Grit of Flitz Vs Simichrome

Steel-Junky

Steel-Junky

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Anyone know the grit rating of Flitz and Simichrome? I'm thinking flitz is finer but not sure. I've tried other compounds for my strops and I use such fine stone it doesn't seem to matter and I have found these two compunds to be the least amount of trouble or mess to load a strop with... just wondering which was finer. Thanks guys.
 
Flitz has no abrasive so I'm not exactly sure how it works or would work. Products like diamond paste are ment for polishing hard steel and are clearly marked as to their grit/mesh. Diamond paste is also not messy and applies to a strop with ease.
 
It seems to me that Simichrome is finer/ less aggressive than Flitz. This is based only on my informal observations. I use both but I prefer Simichrome.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Flitz has no abrasive so I'm not exactly sure how it works or would work. Products like diamond paste are ment for polishing hard steel and are clearly marked as to their grit/mesh. Diamond paste is also not messy and applies to a strop with ease.
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See I must be doing something wrong... I can't get the diamond paste from DMT to stick well to the strop. I nap up the surface of the strop with a razor to get it ready... rub in the diamond paste, and then move to draging a razor across it to load it in the leather... but the paste dries like 30 seconds and turns into a wax like consistency and then scrapes right off. I can't get it to load very well. I got my dimond paste from DMT... you know any better brands that stays moist longer so I can really work it into the leather?
 
What are you doing to the surface?


Work it a little faster, try using some wd40 on a rag and wipe the leather, let dry for a minute and apply. Some leather seems to soak up the diamond paste, my DMT paste usually needs a few minutes to dry before using.

Remember you don't need much 4 dots the size of the tip of the tube should cover a strop 3x12.
 
knifenut1013 said:
What are you doing to the surface?
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In years past I was read that you needed to prep the leather by scrapping it with a razor to "nap" (rough) the surface a little... This makes it take the compund better and also helps the strop to bite better... once the compound is rubbed in you scrape it again to work it down further into the leather as often surface amounts will come off the strop on to your blade... this scraping gets it deeper into the leather and keeps you from having to reload as often. I MAYBE reload a strop once a year so I don't know if this is a needed step anyway. I just make it a point to have a day of the year when I clean all my guns, strop all my knives... and reorganize all my kit. This is when i load strops whether they need it or not.


Work it a little faster, try using some wd40 on a rag and wipe the leather, let dry for a minute and apply. Some leather seems to soak up the diamond paste, my DMT paste usually needs a few minutes to dry before using.

Remember you don't need much 4 dots the size of the tip of the tube should cover a strop 3x12.
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I'm putting too much... that's my problem. I put like a nickel sized blob on it... it's just too much I guess.
 
knifenut1013 said:
What are you doing to the surface?


Work it a little faster, try using some wd40 on a rag and wipe the leather, let dry for a minute and apply. Some leather seems to soak up the diamond paste, my DMT paste usually needs a few minutes to dry before using.

Remember you don't need much 4 dots the size of the tip of the tube should cover a strop 3x12.
Click to expand...

What color does the leather turn when you apply DMT past... mine doesn't change at all it just looks waxy hazy when I'm done. Fresh leather that is.
 
Whether Flitz says it is not abrasive is irrelevant. It is. It has to be, to polish.
Simichrome works so well, that I have never tried any other polish.
 
I've tried both and I only use simichrome. For whatever reason, it does a better job at polishing metal AND as a stropping compound than Flitz.
 
When I bought mine I was told Flitz is non-abrasive and is a cleaner not a polish. I've only used it once on brass and would have to agree from what I saw.

Simichrome is definitely abrasive.
 
Yeah that's way to much, you could cover 3 or 4 strop's with that. leave the smooth surface of the leather alone napping is not needed. After putting a few drops on the leather rub it in with your finger. The leather should look a little darker but not by much. Leather oil, WD40, and orange hand soap W/O pumice(do not use water) would be my only suggestions because they are the only things I have used that worked. The surface after applied should look oiley, give it a few minutes to dry. When its dry it should loose the oiley look and stropping can begin. The first few passed will feel slick and you will notice the surface of the leather start to look polished and shiny. This is the point when it really starts working, after a while the surface will become very black from all the removed metal. The diamonds don't ever really seem to stop working but the edge will start sticking to the leather making it a PITA. Hope this helped a little:)
 
knifenut1013 said:
Yeah that's way to much, you could cover 3 or 4 strop's with that. leave the smooth surface of the leather alone napping is not needed. After putting a few drops on the leather rub it in with your finger. The leather should look a little darker but not by much. Leather oil, WD40, and orange hand soap W/O pumice(do not use water) would be my only suggestions because they are the only things I have used that worked. The surface after applied should look oiley, give it a few minutes to dry. When its dry it should loose the oiley look and stropping can begin. The first few passed will feel slick and you will notice the surface of the leather start to look polished and shiny. This is the point when it really starts working, after a while the surface will become very black from all the removed metal. The diamonds don't ever really seem to stop working but the edge will start sticking to the leather making it a PITA. Hope this helped a little:)
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I was hoping that CLP might work... I have a gallon of the old stuff that had Teflon in it... thought the Teflon might soak in and lubricate the glide over the strop. I'll use some WD40 tonight and give it another go. There should be plenty of paste in there though from what I've already added LOL.
 
Did the WD40 and you're right... works really good... Also white silicone spray work really well too. I've never tried using any kind of oil on my strops out off fear that it would eventually unwork the glue that held them to the paddle. But with this new JRE kit it doesn't really matter. Thanks for the advise.
 
JNieporte said:
I've tried both and I only use simichrome. For whatever reason, it does a better job at polishing metal AND as a stropping compound than Flitz.
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I'm almost positive simichrome is more abrassive than flitz... however flitz polishes a little better. I think a strop loaded with simichrome wouldn't be much different than stropping with a 2500 grit sandpaper... which I use... so I move to the flitz or even diamond paste cause they're much finer than 2500 grit... But that's just a guess... I have no idea the grit rating of simichrome... only that it seems to produce the same results as 2500 grit paper.
 
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