View Full Version : Not my idea but i have to prove a point ;)
So, whats best.....
the starkie or another wannabe of this ingenius little thing :o):
TheViking
04-11-2004, 15:05
So, whats best.....
the starkie or another wannabe of this ingenius little thing :o):
I think i'm goin' crazy.... :shock: :shock: :shock:
Kinda makes me feel like riverdancin'. :nana:
Have a look at this happy (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showpost.php?p=62467&postcount=48) happy customer.
Ooh, and this (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showpost.php?p=62474&postcount=49) one.
Evidently someone in favour (http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showpost.php?p=34110&postcount=12) also!
Sorry, just thought three would be enough to start my campaign. :o):
Oh, and i don't want traitors :wink:
Voted for 'any bit' but i'm gonna get meself one when I get back from hols.
The starkie is a nice, small, neat piece of kit.
Yes, another convert....
(:why:Womble, you have a lot to answer for my old friend...:rolmao: )
Jake are Axminster paying you commission?
I tried one at the BCUK meetup - what it lacked for in length, it made up for in width (but longer and thinner is better for my big, re-curved kukri!)
Seemed OK, but I can live without it
I just use an old leather belt, but I'd be just as happy with any other suitable material of similar length - doesn't have to be leather, just something fine-textured and durable...
Doesn't fit perfectly on a kuk i can imagine! Mainly for smaller knives.
Jakunen, ask one of the mods to change your vote!
My vote still stands as you don't NEED anything flash, but the Starkie will just make things a little easier.
I'm not getting it for my knives, but for my jewellery workshop...
No option for a proper full length strop then?
Starkie is just a leather mousemat that's been boil washed!
I love my Starkie!!! 2nd option is me old leather belt :super:
(:why:Womble, you have a lot to answer for my old friend...:rolmao: )
WaddidIdo? :rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao:
well just to be different I dont rate sharkie sharp at all! Why over priced for what it is and too small for a good strop.
Personally I'll stick to my belt!
TheViking
04-11-2004, 16:01
well just to be different I dont rate sharkie sharp at all! Why over priced for what it is and too small for a good strop.
Personally I'll stick to my belt!
That's the spirit. :biggthump Starkie :thumbs_do
for the starkie option.. are we talking the starki leather and the honeing paste combo.. or just the leather bit?
WaddidIdo? :rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao:
You know full well what you did mate!
You told me about this fantastic site called BCUK or something. People keep getting me involved in things and tempting me with kit...:wink:
Its the belt for me but I do use the starkie paste on it just to speed things up a bit.
A fiver? Over-priced? :?:
its a perfectly un-flash little gizmo, thats what makes it so great. And it gets you brilliant results.
I can't really see how you can't like it ;)
When i say starkie i mean the honing soap as well.
I'm not bothered about the leather but do rate the paste - that's where the magic is!
Exactly! (but the leather is a perfect size if you have the right technique)
whitebuffalo
04-11-2004, 17:29
Leather belt, I wear one, its there all the time and its a nice big stropping area for knife, axe and leuku.
But your missing the paste that sharpens and polishes!
dataphage
04-11-2004, 17:39
Abstaining on this one. I have found that when the edges on my knives go the starkie will get them sharp again but isn't quite enough for my obsessive personality. If I use the starkie then strop on an old belt until the back starts to fur up and come off and then on a piece of suede they get so sharp no-one else will go near them and I can take individual hairs off the back of my arms. :naughty:
I find if you use both side's of the starkie, first the rough, then the shiny, you can reach a honed-honed edge :o):
I find if you use both side's of the starkie, first the rough, then the shiny, you can reach a honed-honed edge :o):
Not strictly true. Your stroping not honing.
Oh yeah. :oops:
Well, you can finish a finished edge then! :oops:
:wink:
I wonder if it beats the edge I get from clarino
this is mcuh more resistance to abrasive wear so might be just the trick for harder steels like VG10. I have to ask where you got this idea from though
RovingArcher
04-11-2004, 18:23
Sorry, I can't offer an opinion, being in a non starkie area of the planet, but will add that I use a leather belt for my stroping in the field, additive free. It does a decent job, but then, I never let my knives get dull.
