Just wondering what you would recommend as the best compound (and rough cost) to use when stropping your knife.
I use the screwfix stuff... and while very good....I just cant quite get a hair popping edge on A2 steel..
Hmm, no idea I'm afraid. Sharpening does seem to be a bit of an art as well as a science, doesn't it? I can get my knives and wood carving tools up to what I think is pretty well razor sharp with the Screwfix green stuff. Are you taking care not to rock the edge during stropping, so that you aren't stropping at a higher (and blunter) angle?
Cheers
Hmmm, sounds like sharpening itself isn't the problem - maybe it's the steel.
I'm sure that I've read somewhere (probably a woodworking forum) that A2 is a tougher steel than, say, O1 at the same hardness. Axminster Power Tools' catalogue also indicates that A2 blades are usually a touch harder than O1 blades from the same manufacturer (have a look at Lie-Neilson chisels). This means that spending say 2 minutes on a stone may be long enough for O1, but might not be long enough for A2. Are you raising a burr edge on the A2? What abrasives are you using, and do you have another choice available? I usually use wet & dry for the vast majority of my sharpening, but I break out the waterstones if I come across something that the wet & dry won't he deal with.
Good luck!