Wowbagger making a diamond strop; needs advice

[Wowbagger]

Here's the set up :
This will be a portable EDC strop. No backing just the leather strip.
Primarily it will be for S110V but will be used on softer stuff down to Case's SS (the Case Trapper shown will be the first thing I strop; it is toothy and in need of a bit of refinement to the brand new factory edge) unless you think that is a bad idea to "contaminate" the strop with steel other than the high vanadium carbide steels.
I want to try a finish side of the leather strop . . . most of my other strops have been hard maple with diamond or rough side leather with yellow or green "rouge" mostly, among others.

This photo shows the surface of the leather (smooth side) and how much paste I have to work with in the 600 grit.

I assume I should put all of this on the strop and order more. How is best to get all this out of the syringe ? It is so thick I need to dig it out with a wire; it won’t just press out with the plunger.



This shows my tool roll / portable sharpening kit I EDC to work etc. I would prefer the strop to be no longer than the Spyderco triangle rod and will probably cut the leather to be about the width of the black tool roll. In other words shorter than the Spyderco rod.

That should be long enough for four inch blades or smaller . . . right ?



I have these other Diamond grits but am pretty sure the 600 is the best way to go for stropping my toothy. Do you agree ?

This shows the back / rough side of the leather in case you all think that is the best way to go. I have pretty much always gone with the rough side but I am thinking I will go with the smooth side for a change. If I were going with the finer grits and stropping a more refined or polished bevel then for sure the smooth side would be best. Really . . . probably with 600 it doesn’t matter which side I use . . . is that about right ?

Thanks gang !

 

[Zatx]

600 grit should be fine for what you are after, though all of the diamond compounds I own are listed in microns.

The amount you have left in your syringe would be a lifetime supply for me. For the length of leather you have pictured there I might put 12-16 small dots of paste and then rub it in. I'm talking very small dots... they would be about the size of the end of the syringe and maybe 1mm tall. You don't need to cover all of the leather because as you strop your blade will spread out the particles. Anything more than that tends to get wasted and scraped off the first couple of times you use it.

Basically, I make the dot pattern look like you find on Atoma plates or DMT non-continuous plates before spreading the compound out.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

If you're wanting to keep some of the 'tooth' in the Case stainless blade, I'd not get too carried away with compound stropping, even at 600 grit. Case's stainless (420HC) polishes very fast and will give up it's teeth just as quickly, if the compound is very aggressive at all (think: diamond, SiC or AlOx in particular). If you're looking to maintain a 600-grit finish on it, you're better off producing that on a stone, then stropping minimally with nothing more than a few passes on a strop with either a very light application of green compound, or with no compound at all. Just enough to clean up burrs, in other words. Too much compounded stropping beyond that, even with green compound, and the teeth will come off the edge of a 420HC blade very quickly.

If you use the 600-grit diamond to strop the Case blade, you're better off doing that on a harder substrate, like wood. The compound will dig more deeply, and leave a somewhat more aggressive bite in the edge, if it's working from a harder substrate. On a softish leather strop, it's more likely to polish and/or overpolish beyond what you might want.


David

 

[Jason B.]

I would recommend a coarse stone followed by 1 micron/14,000 grit diamond paste. The toothy polished edge tends to work better.

I would also recommend using balsa wood for coarser compounds. Unlike the leather that will make a 600 grit compound work like a 800 grit or finer compound the balsa allows the compound to cut closer to 600. The leather would be best for getting the most polish out of the bevel. Because the leather will make the compound polish finer it works well to bring the luster up on a polished bevel.

Also, you will need to be extra careful using coarse compounds on leather... very easy to round the edge.

 

[Wowbagger]

Thank You guys !

That helps.
Whoa I almost way over did it with the quantity. Glad you got to me in time. I did put some on, all that I could dig out, but was planing on more when I had the time to excavate it. Guess I will stop and use it as is now.

Wasted and scraped off

Yes I was getting some adhering to the side of the knife and couldn't get it to wipe back onto the strop so I probably have too much on already. I used a fair amount of mineral oil to help soften the "clay" like chunks I dug out; then smeared it into the leather with my finger.

Green compound etc and over polishing the Case steel

I'm not too set on maintaining the toothy edge of the Case; it will get Edge Pro'd and polished but for now since it is toothy and kind of raggedy I figured the coarse diamond wound get down into the teeth.

The only use I REALLY have for this strop will be for the S110V and don't even really need it to stay toothy I just want to be able to refine the edge and touch it up when I need to until I can get a handle on S110V. Meaning my small DMT aligner stones didn't really satisfy me and the Edge Pro Shaptons aren't really what is needed so I will hack the edge into shape with the above stones and then try to keep it SHARP with this strop. I don't really care about toothy but the coarser stones are able to move the metal on the edge, whole carbides and all, THEN the strop with diamond should be able to refine the actual carbides into a decent apex.

anyway that's the plan at this point.

I would recommend a coarse stone followed by 1 micron/14,000 grit diamond paste.

Excellent. Looks like I will be making up a second strop.

Also, you will need to be extra careful using coarse compounds on leather... very easy to round the edge.

Yup . . . I didn't have too great of results last night. I was going really shallow angle and light but I still didn't get the edge back up to shave sharp as I had it from the corner of the Spyderco Ultra fine. I had to use the corner of the Ultra fine to get it usable for today at work.
"Practice, practice, practice" Guess I will have to follow my own advice.

Thank you again all.

 

[jc57]

+1 for the balsa as a strop substrate. It is soft enough for the diamonds to embed in it, but firm enough where you won't easily round off your edge when stropping. You can get Midwest Products balsa blocks for about $4 for a 1" x 3" x 12" block. Internet or at your local Hobby Lobby or similar. Other sizes as well.

Alternately, you could use a good quality cased leather. I bought some veg-tanned leather belt-making material at a local Tandy and cut off about an 18" section. Soaked it in water for a few minutes, then used a rolling pin (for about 30 minutes) to flatten it out and compress the leather, then let it dry. The leather is now "cased" and quite firm, and gives very little under the pressure of the knife when stropping. I use it with chromium oxide compound, but you could easily do it with diamonds. The casing is a critical step. I got the idea from another poster here (Stitchawl I think) and it makes a big difference in the quality of the finished leather strop.

Sounds like your paste is dried out. I have seen videos where people essentially spread it on using a putty knife. I use a spray myself. I get good coverage at the expense of wasting some to a little overspray.

 

[Wowbagger]

Thanks John,

Cased leather

Hmmmmm . . . I had some in my stock that was thicker (~6 mm) and a fair amount harder/denser) I skipped over it and went with the stuff shown. It still seemed pretty darned firm. So . . . much harder is better. I'm learning a lot here.

I have some lemon wood; that's pretty soft. I use it for vise pads for woodworking vises. Or balsa. I hear you. I'll need to buy some.

Thanks