This poll idea andy? Magikelly said he'd do it but wouldn't cos it would prove the starkie isn't that great (he's wrong you know). So i said "Right then, i'll do it" :wink: in a pm of course!!
BTW the starkie isn't a starkie without the magic paste. So please think of that before you poll.
so if I use my paste on a leather belt does it become a starkie? :?:
:nana:
:shock: :shock:
Thats like Knife sharpening adultery!
Jake, have you actually tried another piece of leather?
£5 quid is actually rather a lot for a 5" square of leather. The paste is also a ripoff. You can get blue buffing compount (exactly the same stuff) in a block five times the size for half the price.
OK, five quid isn't a lot of money, but I totally fail to see why it gives you the jollies in the way it does.
MagiKelly
04-11-2004, 23:55
So about a third for the starkie so far. Not the runaway success you were hoping for Jake. Even with the hard sell (a three page topic with almost half the posts yours) and trying to tie the stropping paste to the overpriced leather off cut.
Still plenty of time yet for more votes.
Oh and I voted for belt, I almost voted for any peice of leather but realised that Jake may try to include the Starkie in that catagory to try and save face :roll:
Jake I used a leather belt long before the starkie came out, this was prompted by a friend giving me a barbers leather strop, I have voted for a belt, I always wear one and if I wish to use paste on it I can.
In the end a starkie is a peice of leather, there is no great difference between that and my belt. My belt does not just sit there doing nothing when I am not using it to sharpen things and can be used for many other things other than holding my trousers up, a starkie does nothing else and is not really any better than a belt at what it does do.
Thanks for the quote, but that I have bought one to trial and said yeah buy one is because stropping with a belt isn't for everyone and can be quite a knack.
Sorry Jake I should of also mentioned that the "Magic Paste" as you put it isn't irreplaceable either, I have a number of polishing compounds and honing soaps that do the job just as well which includes the one for the razor strop on Axminster.
Have a look at the size of a peice of honing soap in comparison to the paste for the starkie, OK you pay double the price, but you get three to four times the amount.
BTW the starkie isn't a starkie without the magic paste. So please think of that before you poll.
So what would you call the Starkie if you used it without the paste - a Starkers Sharp maybe? :rolmao: :nana: :wave:
i think that the starkie sharp is a good piece of kit when it comes to introducing someone to stropping, i use mine alot. i have also broken bits off the bar of soap? and have them stashed in various places, so i can always top my belt up if needed.
it's a shame there wasn't an alternative box to tick, for autosol/flitz &c, on the inside of a corflake box. now that's a strop. :o):
cheers, and.
mmcniven
05-11-2004, 14:03
When a man goes on so much about something you should take notice, there must be something in it.
My starkie kit arrived this morning, i have a few knives to sharpen so i will give it a go and report back.
I already have a pretty good method for sharpening and polishing blades so i will be interested to see how this compares.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention i am sure i will be impressed.
BIG-TARGET
05-11-2004, 14:11
My teacher, Ron Hood, taught me to use the leather belt. :o\\:
TheViking
05-11-2004, 14:13
When a man goes on so much about something you should take notice, there must be something in it.
Not necessarily. But in this case, perhaps. I haven't tried a Starkie, but no doubt it's good. It's just... any leather belt or piece of leather will do the job, me thinks. I don't care if my knives has a polished edge. :roll:
I try to improvise as much as possible. Don't wanna go around and look like a man from the stoneage, of course, (with stone knives, skin clothes, etc.) but I think that stropping is one of the things you do so little in the field, that making a decent piece of leather to do it with, is "rediculous". :wink:
Why do we have 2 threads running on this?? :?: :?:
Just a thought. :chill:
Well i couldn't add a poll on the other one!
Guys, i'm not that serious about this strop, just a bit of fun. I do think it's the best piece of sharpening kit i have. And the leather is the perfect size, i don't need anymore as i have figured how to use it and get results.
