Best type of strop for “softer” steel like Victorinox??

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Darryl D..

Joined
Jul 15, 2019
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Hey everybody... I just wanted t know what everyone thinks... what type of strop would be good for my Victorinox, if any? I have a leather strop with green compound n a plain leather now. I was wondering how horse butt/ hide would be on my Vic’s .. thanks all in advance for the tips and info
 
With compound, green is about as aggressive as you'd likely ever need for Victorinox's stainless steel. And a simple bare leather strop without compound could follow that, if you want to. I haven't used a horsehide strop, but it should do well on it's own with these knives, based on what I've read of it's good reputation.

Victorinox's stainless is very responsive to a light touch on most any stone type, and a lot of the burr cleanup can be done that way. Sounds strange for the steel type, but I've liked a Fine or EF diamond hone all by itself, for touching up edges on Vic's stainless, with no stropping at all, save for an occasional pass or two on a bare leather belt (I like the 'suede' back side, on the belt I use for this). Used with a featherlight touch, I like the diamond for this 'soft' steel because it cuts the steel so very cleanly, which itself minimizes burrs during sharpening. But with the right light touch, this steel will also do well on aluminum oxide stones (like an India stone) or even on Arkansas stones. On such oilstones, a few stropping passes on a bare sheet of paper laid over the stone will work well also, preserving the 'tooth' left by the stone without polishing it away.
 
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I really don’t see that you need anything else. Making sure of the angle and light pressure would be where I’d concentrate my efforts
 
Darryl D.. said:
Hey everybody... I just wanted t know what everyone thinks... what type of strop would be good for my Victorinox, if any? I have a leather strop with green compound n a plain leather now. I was wondering how horse butt/ hide would be on my Vic’s .. thanks all in advance for the tips and info
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Unlike high-end knives, the mainstream steel knives respond much better to a hanging strop rather than firm.
With a hanging strop, deburring of them goes cleanly and the wire edge gets removed. Even the plain leather w/o any compound works.
I've seen that regularly by testing on the sharpness tester BEFORE & AFTER stropping, so that now it is part of some of our sharpening protocols for mainstream knives.
 
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I’ll
wootzblade said:
Unlike high-end knives, the mainstream steel knives respond much better to a hanging strop rather than firm.
With a hanging strop, deburring of them goes cleanly and the wire edge gets removed. Even the plain leather w/o any compound works.
I've seen that regularly by testing on the sharpness tester BEFORE & AFTER stropping, so that now it is part of some of our sharpening protocols for mainstream knives.
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def look into a gaging strop thanks !
 
I’m just learning to sharpen and a don’t own a strop. I’ve got a sharpmaker and am fairly competent with softer steel and straightforward blades. What’s a good strop or strop block to invest in? I sharpen pocket folders and kitchen knives.
 
Apalachicola said:
I’m just learning to sharpen and a don’t own a strop. I’ve got a sharpmaker and am fairly competent with softer steel and straightforward blades. What’s a good strop or strop block to invest in? I sharpen pocket folders and kitchen knives.
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Hey man .... knives plus loaded strops are friggan awesome ... they already come loaded with green compound ... it’s ready t go outta d box..it’s on amazon I got mine like 4 or 5 months ago for $24 r $26 .. you can’t beat it for d price man ..
 
Apalachicola said:
I’m just learning to sharpen and a don’t own a strop. I’ve got a sharpmaker and am fairly competent with softer steel and straightforward blades. What’s a good strop or strop block to invest in? I sharpen pocket folders and kitchen knives.
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Mate, really no need to "invest" at this stage. Shown is a simplest hanging strop made in no time from a full-grain or half-grain leather. Try and feel the difference it gives the edge after 10 gentle alternating strokes. Even all this "full-grain, top-grain etc" terminology you needn't know - search for a scrap leather on eBay large and thick enough. Horse is good, cow is OK.

hanging_strop.JPG


One of my videos shows how stropping on plain leather improves knife sharpness, the strop in the video is of Kangaroo tail, but talking of mainstream knives you will see similar effects on horse and cow leather hanging strop:
 
wootzblade said:
Mate, really no need to "invest" at this stage. Shown is a simplest hanging strop made in no time from a full-grain or half-grain leather. Try and feel the difference it gives the edge after 10 gentle alternating strokes. Even all this "full-grain, top-grain etc" terminology you needn't know - search for a scrap leather on eBay large and thick enough. Horse is good, cow is OK.

hanging_strop.JPG


One of my videos shows how stropping on plain leather improves knife sharpness, the strop in the video is of Kangaroo tail, but talking of mainstream knives you will see similar effects on horse and cow leather hanging strop:
Click to expand...
Kangaroo hide is super hard right?
 
They say Kangaroo tail, not the rest of its skin, has the highest tensile strength of all animal leathers. But what makes the 'roo tail unique is its deep texture, it is not smooth like other strops.
 
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wootzblade said:
Unlike high-end knives, the mainstream steel knives respond much better to a hanging strop rather than firm.
With a hanging strop, deburring of them goes cleanly and the wire edge gets removed. Even the plain leather w/o any compound works.
I've seen that regularly by testing on the sharpness tester BEFORE & AFTER stropping, so that now it is part of some of our sharpening protocols for mainstream knives.
Click to expand...

Per the bolded & underlined points above, that's exactly how I use my leather belt on steels like these. I loop it around something, like a bed rail, and use it hanging-strop style. With this particular belt, I prefer using it's sueded back side. This is usually all the stropping I need to do with steels like Victorinox (X50CrMoV15), 420HC, 440A, and simple carbon steels like 1095 & CV, etc.

I originally used that belt with some green compound, but soon discovered it could overpolish steels like these pretty quickly, taking the 'tooth' I like out of the edge pretty fast. So, as the application of that green compound began to wear thin on the leather, I never bothered to refresh it. So, these days, it's working essentially as a bare strop, and doing exactly what I want for my edges in these steels. It works well. :)
 
You can start very cheaply. My most used strop is an old belt glued to a yardstick. New materials cost = $0.00
 
Obsessed with edges,i use same method,give it couple swipes on folding dmt,and then strop it on palm,that leaves me razor sharp shaving but toothy edge,liggt strokes are the key,and i love this steel,it holds up well for what i use knife for.
 
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