Stropping compound woes

[Shotgun]

Maybe my experience would help here. I bought the bark river kit that has a wood backed leather strop(on both sides) and green and black compound. I rub the stick of compound into the leather until I have an even coat all over. Meaning thick enough I can't see the tan leather underneath though can still see the texture of the leather. If that makes sense. I then strop away on the black(course) until I get a burr on one side then do the other side. Flip the strop over and do alternating light pressure strokes on the green(fine). I've used it several times without cleaning or adding more compound and has continued to work fine. My knives are sharper then they've ever been. I sharpen both scandi and convex edges on it and it works fine for both though you may develope a slight convex on the scandi. I wouldn't recomend it if you want to keep a true scandi grind but I think that the slight, very slight, convexing of the edge gives it a micro bevel type quality that strengthens the edge. Something I think is necessary when dealing with hardwoods.

For cleaning I've heard that the waterless soaps you can find in auto parts stores works but I've never tried it. My strop hasn't gotten to the point of cleaning it. One brand name you can find here is Gojo if that helps. One thing I can say for it is that it works wonders for getting stains out of clothing. Smells like crap though.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Q~what do you scrape it with (eg back of a knife would round it off - not good for making sparks) eg should anything not be used in case it damages the leather
A~The back of an old knife... Unless you want to round off your user.

Q~what state the edge should be in before stropping (that might be a reference to an existing tutorial on using stones etc)
A~Rough shaving sharp

Q~optimum width and thickness of a strop eg I would have thought they would be about 3"wide but they seem to be about half that
A~Say 2"-3" depending on the normal blade lenght you prefere. Thickness- 1-2mm or you run the risk of convexing the edge.

Q~could you use any leather eg the sample books from furniture super stores
A~Any leather, although the fine grade stuff (setees/bookmarks ect) is nicer to work with!

Q~ length of strop - minimuum/maximum
The longer the strop, the less stropping is required. I was recently introduced to a 20" strop. half the work, twice the result

Q~would you have the glued to a strop on a board (or at least resting on a flat surface) rather than just tied to a post if the knife has skandi grind
I find static (glued to boards best, just personal choice)

P.s, I'm no expert, and dont pretend I am.

 

[Elines]

That's ok that's why I'm saying that for me it can't be too simple or simplistic.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Video's done... But its out of focus and 20 mins/4 gig size!

New camera and comedy of errors. Will try a shorter re-run tomorrow!

I'll leave this one to upload on Youtube tonight.

 

[Harvestman]

Sorry for the focus problems mate, you kept moving!

It couldn't possibly have been the fault of the person actually holding the camera (me) could it?

20 minutes of watching you wave your hands around, listening to you ramble on about sharpening, and trying to get a shot of what you were doing when you kept putting your hand in the way!

Shame it didn't work out. It was really useful, and I learned a lot. I've got a tripod you can borrow for the next attempt if you want.

Oh, and next time, charge the camera battery first!

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Still trying... I've had to subscribe to save puppy's in Antarctica, join windows live, take a crash course in windows movie maker ect but, its nearly done!

 

[Ch@rlie]

I would like to share some info after recently making a couple of strops,
I use leather belts purchased from charity shops ranging between 2" and 3" (50-75mm) in width. (as recommended above)
Cut the length of belt required, removing the section with the holes in. roughly to the length of my fore arm.
Contact adhesive this to a strip of 1/8th" (3mm) thick piece of hard wood, long enough to have a handle included in the length.
When I make another strop I shall use a longer strip of wood to leave extra space not coated with leather at the front, to allow for resting on a surface to give full travel of the knife down the leather used.
I get Oak or Maple as off cuts from work, which are 3mm thick and cut them to the same width of belt used.
I then apply small amounts of Auto-sol using a butter knife and work it into the leather, the type of butter knives always found in charity shops with the yellow plastic handles.
I have found they allow the paste to be applied and worked into the leather evenly without messy hands.
Then use the strop with the knife I wish to make sharper.
The thickness of the wood I use, allows flex/spring in the strop as you use it. "I personally" cant get a knife sharper using a strop made using a solid non flexing piece of wood in fact
I have made the edge less sharp, than before I have started using the strop
But I can get a knife razor sharp easily, using a strop made with flex/spring in it.
As stated above once used the Auto-sol paste dries out, it turns into a powder, at that point I use the butter knife again and re apply Auto-sol.
Or you could as recommended above lightly coat the surface in vegetable oil, just enough to moisten the Auto-sol.
You don't want the vegetable oil soaking into the leather too much as it "could or can" break the bond with the contact adhesive.

 

[Elines]

Still trying... I've had to subscribe to save puppy's in Antarctica, join windows live, take a crash course in windows movie maker ect but, its nearly done!

