Make a leather strop

I have just achieved my first proper curl of hair from a strand of hair - I wish my camera could take a close enough macro to get a photo of it!

Even better I got the required sharpness on a piece of old belt with some Green Rouge rubbed on it. Talk about a cheap sharpener.

Even better still - I did this with my $26 Ontario RAT-1. I guess what I read about AUS-8 being able to take a fine edge is correct!

Cheap knife, cheap sharpener & I lack experience. I also doubt that my technique is all that good. If I can manage to get a knife to hair whittling sharp then it really can't be that hard for anyone to do it if they put a bit of time and effort in.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Classicshaving.com sells amplex (water based), knifecenter and others carry DMT (oil based), and handamerican has their own spray (water based and the best).

I like the spray best because it goes on in a even coat, the HA spray also has the highest carat count (% of diamond within the mix) so it works very fast. The only other compound I use besides the HA spray is the 3 micron DMT compound.

To get a edge like that you must keep your angles straight and have enough sharpening tools to get you to a very fine grit. The edge seen their is finished at 1 micron.
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thanks for the info!


so it really doesn't matter if it's water or oil based? It's up to personal preference?


I thought diamond doesn't yield a mirror polish on the bevel?
 
I usually use a strop with some Lee Valley green compound to finish off my sharpening sessions, but I think I might be doing something wrong...

On my strops, I can no longer see the leather itself. The layers of green compound have completely covered the grain of the leather. Is this a bad thing? I ask because most of the strops I've seen in this topic still have the leather showing or seem to have only a thin layer of compound on them, where mine are just caked in the stuff.

Does it matter one way or another how much compound is loaded onto the leather surface? If it does, how should I remove the years of goop from my strops without destroying the leather underneath? Judging from all the whittled hairs I see in this topic, you guys seem like experts on the subject!
 
jiggyfly16 said:
thanks for the info!


so it really doesn't matter if it's water or oil based? It's up to personal preference?


I thought diamond doesn't yield a mirror polish on the bevel?
Click to expand...

The oil based compounds seem to spread better on leather but that's only with paste compounds. Water based is also better if you ever plan to use it on straight razors.

If the abrasive is the right size it will mirror polish, diamonds just do it in a very fast and effective manor.
 
Dorito Monk said:
I usually use a strop with some Lee Valley green compound to finish off my sharpening sessions, but I think I might be doing something wrong...

On my strops, I can no longer see the leather itself. The layers of green compound have completely covered the grain of the leather. Is this a bad thing? I ask because most of the strops I've seen in this topic still have the leather showing or seem to have only a thin layer of compound on them, where mine are just caked in the stuff.

Does it matter one way or another how much compound is loaded onto the leather surface? If it does, how should I remove the years of goop from my strops without destroying the leather underneath? Judging from all the whittled hairs I see in this topic, you guys seem like experts on the subject!
Click to expand...


If you have not cleaned your strop in years that is probably a bad thing. Build up of removed metal on your strop can cause problems with the stropping of a new blade and having a thick layer causes problems of its own. Spray WD-40 on a rag and wipe away the compound, WD-40's solvent will remove the compound and its oils will bring a little life back to your leather. When you apply new you only need enough to embed the surface.
 
Classicshaving.com has a few. I sharpen my knives and then i want to strop them. I am only going to buy 1 bottle of compound as i cannot be spending loads of cash on continuous knife supplies. Out of the 4 they have, which one do you recommend i get?

.25 micron
.50 micron
1.0 micron
9.0 micron

And how long would one of those tubes last me? I will not be stropping every day.

Is this place good to buy from and is this paste any good?
 
knifenut1013 said:
If you have not cleaned your strop in years that is probably a bad thing. Build up of removed metal on your strop can cause problems with the stropping of a new blade and having a thick layer causes problems of its own. Spray WD-40 on a rag and wipe away the compound, WD-40's solvent will remove the compound and its oils will bring a little life back to your leather. When you apply new you only need enough to embed the surface.
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Thanks for the tip! I'll give that a shot tonight and see what that leather looks like after all this time :eek:
 
knifenut1013 said:
The oil based compounds seem to spread better on leather but that's only with paste compounds. Water based is also better if you ever plan to use it on straight razors.

