Yet another stropping compound question

[SC_Dave]

I use BRKT black, green and white and I like them. The green applies with ease and remains soft on the leather strop. The black and white are more difficult. I have tried warming them to apply but once on the strop they are still very hard. I don't want to mess up my strops experimenting. Is their anything (like oil maybe?) that I can cut them with that would allow the to stay soft on the strop?
David

 

[Curtis_Lowe]

mineral oil just a couple drops should be enough

 

[SC_Dave]

Thanks Curtis, I tried the mineral oil but it didn't have the result I was hoping for. As a result of the oil the leather was certainly softer but it seemed to make the white compound nearly impossible to apply. Not sure what to try next.
David

 

[HardTripper]

Im awaiting an answer here as well, when I try to apply green compound its very flaky and barley loads into the leather. Ive tried heating the leather, the compound, and both without much success. I still have not tried black because of my green failure...

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'd used some gently-heated mineral oil to do this with green bar compound some time ago. It worked fairly well. Don't know if it'd work with other compounds, but it might be worth trying. I think the binder used in bar compounds is similar to wax, so some heat might do the trick to soften it up.

I just used a cheap knife to scrape some of the bar compound into a Pyrex dish, added some mineral oil, then warmed it in the microwave for maybe 30 seconds. Don't let it get too hot. I then had to stir/crush/mix the compound into the warmed mineral oil, using a spoon. Whatever dish & stirring tool you use, make sure it's expendable. The compound will scratch both. The stirring & mixing eventually made a pretty homogeneous mix, sort of like paint. Used my fingertip to rub it into the strop (disposable gloves are handy for this ).

 

[SC_Dave]

Thanks David, the heat may be what I'm missing. The white is just ornery.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thanks David, the heat may be what I'm missing. The white is just ornery.

I have some Ryobi white & black compound, and have been wondering about it too. Haven't used either hardly at all, because it doesn't 'crayon' onto a strop quite so easily as the green stuff does. I've been making out OK using the green that way, just rubbing the bar on the leather. When I'd used the warm mineral oil with it a while back, I applied it much too heavily to the strop. Ended up cleaning all/most of it off, and re-purposing that strop for different compound at the time.

 

[HeavyHanded]

You could try putting a few drops of mineral oil on the bar, rubbing it a bit with a fingertip and letting it sit for a minute - this makes a soft spot on the bar that should spread easy. I've had great luck using mineral oil, usually work a few drops into some newspaper or (lately) a few drops on a maple board. Just a real thin film and rub the block (Sears white) on it, turns into a slurry in seconds without any piling up. Another tip - if loading some leather without using mineral oil or heat, use some pressure when applying but don't overlap your strokes or it'll pile up with the binder. Rub it in dry with your fingertip or a piece of scrap leather.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

You could try putting a few drops of mineral oil on the bar, rubbing it a bit with a fingertip and letting it sit for a minute - this makes a soft spot on the bar that should spread easy. I've had great luck using mineral oil, usually work a few drops into some newspaper or (lately) a few drops on a maple board. Just a real thin film and rub the block (Sears white) on it, turns into a slurry in seconds without any piling up. Another tip - if loading some leather without using mineral oil or heat, use some pressure when applying but don't overlap your strokes or it'll pile up with the binder. Rub it in dry with your fingertip or a piece of scrap leather.

The maple board suggestion is timely; it's interesting you mentioned this. I bought a couple pieces of scrap maple at a Woodcraft store a while back. Both pieces are 1/4" stock, and perfectly sized for stropping (~ 3" wide, 8" - 12" long), which is why they caught my eye. I picked them up in anticipation of making a couple of strops with the wood as a backing for leather. In fact, before reading your post, I'd been sitting in my chair here and test-sampling some pieces of leather I have for stropping, and laid atop the piece of maple. I may give the mineral oil & compound 'rub' trick on the wood a try.

