Which leather strop to get?

S

SnowCrash

Joined
Nov 23, 2010
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Getting an emerson CQC 8 in the mail and heard leather strops add really nice finishing touches and take off the burr better than just using spyderco stones.

I'm looking on amazon and am not really sure which would be best to use, and whether I need strop paste/cream. Could someone help me out?

Also on the sharpmaker, it's 10:1 for sharpening chisel grinds, right?
 
You can make your own with vegetable tanned leather and a block of wood. Might be cheaper.

Edit: As for stropping compound, Chromium Oxide (the green stuff) works well.
 
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if you have a Woodcraft store in your area, they carry stropping leather. glue it to a block, get some diamond compound, and your edges will get scary.
 
I would completely agree with the reccomendation of fabricating your own strops, and charging them with fine diamond paste.

The Emerson is a fine knife, and well worthy of quality sharpening equipment. I would therefore discourage you from multi-sided stropping blocks, due to the quite real possibility of cross contamination of stropping compounds.

A good rule is simply one separate strop for each stropping compound to be used.

As you learn the finer points of stropping, you will, of course, wish to advance to the finest compounds. In the beginning, however, you will be well served by a strop loaded with one micron DMT Dia-Paste and a plain, unloaded strop to finish on.

Eventually, you may wish to shop for compounds at places like:

www.chefknivestogo.com
www.jendeindustries.com
www.us-products.com
 
I just had a member here contact me and commence a trade for his stropping blocks for some lower end knives.

He said .5 micron (chromium paste) on one block, the other will be plain.

How would I go about stropping an emerson chisel edge? I'm guessing it will be one strop each side of the edge with medium pressure until I get a good looking edge? Not sure how to angle the strop on the non-edge portion of the chisel edge
 
You can go on YouTube and have weeks worth of videos on sharpening and stopping. That's what I've been doing now for a couple of weeks.
 
Poke around on the Emerson website. He recommends the back of a legal pad. That's what I've been doin with mine for many years. Any non corrugated cardboard works, and its free:)

Sharpen the bevel first, then FLAT on the back

FAQ #11
http://www.emersonknives.com/ekEK_FAQ.php
 
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Some people find that chromium oxide isn't up to the task with more modern super steels. I had pretty good results with it, but nothing like dmt paste on the woodcraft stropping leather (which I now remember is made by Hand American).
 
Hand American leather and Hand American diamomd spray are the reason why leather and carbon exist. If one is feeling less existential, making your own strop will work just as well and cost less than buying or trading into a pre-made strop.
 
thombrogan said:
Hand American leather and Hand American diamomd spray are the reason why leather and carbon exist. If one is feeling less existential, making your own strop will work just as well and cost less than buying or trading into a pre-made strop.
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What if one is feeling even more existential? :p What then? :D:D
 
Then you hit up Mark and Susan or Tom in Taiwan for Ken's CBN and diamond stuff and a nanocloth strop so that the subatomic particles in your knife have a mirror polish.
 
thombrogan said:
Then you hit up Mark and Susan or Tom in Taiwan for Ken's CBN and diamond stuff and a nanocloth strop so that the subatomic particles in your knife have a mirror polish.
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:p Thom, I do truly enjoy a bit of levity here!:p:thumbup:


CKTG and Jende are my primary suppliers.!
 
I do fine with a JRE strop and black compound< even with ZDP. subatomically, of course.;)
 
How long does it take you guys to get those polished mirror edges? Just got done with the sharpmaker on ultra fine stones, now stropping furiously
 
I've made several strops out of quality leather and crap leather and they all work fine. I've also got a pre-made one and it doesn't work any better than the ones I made.
 
stoffi said:
I've made several strops out of quality leather and crap leather and they all work fine. I've also got a pre-made one and it doesn't work any better than the ones I made.
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Certainly one can fabricate a strop from virtually any leather. Neverheless if one is attempting to obtain a top quality strop, one would be hard pressed to find leather equal to that provided by HandAmerican. Of course it's a bit less ecomonical than scrap, but I am reminded of the adage that "if a man desires top quality oats, one must be prepared to pay a fair price. however, is one is satisfied with oats that have made a trip through the horse, one can generally find a "bargain."
 
I understand what you mean, but my point is that it won't give you a better edge if your bargain leather is OK. I mean, I sharpen knives on cinder blocks, coffee mugs, newspaper, cardboard etc. when I don't have a kit with me. As long as the leather you choose is actually leather and not too soft, i.e. a bit firm is good, you'll do very well. I went and got an expensive cow hide which was quite firm and made two large strops which probably would cost like 100+ USD for each, but mine are top notch and I made two huge ones for like 20 USD.

Unless you're building some fancy kit which needs the logos n' stuff, you won't need the finest horse leather to strop a knife. A lazy ol' cow will do.
 
stoffi said:
I understand what you mean, but my point is that it won't give you a better edge if your bargain leather is OK. I mean, I sharpen knives on cinder blocks, coffee mugs, newspaper, cardboard etc. when I don't have a kit with me. As long as the leather you choose is actually leather and not too soft, i.e. a bit firm is good, you'll do very well. I went and got an expensive cow hide which was quite firm and made two large strops which probably would cost like 100+ USD for each, but mine are top notch and I made two huge ones for like 20 USD.

Unless you're building some fancy kit which needs the logos n' stuff, you won't need the finest horse leather to strop a knife. A lazy ol' cow will do.
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You are indeed a man of many talents. :thumbup: Quality bovine leather, especially thin, hard leather does indeed perform quite well. Horse butt hide may not provide you with a superior edge, but IME, it's faster, easier to load with compound, and has better tactile feedback. :) (OTOH, I'm not a professional by any means, so bear that in mind when perusing my comments.)
 
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