-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Knife strop recommendations
- Thread starter Ogri
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2012
- Messages
- 9,286
I really like using the Washboard as a strop. It is a textured hard block that you use wrapped with paper. It works better for me than a leather strop . It is also made by one of our members
HeavyHanded
. You can check it out here http://www.washboardsharpening.com/
HeavyHanded
. You can check it out here http://www.washboardsharpening.com/
afishhunter
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2014
- Messages
- 14,242
I use a leather belt and a canvas belt. Both work as well as any strop you can buy, give a longer stropping area, and cost a heck of a lot less than a "official" or "real" strop.
I picked the belts up at a second hand store for about a buck each.
I picked the belts up at a second hand store for about a buck each.
There is no more need to buy a strop, than there is to hire someone to wash your hands for you. There are people who need that but they won't be sharpening knives much either.
A good strop can be made in a couple of minutes using a piece of denim from an old pair of blue jeans, and a flat piece of wood.
At the hardware store get a roll of double sided carpet tape. This usually comes in 2 inch width, which is a good size. Get a 2 inch wide piece of wood - 1/4 or 1/2 inch plywood is good, 10 -12 inches long. Cut the denim a little wider than 2 inches - say 2 1/2.
Put the tape on the board, peel the backing off and smoothly stick the fabric down. There. (Regular white glue could be used for this too).
Get some good buffing compound NOT red rouge - white or green is good (the best IMO is Rick's White Lightnin', though stuff bought from the discount tool store will work well too), and apply it to the strop. Just coat it all over like a thick coat of paint. This will suffice for well over a hundred pocket knife blades, before more compound needs to be applied.
I have found that a denim strop works at least as well, and I think better, than leather strops, which I used extensively for many years. Leather is OK, just don't use soft leather like buckskin. Use denim. I am almost certain you have some.
Next sharpen the knife on a stone. There is no use in trying to sharpen an improperly honed knife with a strop.
A Norton India Stone will do a fantastic job for most people. Hold the knife blade at 10 (if you want to whittle and carve) or 15 degrees for rough work. (some say 20 or bless their hearts, 24(!) - these people are apparently using their knifes to clean horse's hooves, or scrape gaskets off of engine blocks). If you actually want to cut stuff, my recommendation is no more than 15 degrees. You can make a little template out of heavy paper. For most pocket knives, putting the back edge of the blade on a nickel will come close - narrow blades a dime. With pretty firm pressure move the blade back and forth on the stone maintaining that angle all the while. It makes no difference if you go in circles, or only go in one direction etc. just move it on the stone at that angle. DO NOT turn the knife over until you can detect that you have raised a burr on the side of the blade that was not in contact with the stone. This burr must be present all along the edge. It is your indicator that you have in fact reached the edge. If you do not get that burr, you will never get the knife truly sharp. After you have raised the burr, (I did mention that it was important right?), then and only then do the other side of the blade the same way that you did the first again raising the burr (wire edge) again on the other side - all along the edge remember. Now back to the first side, same angle and a few light strokes, turn it over (do not touch the stone with the blade as you turn it over), and give it a few light strokes on that side. go back and forth side to side 5 -10 times, until you cannot feel of see any burr.
Now you are ready to strop.
To strop drag the edge along the strop at the same angle that the knife was sharpened with fairly heavy pressure. DO NOT flip the knife over and come back the other way. If you do you will anticipate that flip and drag that edge at a near vertical angle and wreck it. It is really important that you hold the same angle that was used to stone the knife, for the entire stropping stroke. Don't make a little flourish flip at the end of the stroke either. Don't run off the end of the strop. Give it AT LEAST 50 hard strokes on one side and then turn it over and do the same on the other side. (The strop will turn black from the steel that is being abraded off by the strop. This hurts nothing).
Following these instructions will produce an edge that you literally can shave with
A good strop can be made in a couple of minutes using a piece of denim from an old pair of blue jeans, and a flat piece of wood.
At the hardware store get a roll of double sided carpet tape. This usually comes in 2 inch width, which is a good size. Get a 2 inch wide piece of wood - 1/4 or 1/2 inch plywood is good, 10 -12 inches long. Cut the denim a little wider than 2 inches - say 2 1/2.