Thanks for your work on this - I've no doubts I'll learn someting - probably a lot - on how to use a strop and maintain it.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

All done... Its 'viewable' although I'll get a tripod and a quiet night sorted out for a re-run

Like I said, I'm no expert (if there is such a thing), it just works for me.

[video=youtube;Dvkh_G94Eos]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvkh_G94Eos[/video]

 

[mrcairney]

Excellent wee vid there.

Things I learnt and put into action:

1. Less is more. Clean the strop first.
2. My strop didn't have enough clearance from the work surface. I added an inch of MDF
3. Use both hands. Starting from the tip is MUCH easier
4. Results: My new Ablett clip point can now actually slice through time and space and neutrinos are scared of hitting the edge.

:You_Rock_

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Job done

 

[beenn]

Great vid! Will use a strip of that stuff under my strop.

Where do you the compound you use?

Also i thought you had to use the strop the other way not to get a burr, i must of read wrong

 

[mrcairney]

Where do you the compound you use?

Smurf Poo. Longstrider will sort you out. He did me!

 

[The Big Lebowski]

The strop is the final process of removing the now 'micro' burr by the time you work your way to the highest grit hone/w&d/whetstone ect.

Direction is always from spine to bevel. Personal choice from tip to heel/heel to tip.

hth, al.

 

[Springheeljack1]

Great video, I used to have trouble with honing, and I still do sometimes, but after watching this I have a even better idea of what to do. Thanks.

 

[Elines]

Just seen that you had posted the video and so watched it - very good - lots of stuff for me to do differently from what I had been doing - thanks for taking the time and trouble to do it

 

[Thenihilist]

I think it's important to note that you should ideally go from the hone to the strop and not jump from the stone to the strop.
If you use a DC4 it will leave tiny scratches on the blade, if you use a hone there won't be any scratches.

I was always taught that the bevel should have no scratches and should shine like a mirror before it go's near the strop.

Stropping shouldn't make it sharper really, stropping removes the tiny burr which would otherwise snap of and dull the edge quickly. It's as sharp as it's ever going to be coming of the hone, chefs don't strop there blades and they get them scary sharp, the onl reason they don't strop is because that tiny burr thats removed with stropping is serrated and is better for cutting foods, we strop as we want the edge to last longer.

 

[sasquatch]

I think it's important to note that you should ideally go from the hone to the strop and not jump from the stone to the strop.
If you use a DC4 it will leave tiny scratches on the blade, if you use a hone there won't be any scratches.

I was always taught that the bevel should have no scratches and should shine like a mirror before it go's near the strop.

Stropping shouldn't make it sharper really, stropping removes the tiny burr which would otherwise snap of and dull the edge quickly. It's as sharp as it's ever going to be coming of the hone, chefs don't strop there blades and they get them scary sharp, the onl reason they don't strop is because that tiny burr thats removed with stropping is serrated and is better for cutting foods, we strop as we want the edge to last longer.

I'm kinda lost here. What's the difference from a stone and a hone? I hone on a stone! If you go to high grit stones you get the mirror finish you're on about but it isn't necessary in my opinion. Stropping does make knives sharper as it refines the edge. As you say the burr is left on kitchen knives as it has more bite. You don't want that for carving wood or shaving your face which is why stropping is very important. I've never gone past 6000 on a knife but go up to 12 000 for razors.

To me the main benefit of stropping a knife is not needing to remove steel from the edge on stones. Once you've set a good bevel you can strop to keep the knife shaving sharp without removing any steel. Another benefit is it's easy and quick once you have the hang of it.

 

[Shotgun]

I'm kinda lost here. What's the difference from a stone and a hone?

Yeah I don't understand that one either. A stone is a hone and a hone is a stone.

Stropping can be used to just remove the burr and it's a good way to do it but it does also sharpen the edge. It just does it at a slower rate(finer grit.)

As to the food service people leaving the burr on I think that's false. A burr gives you no benefit and will make the knife dull and not give it "serrations." If they wanted serrations they should leave their knives at about 100 grit and then remove the burr. You can also remove the burr with a hone if you know what you're doing. You don't need a strop to remove it. Using a strop is just easier.

 

[Thenihilist]

I was told that a hone is harder than the blade steel and works by straightening up any imperfections resulting from using a stone though there appears to be debate about this. I have read that a well used whetstone will become almost like a hone.

Razor sharp is a strange term because a blunt knife can shave hair.
A good test i use is slicing paper, a knife should slice paper easily but only after stropping can you slice it very fast and have the cut piece fly into the air.

Doing this before stropping is difficult because the tiny burr will catch and tear the paper when cut very fast or you may have sharpened the blade more at one part than another resulting in a tiny almost serration which will catch and tear it.