to get the finished/unfinished sides separate? Because what I've seen with most leather belts is that they're made with two strips of leather glued/bonded together, with the finished side facing out, so I'm assuming I'd have to split that down the middle?
 
Thanks for that, Obsessed, I'm gonna have to run to the store on the second and have a look around, thanks for the info!
 
I did not split the leather. I cut the belt into two strips and glued one strip finished side up to one side of the strop and the unfinished side to the other. I sanded the finished side to remove the shiny "finish" then covered with compound.
 
Ahhh okay, that makes sense. I didn't realize how impossibly simple making a strop is..damn. Well, thank you Kai and Obsessed for your help, I appreciate it!
 
JoeMySwords said:
Ahhh okay, that makes sense. I didn't realize how impossibly simple making a strop is..damn. Well, thank you Kai and Obsessed for your help, I appreciate it!
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:thumbup:

A strop can be amazingly simple to make, from materials costing virtually nothing. If this is any indication, my current 'best' stropping method is with a piece of plywood (literally, a scrap), with various different materials like paper or linen (I cut a strip from a recently 'retired' old shirt) stuck to it, using some spray adhesive. I've especially liked using some Ryobi 'white rouge' compound I picked up at Home Depot on the paper and/or linen. The combination of very firm backing (plywood) with a very thin & nearly non-conformable substrate (paper/linen) and the compound is producing the crispest edges I've managed so far, on a very wide range of steels, like 1095, 420HC, 440C, ATS-34, VG-10, 154CM, 12C27Mod, XC90, D2 and even some benefit on S30V (though a similar method with 1 micron diamond is even better for this steel).


David
 
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I've learned much also from Ob... and others like him...then all it takes is practice and having fun...It is almost like meditating when I'm sharpening a knife, especially reprofiling...zuba zuba zuba to quote Bill Cosby in his famous "Noah" sketch...
 
Kai Winters said:
I've learned much also from Ob... and others like him...then all it takes is practice and having fun...It is almost like meditating when I'm sharpening a knife, especially reprofiling...zuba zuba zuba to quote Bill Cosby in his famous "Noah" sketch...
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I get that feel, too. When I have my stones or my Sharpmaker and I'm just going at it, it's almost like I'm just in a trance doing it, it's almost soothing to me..
 
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