Put the tape on the board, peel the backing off and smoothly stick the fabric down. There. (Regular white glue could be used for this too).
Get some good buffing compound NOT red rouge - white or green is good (the best IMO is Rick's White Lightnin', though stuff bought from the discount tool store will work well too), and apply it to the strop. Just coat it all over like a thick coat of paint. This will suffice for well over a hundred pocket knife blades, before more compound needs to be applied.
I have found that a denim strop works at least as well, and I think better, than leather strops, which I used extensively for many years. Leather is OK, just don't use soft leather like buckskin. Use denim. I am almost certain you have some.
Next sharpen the knife on a stone. There is no use in trying to sharpen an improperly honed knife with a strop.
A Norton India Stone will do a fantastic job for most people. Hold the knife blade at 10 (if you want to whittle and carve) or 15 degrees for rough work. (some say 20 or bless their hearts, 24(!) - these people are apparently using their knifes to clean horse's hooves, or scrape gaskets off of engine blocks). If you actually want to cut stuff, my recommendation is no more than 15 degrees. You can make a little template out of heavy paper. For most pocket knives, putting the back edge of the blade on a nickel will come close - narrow blades a dime. With pretty firm pressure move the blade back and forth on the stone maintaining that angle all the while. It makes no difference if you go in circles, or only go in one direction etc. just move it on the stone at that angle. DO NOT turn the knife over until you can detect that you have raised a burr on the side of the blade that was not in contact with the stone. This burr must be present all along the edge. It is your indicator that you have in fact reached the edge. If you do not get that burr, you will never get the knife truly sharp. After you have raised the burr, (I did mention that it was important right?), then and only then do the other side of the blade the same way that you did the first again raising the burr (wire edge) again on the other side - all along the edge remember. Now back to the first side, same angle and a few light strokes, turn it over (do not touch the stone with the blade as you turn it over), and give it a few light strokes on that side. go back and forth side to side 5 -10 times, until you cannot feel of see any burr.
Now you are ready to strop.
To strop drag the edge along the strop at the same angle that the knife was sharpened with fairly heavy pressure. DO NOT flip the knife over and come back the other way. If you do you will anticipate that flip and drag that edge at a near vertical angle and wreck it. It is really important that you hold the same angle that was used to stone the knife, for the entire stropping stroke. Don't make a little flourish flip at the end of the stroke either. Don't run off the end of the strop. Give it AT LEAST 50 hard strokes on one side and then turn it over and do the same on the other side. (The strop will turn black from the steel that is being abraded off by the strop. This hurts nothing).
Following these instructions will produce an edge that you literally can shave with
- Joined
- May 1, 2017
- Messages
- 7
Is it true that a strop needs to made of bark tanned leather, to work effectively? I heard chromium tanned leather (which makes up the majority of the leather out there) doesn't work much at all. I would also like to know how brain-tanned or urine-tanned leather would work.
I don't think the kind of leather has anything to do with it.
I used to make and sell stops using leather that I got from furniture stores. They would give me the sample leather swatches that they had to give to their leather upholstered furniture customers - after they had stopped using the particular lines of colors/textures in their furniture.
I just cut them into 2 inch wide pieces and glued them to little boards, rough side up, and there it was.
After a while I started to feel bad about taking advantage of people, and became convinced that anyone who couldn't do something this simple, probably shouldn't have sharp items anyway.
I also discovered that denim makes as good or better a strop than leather anyway, so the question of what kind of leather is moot.
I am convinced that all that happens when using bare leather, is that the wire edge is bent back and forth enough to have it break off.
All the leather or fabric does is to provide a base for the very fine abrasive action of the buffing compound, (polishing), and provide a little resilience so that the final edge is microscopically rounded. A VERY slight amount of resilience is desirable, but a lot is not and produces too much rounding, which is why soft leather is not good for strops. Any brain tanned leather that I have seen is far too soft to make a decent strop IMO.
A strop can be made of balsa wood or bass wood with no leather or fabric at all - just the buffing compound.
Box board - the paper material that cereal comes in - also makes a workable strop with buffing compound on it, but it wears out quickly.
I used to make and sell stops using leather that I got from furniture stores. They would give me the sample leather swatches that they had to give to their leather upholstered furniture customers - after they had stopped using the particular lines of colors/textures in their furniture.
I just cut them into 2 inch wide pieces and glued them to little boards, rough side up, and there it was.
After a while I started to feel bad about taking advantage of people, and became convinced that anyone who couldn't do something this simple, probably shouldn't have sharp items anyway.
I also discovered that denim makes as good or better a strop than leather anyway, so the question of what kind of leather is moot.
I am convinced that all that happens when using bare leather, is that the wire edge is bent back and forth enough to have it break off.
All the leather or fabric does is to provide a base for the very fine abrasive action of the buffing compound, (polishing), and provide a little resilience so that the final edge is microscopically rounded. A VERY slight amount of resilience is desirable, but a lot is not and produces too much rounding, which is why soft leather is not good for strops. Any brain tanned leather that I have seen is far too soft to make a decent strop IMO.
A strop can be made of balsa wood or bass wood with no leather or fabric at all - just the buffing compound.
Box board - the paper material that cereal comes in - also makes a workable strop with buffing compound on it, but it wears out quickly.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,287
Hi,
Have you ever sharpened a knife before?
What kind of sharpening equipment do you own?
What are you hoping a strop will do for you ?
The universal "bad" thing about pre-made strops is they're expensive ...
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2016
- Messages
- 716
I have sharpened a knife using a lansky sharpener, bur was under the impression that if i wanted to quickly resharpen my blade during whittling something, that stropping might be the correct think to do ?
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2010
- Messages
- 6,642
Stropping to restore an edge on a carving knife is SOP among the community.
Per all the above you can use just about anything that will hold compound, the biggest differences will be surface texture and hardness.
To get your feet wet you can simply wrap a sheet of paper around a bench stone, apply compound and strop on that. You will notice a difference from the coarse side to the fine side as the abrasive footprint changes - it won't be huge but is notable. You can use the Sharpie trick to get a feel for where on the edge you are. In fact plain paper is abrasive enough you can apply Sharpie and use on paper with no compound and it will pull enough ink off to tell you where you are on the edge.
Hard cased leather is better than a plain piece of veg tanned - harder is better. Leather will compress and as the edge passes over it will expand back to its original size - rounding your edge and making it less acute. A harder strop is much more forgiving of this effect but will also load up faster and produce a toothier finish. Use a light touch on your leather strops.
For carving you will likely want a finer edge. If using paper over a stone you can use multiple sheets of paper or thicker paper. Balsa is also a good choice.
The surface textured board I make
flatblackcapo
does a solid job and also works well for hand sharpening, not just stropping. Link through my signature below.
Resinoid polishing waterstones 6-8k can be used as a hard strop as well.
The important take away is if the edge is too worn the strop will not work any more than a very fine hone can sharpen a dull knife. And there is a possibility of rounding off the edge on compressible strops or even a harder strop if your angle control drifts. For carving you will want to strop often as you work. Flexcut Gold will work a lot better than compounds not made fro carving.
Per all the above you can use just about anything that will hold compound, the biggest differences will be surface texture and hardness.
To get your feet wet you can simply wrap a sheet of paper around a bench stone, apply compound and strop on that. You will notice a difference from the coarse side to the fine side as the abrasive footprint changes - it won't be huge but is notable. You can use the Sharpie trick to get a feel for where on the edge you are. In fact plain paper is abrasive enough you can apply Sharpie and use on paper with no compound and it will pull enough ink off to tell you where you are on the edge.
Hard cased leather is better than a plain piece of veg tanned - harder is better. Leather will compress and as the edge passes over it will expand back to its original size - rounding your edge and making it less acute. A harder strop is much more forgiving of this effect but will also load up faster and produce a toothier finish. Use a light touch on your leather strops.
For carving you will likely want a finer edge. If using paper over a stone you can use multiple sheets of paper or thicker paper. Balsa is also a good choice.
The surface textured board I make
flatblackcapo
does a solid job and also works well for hand sharpening, not just stropping. Link through my signature below.Resinoid polishing waterstones 6-8k can be used as a hard strop as well.
The important take away is if the edge is too worn the strop will not work any more than a very fine hone can sharpen a dull knife. And there is a possibility of rounding off the edge on compressible strops or even a harder strop if your angle control drifts. For carving you will want to strop often as you work. Flexcut Gold will work a lot better than compounds not made fro carving.
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2004
- Messages
- 2,270
I really like using the Washboard as a strop. It is a textured hard block that you use wrapped with paper. It works better for me than a leather strop . It is also made by one of our members
I'll add my vote for this... works great!
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2017
- Messages
- 118
I've been using compound on a belt for 20 years. If I'm in the woods hunting and need to touch up a knife, I take off my belt, loop it on a tree or branch and hone my blade. Sometimes you have to think outside the box.
Lets start with this;
If you need more than 10-15 strokes on the strop, you aren't 'stropping.' You are honing. Stropping is done after all the sharpening on stones or with compound on a substrate.
Virtually any firm substrate can be used to hone when you apply compound to it. You don't need leather OR denim. A piece of MDF board, a slab of Balsa, even smooth poster board will work equally well with compound. But if you are spending several minutes using it, you are sharpening, not stropping.
Stropping comes AFTER you have finished sharpening or honing.
Stropping is the final step in the process. It does not require compound.
Anything that contains natural silicates will work for stropping so long as it is firm. Cotton does have natural silicates in it, so, obviously, it will work if mounted on a flat, firm substrate.
The real issue at hand is how effectively the strop will work.
And this is where natural vegetable tanned leather comes into play. It has MORE natural silicates than cotton. Horsehide has more natural silicates than cowhide. This means;
If you need 15 strokes on properly prepared (and that part is important. Just gluing leather to a board is NOT properly preparing it, though it will still work to some degree,) veg-tanned cowhide, you may only need 12 strokes on shell cordovan horsehide.
The fact is... almost anything 'works' as a strop, even the palm of your hand. The reality is, some things work better than others. If you are willing to accept 75% effectiveness, go for it. If you want 90%, aim for that. If you want the very best (and most people will not even realize the difference between them all,) aim for shell cordovan horsehide. The difference is in the number of strokes needed to strop (not sharpen) the blade.
If you need more than 10-15 strokes on the strop, you aren't 'stropping.' You are honing. Stropping is done after all the sharpening on stones or with compound on a substrate.
Virtually any firm substrate can be used to hone when you apply compound to it. You don't need leather OR denim. A piece of MDF board, a slab of Balsa, even smooth poster board will work equally well with compound. But if you are spending several minutes using it, you are sharpening, not stropping.
Stropping comes AFTER you have finished sharpening or honing.
Stropping is the final step in the process. It does not require compound.
Anything that contains natural silicates will work for stropping so long as it is firm. Cotton does have natural silicates in it, so, obviously, it will work if mounted on a flat, firm substrate.
The real issue at hand is how effectively the strop will work.
And this is where natural vegetable tanned leather comes into play. It has MORE natural silicates than cotton. Horsehide has more natural silicates than cowhide. This means;
If you need 15 strokes on properly prepared (and that part is important. Just gluing leather to a board is NOT properly preparing it, though it will still work to some degree,) veg-tanned cowhide, you may only need 12 strokes on shell cordovan horsehide.
The fact is... almost anything 'works' as a strop, even the palm of your hand. The reality is, some things work better than others. If you are willing to accept 75% effectiveness, go for it. If you want 90%, aim for that. If you want the very best (and most people will not even realize the difference between them all,) aim for shell cordovan horsehide. The difference is in the number of strokes needed to strop (not sharpen) the blade.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,287
Hi,
Which lansky sharpener, the one with the angled clamp and 3 or 5 stones and rods?
Are you satisfied with the level of polish you get?
How many slices or cuts do you go before needing to resharpen? Is it at least a 1000 slices slices?
If you want a fast sharpening as in 10 seconds or less,
(lightly dulled blade, no chips ),
all you do is increase the angle
so you're only working on the very apex (the tip/top of the edge)
you can do that using a stone or anything abrasive
A strop will do the same thing naturally since its squishy,
so you usually have to lower your sharpening angle a few degrees
even if you're using light force
to avoid too much of an increase in apex angle (microbevel)
For a bit of perspective on pasted strop prices check out "flexcut" on woodcraft
compound + knife strop is ~$15 plus shipping
compound alone is $10
So the leather + wood block they sell they only value at $5
And woodcraft is kind of a specialty/hobbyist store ($$$)
Most other online strop blocks sold they value their wood at $20 and higher
... and its not like it works any better than or looks more pretty
Your local hardware store compound can be had for under ~$5
and that ~4oz of compound will do the same job and
last you a lifetime
on ebay you can get compound for even cheaper but with waiting period
stropping on bare leather/linen is something face shavers like to do for comfort, wood has no feelings
A properly made strop will NOT be 'squishy.' The surface should be as firm as a wooden board. Even a properly made leather strop will resist a fingernail dent. If your strops can be dented by nail pressure, you need a better strop.
stropping on bare leather/linen is something face shavers like to do for comfort, wood has no feelings
The reason it is more comfortable for face shavers is that it produces a more refined edge. Wood actually likes a more refined edge. You can hear it groan with pleasure when you carve it.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,287
Hi
for your amusement
If you can't do edge-leading strokes on it,
if you have to do edge-trailing strokes,
"stropping strokes" as it were,
they call it a strop,
so compound no compound,
hard or squishy ,
proper or proper
the internet calls it a strop today,
just like barbers and razor companies called it a strop a hundred years ago,
a pasted strop if you will
Can you notice a difference between finishing by stropping on plain leather after stropping on chromium oxide, and finishing by stropping on chromium oxide only?
When whittling wood?
How? What is the difference you notice?
How many cuts does this difference last or what practical measurable advantage does it bring?
The face shavers report stropping after each shave, and they're not shaving wood.
for your amusement
Hi,
If you can't do edge-leading strokes on it,
if you have to do edge-trailing strokes,
"stropping strokes" as it were,
they call it a strop,
so compound no compound,
hard or squishy ,
proper or proper
the internet calls it a strop today,
just like barbers and razor companies called it a strop a hundred years ago,
a pasted strop if you will
Hi,The reason it is more comfortable for face shavers is that it produces a more refined edge. Wood actually likes a more refined edge. You can hear it groan with pleasure when you carve it.
Can you notice a difference between finishing by stropping on plain leather after stropping on chromium oxide, and finishing by stropping on chromium oxide only?
When whittling wood?
How? What is the difference you notice?
How many cuts does this difference last or what practical measurable advantage does it bring?
The face shavers report stropping after each shave, and they're not shaving wood.
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2001
- Messages
- 6,675
Here's the 4" X 7" strop I've been using for the last 5 or 10 years. I glued a piece of stiff scrap leather to a board with some contact cement, and stuck some rubber feet on the bottom of the board. Every year or two, when the color has gone totally black, I sand the surface down, and reapply some Bark River green compound with a hair dryer.
I don't use any pressure when stropping. Blade weight in plenty good enough. I strop at the same angle that I sharpened at, for 15 or 20 strokes on either side, just to get rid of the burr. Occasionally I'll strop at a lesser angle also, if the edge bevel is a bit rough where it meets the primary grind, just to polish and round off the corner.
I also keep a similar strop, loaded a bit more heavily with Bark River black compound, on my work bench in the garage. It's great for tool stropping.
I don't use any pressure when stropping. Blade weight in plenty good enough. I strop at the same angle that I sharpened at, for 15 or 20 strokes on either side, just to get rid of the burr. Occasionally I'll strop at a lesser angle also, if the edge bevel is a bit rough where it meets the primary grind, just to polish and round off the corner.
I also keep a similar strop, loaded a bit more heavily with Bark River black compound, on my work bench in the garage. It's great for tool stropping.
Last edited:
Hi
for your amusement
.............so compound no compound,hard or squishy ,proper or proper
the internet calls it a strop today,
If I stand in a garage, will the internet call me a Volkswagen?
Absolutely!
The blade push-cuts more easily. But not for very long.
Practical? Virtually none.
Unless you are shaving, there is absolutely no reason to bring an edge to that level of sharpness other than fun! In fact, for cutting wood, unless you are planing micro-thin shavings for marquetry, stropping to the same level as for shaving will only result in having to strop more often.
Stitchawl