I have come across as a bit of an obsessive, im not i promise!
I don't believe you
you should be locked up and put in a straight jacket, when your released from it after a few weeks without your starkie you could then try the straps of the jacket for stropping.
Kitaholics anonymous
"My name is Jake, i don't think i have a problem but was forced to come here by the members of BCUK, they believe i have a problem, but i don't.......i promise.......i think......"
TheViking
05-11-2004, 20:26
I don't think there would be much doubt about what Jake would bring with him on a desert island. :rolmao: :rolmao: Jakes survival tool no. 1: a leather strop to strop knives. :wink: :nana:
No. 2 actually ;) Knife first!
I don't care if my knives has a polished edge. :roll:
Why not? Have you tried a comparison of polished v non-polished? Might be worth looking into.
TheViking
07-11-2004, 18:07
Why not? Have you tried a comparison of polished v non-polished? Might be worth looking into.
Yeah, but from the point of view of how my knives look, it doesn't matter. Can imagine my leuku being much more pretty as it is now, and the Grandy and SAK is already polished. ;)
Motorbike Man
07-11-2004, 18:18
My sister is a Master Saddler and when I showed her the Starkie link, she was very dismissive of it. At the end of the day, it's an expensive offcut of leather. Any scrap of leather that is a size you feel comfortable with and some valve grinding paste from a car spares shop will do the job.
You've all hurt my feelings. :cry:
;)
to be honest the "off cut" wasnt particularly a rip off.. i would not know which was the ideal leather to use with the paste i went to buy another bit.. i ware trousers that fit.. i needed the paste so it was no extra postange.. and it would have cost me money go and get a bit from somewhere else as there isnt anywhere localy that i can get it.. so im with you 100% Jake.
to be honest the "off cut" wasnt particularly a rip off.. i would not know which was the ideal leather to use with the paste i went to buy another bit.. i ware trousers that fit.. i needed the paste so it was no extra postange.. and it would have cost me money go and get a bit from somewhere else as there isnt anywhere localy that i can get it.. so im with you 100% Jake.
I guess I agree too - for the price (and I was ordering something else from Axminster anyway) I'd have spent more time and cash trying to find suitable scraps or leather for the job.
:o): im feeling a bit better now. Thanks guys!
:rolmao: :biggthump
Yeah, but from the point of view of how my knives look, it doesn't matter. Can imagine my leuku being much more pretty as it is now, and the Grandy and SAK is already polished. ;)
Totally agree, doesn't matter what it looks like, performance is the important thing. And many people have found that a polished edge performs better for some tasks, particularly woodworking!!
Thanks Boaty I had missed Andy's reply.
As Boaty says, a polished edge is there for increased performance not to be pretty (although some prefer the look).
I think it may help rust prevention too? Not sure on that one but if you oil your blades anyway there shouldn't be a problem.
I think it may help rust prevention too? Not sure on that one but if you oil your blades anyway there shouldn't be a problem.
I think that it reduces the surface area that can be attacked, as well as eliminating pockets where moisture can hide - forge-finished blades are said to be prone to rust cos of the convoluted surface but, as Stew says, basic maintenance keeps rust at bay!
The starkie is excellent for removing rust :o):
MagiKelly
08-11-2004, 20:46
The starkie is excellent for removing rust :o):
Makes a good beer mat too.
SEE!!!!
Another great thing the starkie is capable of!
MagiKelly
08-11-2004, 22:35
SEE!!!!
Another great thing the starkie is capable of!
What do you mean "another"?
What do you mean "another"?
well you could use it as part of a gag
for use with that young child that tell you they know how it's done
It makes a great beer mat aswell!
i think your scraping the bottom of the barrel now mate :rolmao:
:rolmao: just trying to give it all the credit i can! :roll: :wink:
:dedhorse: :dedhorse: :dedhorse:
MagiKelly
09-11-2004, 11:58
well you could use it as part of a gag
for use with that young child that tell you they know how it's done
They never know how its done and neither do the adults. Of course they all have there theories but that is another thing.