I'm a sharpening Kung Fu Master!
- Thread starter fulloflead
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Sure you could but I don't know where you'd find the info on grit size and density. Why not use a known quantity? Food grade? Wash it!
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Cuttings hairs? Took you a year to achieve this? Not to disrespect you or your Master, but after having read this I went to my work knives(assorted Shun's/Globals/Hattori) and achieved this on the second swipe with a Santoku that has NEVER been sharpened(I do however steel it regularly with ceramic,diamond and polished steels). There must be something Im missing as I have no doubt this feat is impressive in your situation. Once again no disrespect intended to either of you, I just must be missing something here.
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I thought my knife was sharp but my wife just has split ends 
Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard comes to mind. I call bs on that "sharp"
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- Jul 13, 2011
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I made a strop per Specops's instructions, and I used FullofLead's stropping technique. I didn't used a piece of tooling leather; instead, I bought a new leather belt with an unfinished, undyed, "rough" back. I loaded it with white diamond compound from Enkay Products (I don't live near a Sears, so I couldn't buy that brand), trying to work it into the leather as well as I could. I held the whole 1 lb brick in my hand and really tried to rub it in like crayon. The stuff is pretty sturdy, not quite as soft as crayon or chalk. I had to be careful, though, because if I rubbed too much, it would just flake off of the leather strop again. There’s definitely a technique one has to develop when working the compound into the leather.
I had two test blades for this strop: a brand new SAK classic and an old, beaten up Buck 186. Both were dull as shit. I was surprised at how dull the SAK was out of the box. I thought Victorinox would have given it a good factory edge, at least. It wasn't butter-knife dull, but it certainly wasn't shaving hair from my arm very easily.
I started with the Buck, sharpening it up good on the Sharpmaker, going through the medium, fine, and extra fine grits until I was shaving sharp, about 30 passes on each side with each grit. I then tried stropping, and unfortunately I think I did it incorrectly the first time. I was using a lot of pressure and letting the leather strop bow a lot. When I tried shaving with it after about a dozen passes on each side, it was duller than when I started!
I don’t know what happened, but I think I probably convexed the edge too much. So I went back to square one, reshaping the edge on the Sharpmaker again. This time, when I got to the strop, I reloaded the strop with compound, pulled it tight, and used less pressure and slower movements while stropping. I also stopped, wiped the blade, and checked sharpness every five strokes or so. The blade eventually became scary sharp, easily shaving hair as if it wasn’t there, with the edge polished like glass. It was definitely sharper than just the extra fine Sharpmaker stones. A noticeable improvement from just sharpening, and thus worth the extra work, in my opinion.
I then moved on to the SAK, reshaping and sharpening the SAK blade with a Sharpmaker, going through all four grits (diamond, medium, fine, extra fine) about 50 strokes each side with each stone. After all that metal removal, I was shaving at that point, obviously. I then took it to the strop and did the same thing I did with the Buck: not too much pressure, regular applications of compound, slow stroking strop technique, and regular blade testing. It is now the sharpest SAK I have ever owned, and I will very confidently use it to cut things in the future without worrying about a dull blade catching and not cutting. I’m confident it would easily go through things like cord, seat belts, etc. like butter.
Very appreciative of this thread. I’ve now added a new skill to my list. Thanks and shout out to both Specops and FullofLead!
I had two test blades for this strop: a brand new SAK classic and an old, beaten up Buck 186. Both were dull as shit. I was surprised at how dull the SAK was out of the box. I thought Victorinox would have given it a good factory edge, at least. It wasn't butter-knife dull, but it certainly wasn't shaving hair from my arm very easily.
I started with the Buck, sharpening it up good on the Sharpmaker, going through the medium, fine, and extra fine grits until I was shaving sharp, about 30 passes on each side with each grit. I then tried stropping, and unfortunately I think I did it incorrectly the first time. I was using a lot of pressure and letting the leather strop bow a lot. When I tried shaving with it after about a dozen passes on each side, it was duller than when I started!
I don’t know what happened, but I think I probably convexed the edge too much. So I went back to square one, reshaping the edge on the Sharpmaker again. This time, when I got to the strop, I reloaded the strop with compound, pulled it tight, and used less pressure and slower movements while stropping. I also stopped, wiped the blade, and checked sharpness every five strokes or so. The blade eventually became scary sharp, easily shaving hair as if it wasn’t there, with the edge polished like glass. It was definitely sharper than just the extra fine Sharpmaker stones. A noticeable improvement from just sharpening, and thus worth the extra work, in my opinion.
I then moved on to the SAK, reshaping and sharpening the SAK blade with a Sharpmaker, going through all four grits (diamond, medium, fine, extra fine) about 50 strokes each side with each stone. After all that metal removal, I was shaving at that point, obviously. I then took it to the strop and did the same thing I did with the Buck: not too much pressure, regular applications of compound, slow stroking strop technique, and regular blade testing. It is now the sharpest SAK I have ever owned, and I will very confidently use it to cut things in the future without worrying about a dull blade catching and not cutting. I’m confident it would easily go through things like cord, seat belts, etc. like butter.
Very appreciative of this thread. I’ve now added a new skill to my list. Thanks and shout out to both Specops and FullofLead!
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- Jul 13, 2011
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- 2,090
Oh shit! Didn't even realize that. I searched for stropping instructions and that was the best thread I found. Actually, the instructions towards the beginning of the thread were made in 2002... ten years ago. So actually, I've revived a thread that has been mummified and bone dry for quite some time. Sorry :-/