 

[SC_Dave]

Here is what I am trying. I cleaned my strop of compound. While I was at it I took a flat board sander I sanded the leather to get it good and flat. Cleaned it good with some contact cleaner and let it air dry. Then I took my bar of white compound and scraped the top of the bar flat. Rather than applying it from the end of the bar I laid the flat top of the bar on the strop and applied it to the entire strop in one pass. I did three passes like this. This is a lot less than I was applying before and using this method I had no overlap and build-up spots like HeavyHanded was talking about.
David

 

[HeavyHanded]

The maple board suggestion is timely; it's interesting you mentioned this. I bought a couple pieces of scrap maple at a Woodcraft store a while back. Both pieces are 1/4" stock, and perfectly sized for stropping (~ 3" wide, 8" - 12" long), which is why they caught my eye. I picked them up in anticipation of making a couple of strops with the wood as a backing for leather. In fact, before reading your post, I'd been sitting in my chair here and test-sampling some pieces of leather I have for stropping, and laid atop the piece of maple. I may give the mineral oil & compound 'rub' trick on the wood a try.

For me this is a relatively new thing. I tried it years ago and sort of dismissed it (stropping on hardwood), but following my recent adventures with steeling I figured I'd better take a closer look at some of these other practices I thought I had a handle on. If I apply the compound with no oil the results aren't very good (my board is sanded very smooth, almost polished - if rough there is sure to be differences). With a very thin slurry, my results are very near what I get from a 4000-6000 grit waterstone. Now if I wrap some newspaper around a stone, apply a little mineral oil and white compound the edge is a bit more refined but starts to noticeably loose its last bit of microtooth. I've been using this technique on my machetes since I don't really draw cut with them (they might be capable of whittling a hair, haven't tried, but if not they're darn close - will tree-top leghair no problem). For my smaller knives I'm liking the compound on maple. I still think the waterstones make a slightly better edge, but most knives can't hold on to real specific edge qualities for very long anyway so, not as important as it might seem. I've been noodling around trying to come up with the most simple process possible that comes close. Built around just a combination Crystalon stone, some black and white compound from Sears, newspaper, an 8" maple board that sits on my stone, and a little mineral oil, its working out pretty well.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

For me this is a relatively new thing. I tried it years ago and sort of dismissed it (stropping on hardwood), but following my recent adventures with steeling I figured I'd better take a closer look at some of these other practices I thought I had a handle on. If I apply the compound with no oil the results aren't very good (my board is sanded very smooth, almost polished - if rough there is sure to be differences). With a very thin slurry, my results are very near what I get from a 4000-6000 grit waterstone. Now if I wrap some newspaper around a stone, apply a little mineral oil and white compound the edge is a bit more refined but starts to noticeably loose its last bit of microtooth. I've been using this technique on my machetes since I don't really draw cut with them (they might be capable of whittling a hair, haven't tried, but if not they're darn close - will tree-top leghair no problem). For my smaller knives I'm liking the compound on maple. I still think the waterstones make a slightly better edge, but most knives can't hold on to real specific edge qualities for very long anyway so, not as important as it might seem. I've been noodling around trying to come up with the most simple process possible that comes close. Built around just a combination Crystalon stone, some black and white compound from Sears, newspaper, an 8" maple board that sits on my stone, and a little mineral oil, its working out pretty well.

I have a very small pocket-sized strop I made about 3 years ago, on a piece of 1/4" thick red oak, about 1-1/2" wide and ~ 5-1/2" long. In fact, that's the one I referred to earlier, upon which I used the mineral oil and green compound. After I'd cleaned that off and 're-purposed' it with some 1 micron diamond paste on the leather, I ended up rubbing some of that excess on the back (bare side) of the oak. It surprised me how well it worked to polish an edge. Ended up using the bare hardwood side more than the leather. The red oak is a little coarse-grained though, which is why the maple seems attractive to me. Grain is very tight & uniform in maple. I've actually used the bare maple to strop away some burrs on knives, and it seemed to do that well on it's own.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Here is what I am trying. I cleaned my strop of compound. While I was at it I took a flat board sander I sanded the leather to get it good and flat. Cleaned it good with some contact cleaner and let it air dry. Then I took my bar of white compound and scraped the top of the bar flat. Rather than applying it from the end of the bar I laid the flat top of the bar on the strop and applied it to the entire strop in one pass. I did three passes like this. This is a lot less than I was applying before and using this method I had no overlap and build-up spots like HeavyHanded was talking about.
David

That sounds like a pretty good idea. :thumbup: