need help with stropping technique

Great info and great illustration Buzzbait:cool:

I have had the best luck refurbishing the edges by just using a wood backed strop with a thick piece of coarse leather and some coarse grit. It doesn't seem as quick as using a piece of sand paper on a soft surface, but it turns out a perfect edge with enough patience:)

BTW, does anyone have any ideas on how to prevent so much grit piling (at the end of the strop) and loss of grit while using thick (rough) leather for grinding?
The leather is a relatively thick piece that I use 220 grit SiC with and have excellent results but it is a total mess by the time I'm done:(

Is it just a matter of using it enough to get enough grit embedded into the leather or is there a way to cheat and make the grit stay put?
 
Some folks (myself included) use mineral oil to prep the strop to accept the charging compound. I use Lee Valley's green compound which seems to adhere well.
 
Good Evening Everyone-

Wow, this is a great thread. Very interesting discussion on a topic about which many people (me included) continually obsess. :)

The brief video clip on the Busse web site shows that the only normal edge maintenance required is to hold the knife in your right hand and draw it towards you on a strop or steel. The nice part is that it instructs you to only strop one side of the knife with the edge pointed away from your body.

My Steel Heart E is very new, so there hasn't been a need to sharpen it, but I was going to follow these video instructions and use my double-sided leather/wood strop from Lee Valley when the time comes.

I have used this strop on my Benchmade Mini-AFCK and it almost seems like the green compound makes the edge less "usable" than if it were to be left a bit "coarser" instead. I suppose there is a wide variety of information on BladeForums if you conduct a search under "coarse" or even "micro-serrations."

Lastly, do y'all use a 10x loupe or something to see the "burr" that everyone mentions? If you're using a Spyderco Sharpmaker, how would you know that the burr has formed and needs to be stropped-off?

There...have I made a pest of myself with all these questions? :eek:

Thanks everyone,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Hehehe. Okay. I admit to having used a Radio Shack 30X lighted scope, when I was first going through my sharpening and stropping rituals. I don't use it much anymore, but it was invaluable at first.

As for the coarseness of the edge finish, that's determined by what the knife will be used for. I often use a very highly polished edge on my knives that do a lot of push cutting. If I'm slicing, I like to polish the edge and then rough it up with something coarse afterward, just to get a little tooth on the edge.

The burr left by a SharpMaker should be noticeable to the touch. If you run the tip of your finger along each side of the blade's edge, you should be able to feel the burr. Also, if you shine the blade in the light just right, you'll be able to see the burr. It's often tiny and barely noticeable, but there nonetheless.
 
Blue Jays,
I don't see the burr, I feel it. I've looked for it but have never been able to see it. But I have learned how to feel the burr very reliably. And the burr is the key to getting your edge really sharp.

I learned to feel the burr from two sources. One was Joe Talmadge's FAQ/Tutorial here on BF at this link http://www.bladeforums.com/features/faqsharp-fundamentals.shtml
this will teach you many valuable things about sharpenning.
The other source was the Razors Edge video that Joe recommends in his tutorial. I found it at a local gun show at one of the book tables. It is very good and it helps having the pictures and seeing it done as they describe their techniques.

Hopefully soon I will feel as confident on a strop with a convex or asymetrical edge as I do now on a V gring on my sharpmaker. Good luck.
 
Good Morning Everyone-

Buzzbait & utmts4me, you guys are the best. Thanks for getting back so quickly. I've been reasonably confident using the Spyderco Sharpmaker on my regular folders...and I knew working with the Busse asymetrical edge was going to be a whole new bowl of cherries.

I know what you mean regarding smooth polished vs. rough edge determined by push cutting or slicing. For example, if you have a huge stack of mail that you're slitting open, the polished edge seems to do a better job. Same thing if you're cutting coupons out of a newspaper.

If you're slicing fibrous material, the rough edge gives better performance. It's such a balancing game!

Thanks for the link for Joe Talmadge's video. I'm going to definitely get that for "tutorial" benefit.

Regards,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Something I have noticed over the years about the 'burr or wire edge". The closer the heat treat, the higher the quality of the steel and everything comming together right, the wire edge comes off as a powder, rather than the longer hair like events you find with blades that usually don't have a lot of edge holding qualities.
 
Very informative and useful thread guys....thanks to all...appreciated...


"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
Originally posted by Strabs
does anyone have any ideas on how to prevent so much grit piling (at the end of the strop) and loss of grit while using thick (rough) leather for grinding? ... Is it just a matter of using it enough to get enough grit embedded into the leather or is there a way to cheat and make the grit stay put?
Click to expand...
Try a bit of beeswax as a carrying medium (holding medium in this case :) ) for the grit. See also comments in this thread - http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176756
 
Strabs :

[SiC lapping compound]

BTW, does anyone have any ideas on how to prevent so much grit piling (at the end of the strop) and loss of grit while using thick (rough) leather for grinding?
Click to expand...

You can by loading the leather make a paste of the lapping compound. However do you really want to do this? The SiC abrasive breaks down quite rapidly and the advantage to its ease of removal is that you can just brush the strop free and apply new fresh grit from time to time. The lapping compound isn't that expensive that I would be worried about losing it. Plus you can always just used the worn particles for finer work, just collect them and store them in a different container.

utmts4me :

... if you simply lay the blade down and then press enough for the mouse pad underneath to contour to the entire edge bevel including the very edge, wouldn't this round off the edge?
Click to expand...

Not if you use high quality sandpaper, and don't use it when it is excessively worn. Whenever I try a new abrasive or sharpening method I inspect the edge under magnification to check the scratch pattern, edge alignment and debris. The biggest problem with edge-trailing sharpening is that it is prone to forming a huge burr. If you really want to see a mess, take an edge off a coarse belt finish and start stropping and watch what happens. Eventually the edge breaks apart in large chunks that refuse to get cut cleanly off.

After I do the initial shaping work with rough sandpaper (usually 15 micron SiC) I cut the burr off by going into the edge with a fine water stone, or 1200 grit diamond. This is done just visually at an elevated angle. Only one to two passes per side is all that are necessary, any more and you just create a significant micro-bevel. This additional step isn't necessary when you are touching up the bevel from time to time on a fine strop, but I have found it to be critical on those times when you are resetting the edge from scratch.


... this would seem to be nearly, dare I say, foolproof
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That is the idea. However on knives with fully convex edges such as the one in the picture that Buzzbait posted, you can't use the method I described as it will create a secondary edge bevel. You need to work the entire blade grind. You can do this as Buzzbait described, however I prefer to hold the blade fixed and use a small hone as that is how I was taught and what I have the most experience with. I keep meaning to spend some time practicing the other method though.

... you ALSO draw the blade from heel to tip with each stroke, so you are actually covering the entire blade length with each draw stroke???
Click to expand...

Yes. On the draw you try to keep the edge perpendicular to the hone, so as you approach the tip you rotate the blade to match the sweep of the tip. Recurves are a bit tricky, hawkbills are very difficult, you need really small hones for them.

-Cliff
 
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