Recommend a Leather Strop

guncollector

guncollector

Joined
Sep 6, 2001
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657
Can someone who uses/owns one recommend a quality, leather strop. My net search came up with everything from inexpensive $18.95 models, to the $65.00 "horsehide" version at Kramer.

I just wanted to take advantage of the experience of others before I buy!

TIA
 
I have used a Lee Valley Tools strop with their excellent chromium oxide stropping compound for several years and recommend it highly. Also, you are paying in the Canadian peso, currently around 61 cents US.
 
you can order the double sided strop and honing compound as a set from leevalley and save a buck or two.gailt
 
Friday I ordered the Lee Valley combo. Can't wait till it arrives to put the final touches on my already sharp knives.
 
The back of an old leather belt works fine. Load it with Flitz or Simichrome polish. You can glue it to a piece of lattice to make it more rigid.

Paul
 
It's fun and easy. I use scrap leather in the heavier, thicker grades. Just cut a strap about 2 1/2" wide by about 24" long and punch a hole in one end and carve a handle on the other. On the smooth side, rub red jewelers rouge. On the rough side, rub a wax based buffing compound. I use the white stuff. I think it's 1,000 grit. It's as simple as that dude. Find a place where you can drive a nail and slip the end with the hole punched over it and you're in business. If you want to get fancy buy a heavy duty trot-line swivel to hang on the nail. Then you can flip the strop over without missing a beat! Heh. All that can be yours for just a few dollars in materials and the satisfaction that you made it yourself and the added satisfaction that it actually works!!! Failing that, send me $5.00 for postage and I'll make one for you and send it to you. No one with knives should be without a good strop. I use one on every knife I make. No exceptions. Every time I sharpen a knife it gets the strop.
 
I have an easier time with a strop mounted to a firm board, but a strap sure works good for the old styled barbers, so I'm sure you could learn that too.

In the vein of "mounted to a board":


These guys make really nice stuff on the high end, I own one and dig it:
http://www.handamerican.com/PC10.html

Making your own is as simple as finding good leather and gluing down to say a 14" or 16" flat finish grade 2"x4". Load it with aggressive rouge.

Knifes Plus in Amarillo makes a really simple cheap strop:
about 8" long on 1"x4", leather glued down, loaded with green rouge, about $8 or $9 plus shipping. I own one and it's a great small quickie strop, especially if you are ordering a production knife from them anyway. They don't have a web presence (!?!??) but they have consistently good pricing.
 
Aren't the strops required for sharpening convex edged knives? I have one such knife, so I guess I need a strop myself.
 
www.handamerican.com

They make excellent strops, polishing compounds in various grits and the BEST smooth steels I have ever seen - for very reasonable prices! They also sell bulk pieces of strop leather for making your own. I bought a 3" X 12" piece, glued it (smooth side up) to a piece of pine, and put some non-skid "feet" on the bottom of it. It works like a charm and I made 2 of them for under ten bucks!

Hey, I also agree about knives plus in Amarillo. I used to live there a while back and I miss that place like crazy... They had prices close to, or better than internet dealers! The owner is a very friendly and knowledgable guy.
 
Third for www.handamerican.com

I bought their kit which includes a double hone on a wooden base, and four grits of polish. It was a bit cheaper than they are selling them for now however maybe 4 years ago. Very nice people over there as well. They use good leather, and when I asked them to trade in the lowest grit that came with the kit for their 10,000 grit green polish, they did at no extra cost. It normally comes I believe with 200, 600, 800, and 1200grit powders. And they sell the green polish seperately.

JC

P.S. How are you guys applying the 10,000 grit polish to the smooth leather? I wipe it in with a little spit on just a small section of my hone. As expected fabulous results, but some guys tell me to use a little bit of oil :eek: Not for me. I tried to use it dry, but it wont go into the smooth leather AT ALL. Am I doing it wrong? Should I be using the rough leather?

JC
 
Originally posted by Jameson

P.S. How are you guys applying the 10,000 grit polish to the smooth leather? I wipe it in with a little spit on just a small section of my hone. As expected fabulous results, but some guys tell me to use a little bit of oil :eek: Not for me. I tried to use it dry, but it wont go into the smooth leather AT ALL. Am I doing it wrong? Should I be using the rough leather?

JC
Click to expand...

The guy at Knives Plus said he uses warmed olive oil (!?!?) to get a big dose of green rouge into his little strop. I don't keep their catalogs so can't requote his multistep process, but it was something like "make a paste of warm olive oil and green rouge, smear it on warm leather, let it soak for a day, lightly scrape off excess gunk, do it again, maybe 3 times".
 
Okay this is going to sound like a dumb set of questions but I really don't know so you guys will have to bear with me. I have plenty of leather so making a strop is not a problem. The questions are 1) do you have to use the rouge, and 2) Just exactly how do you "strop" something?

Thanks
 
I'm going to throw a vote in here for the Hand American PC10 as well.

It's an excellant product. Top quality. You won't be disappointed with it's performance.

--The Raptor--
 
Triton,
You do not have to use the rouge. You can just use the fine buffing compound if you like. When do you move from stone to strop? It depends on how fine your stones are and how you like to finish an edge.

MaxTheKnife,
If you are using the white stick buff, that is made for stainless. Good stuff. But, I think it is much finer than 1000 grit. It is closer to 10,000 grit. I use it to polish the sides of the knife as well. It makes water bead up on the knife. I think this makes the knife more corrosion resistant. Just shave a little off the end, mix it with a little oil and rub it with a cloth.
 
It is polishing compound. I am not certain but referring to it as "green rouge" is wrong right? Just that even you guys are confusing me. The rogue is red polishing compound, which is what grit? Same grit as commonly known "jewlers rogue" hence the name for it right?

As for the leather. If you are gonna make your own might as well spring the few bucks for their leather, it is some sweet stuff. Cheap too, and they will cut you a break probably on shipping if your just getting two small strips of leather. I'l l say again the Kit is a great package. The wooden blocks the rough and smooth leather are on and the hinge is good construction. Very heavy wooden base with rubber feet, and neatly marked and CLEAN jars. I hate the companies that leave grit all in the threads of the cap. It's the little things...

JC

JC
 
Jameson,
I cannot answer all your questions, but, Jewelers rouge is not useful on knives. It is too soft. The knife grinds up the rouge.

Emory and stainless buff or rouge cannot be used on jewelry. The hardness, even with fine grits, removes too much silver or gold too quickly.
 
I have a Puma Strop which lets you adjust the strength applied to it when the leather gets stretched. It has one green side, to be used with strop paste, and one natural colored side, to be used as-is. It works fine for me.
 
I'm thinking of getting the PC-10, and have a question.

The set comes with 220, 400, 800 and 10K compounds. Why do you need four compounds? Wouldn't you use a rough compound on the textured leather and a fine compound on the smooth leather? Would you ever switch from one compound to another?
 
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