If the abrasive is the right size it will mirror polish, diamonds just do it in a very fast and effective manor.
Click to expand...


I don't plan on using the strop for straight razors, just knives. What do you recommend?

what are the benefits and drawbacks between oil and water based?
 
The thing that makes the biggest difference is the carat count, amplex and HA are the highest therefore working the best. DMT is still good but a little slower and only goes to 1 micron. You really don't ever need to go lower than 1 but what's the fun in that :)
 
knifenut1013 said:
The thing that makes the biggest difference is the carat count, amplex and HA are the highest therefore working the best. DMT is still good but a little slower and only goes to 1 micron. You really don't ever need to go lower than 1 but what's the fun in that :)
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what's amplex and HA?

I really want to see how sharp I can get a piece of steel.......maybe to .25 micron, just to see if I can do it.

BTW what's tree topping......testing the edge out on an innocent tree??
 
The stones you use prior to stropping are just as important as the compounds you choose to use after, what's your finishing stone?

Before you use .25 you will need to strop with 1 and .5 otherwise you will never see the true potential of the .25 compound. Most of the time your better off just stopping at 1 micron.

Amplex is a diamond comund found at classicshaving.com and HA is handamerican products, they make some of the highest quality products you can buy.
 
knifenut1013 said:
The stones you use prior to stropping are just as important as the compounds you choose to use after, what's your finishing stone?

Before you use .25 you will need to strop with 1 and .5 otherwise you will never see the true potential of the .25 compound. Most of the time your better off just stopping at 1 micron.

Amplex is a diamond comund found at classicshaving.com and HA is handamerican products, they make some of the highest quality products you can buy.
Click to expand...

I usually finish with an extra fine (green) DMT sharpener, then I strop with a free hanging leather strop 100 times on each side on the canvas and repeat on the bare leather.
 
Jumping from 9 micron (1200 mesh) to 1 micron (15000 mesh) will work but will take a looooooong time if you want a mirror polish. It would be better to get another stone (DMT EEF) before moving to the strop. If you don't want to buy another stone right now then the DMT 3 pack of paste would be the way to go. Apply it to MDF, balsa, or leather and progress through after finishing with the EF stone.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Jumping from 9 micron (1200 mesh) to 1 micron (15000 mesh) will work but will take a looooooong time if you want a mirror polish. It would be better to get another stone (DMT EEF) before moving to the strop. If you don't want to buy another stone right now then the DMT 3 pack of paste would be the way to go. Apply it to MDF, balsa, or leather and progress through after finishing with the EF stone.
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I do plan on getting the 8" EEF DMT diasharp as a finishing stone and work my way up to 1, 0.5, and finally .25.

I think I'm going to go with the HA sprays.

Thanks knifenut1013 you have been very helpful.
 
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some very useful information in there thank you ,I particularly like the comparison to the edge being like a piece of clay , I will think of that in future ,cheers .
 
Someday I'm goign to get ahead enough to send you a blade so I can see what you get beyond what I get!

I have 2 notes to add to the thread:

1: I've had best results with titebond II on my bench strops.

2: if you do this a lot, it's not a bad idea to make the strop about 18 inches long on a 24 inch board (or whatever backing you use, I use 3x3 poplar). The extra length gives you spots to clamp the strop to a bench.
 
Sounds like a plan :)

Send me a email and we'll get things rolling.




I've recently had the chance to sample some new HA products and as usual its good stuff. The 1 micron Boron carbide specifically is awesome and great for a final finish, I highly recommend it.

For strops I've been neglecting my leather lately in favor of balsa, it works great with various compounds and is cheap as dirt.
 
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