Stripping: What leather is best?

MTHall720

MTHall720

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Sep 21, 2010
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The more I read and watch videos the more I wonder what kind of leather is generally best. Is cowhide good or is kangaroo better? What brands of double sided strops are considered good?
Thanks in advance.

WOW. I was sleepy when I posted this and said stripping instead of stropping.
Don’t know how to change the title.
 
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I have only played with cowhide but don't feel too compelled to seek out other leathers. I feel the difference in adding abrasives to the leather will do more, and that quest is ongoing. Still, my favorite is bare leather. Mine has come from McMaster-Carr so far.
 
kind of depends what you want ... thicker cowhide gives more if you prefer a convex edge ... some can be firmer (kangaroo in my experiences and is my preference for leather) ... and hold up a bit better but I usually move to a bass wood or denim over hard wood if I want a firmer strop.

I agree the compound used and thickness/firmness of the leather matters more than type of leather.
 
What about horsehide? I know that a lot of people love horsehide gun holsters, but I have not heard anyone using it for knife sheaths or strops.
 
What does bare leather stropping do? abrade/sharpen the edge? just drag off loose parts?

If it's just a matrix for loaded abrasive, does it matter?
 
jpm2 said:
What does bare leather stropping do? abrade/sharpen the edge? just drag off loose parts?
If it's just a matrix for loaded abrasive, does it matter?
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People use bare leather as the last, finishing step in deburring to clean and strengthen the edge apex. Having removed the burr with fine abrasives off a mainstream knife steel, more often than not we get a wire or foil edge on the apex. To get rid of it, do gentle strokes on the plain hanging strop.

Finishing on a plain "bare" strop is important to clean up the deburred areas on the edge from any weak metal left after the burr breakout to get an “ideal” strong apex.
In our workshop, a plain leather hanging strop (i.e. without any honing compound) has proved beneficial as the finishing step in deburring mainstream knives. The hanging strop takes the knife edge to a new level of keenness.

Todd's SEM images show what the plain leather stropping does: https://scienceofsharp.com/2014/08/13/what-does-stropping-do/

Contrary to that, a strop loaded with abrasives must be firm, not hanging.
Smooth leather holds well abrasive particles up to 2 microns in size.
To remove the burr that you can feel and see, we need abrasives of 5-10 microns in size, and this is better done on a suede or rough side. If the back side of the leather strip is overly rough, we sand it before applying the abrasive.

Cow and horse full-grain or half-grain leather is commonly used for firm strops and gives more micro-convexity.
Kangaroo body skin is thinner but much stronger, and is used in firm strops with very fine abrasives for fine honing.
Kangaroo tail strop is very effective as a plain "bare" hanging strop, but if you cannot source it, a full-grain horse or cow hanging strop does the job.
As Todd writes on his website, he follows the stropping on a plain horse leather hanging strop with a clean linen strop "to remove residue from the leather". In knife sharpening, you may wish to do that for the top keenness tests like whittling the hair.

... unlike the stropping, stripping is best done with a black or red faux leather club wear :)
 
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000Robert said:
What about horsehide? I know that a lot of people love horsehide gun holsters, but I have not heard anyone using it for knife sheaths or strops.
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If you want leather that is extremely durable and smooth Horween Shell Cordovan leather is about the best you can buy and it is horse leather but it's also very costly for sure.
 
wade7575 said:
If you want leather that is extremely durable and smooth Horween Shell Cordovan leather is about the best you can buy and it is horse leather but it's also very costly for sure.
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Yeah, I know it is pretty expensive, but someone that can pay $1000+ for a knife can surely handle buying some horsehide.
 
OK... here is the definitive answer to your question...
If you are using any kind of compound, the 'kind' of leather you use makes no difference what so ever. With compound, you need a firm substrate. That's all. Leather, wood, MDF. Some work better for some folks, and for some styles of stropping.

But... if you are using the leather bare.... you want high concentrations of naturally abrasive silicates, found in ALL leather, even human skin.
Here are the differences;
Kangaroo hide has the highest concentration of natural silicates
Horsehide is just behind Kangaroo in high concentration of natural silicates
Cowhide is just below Horsehide.
Vegan virgin thigh... not as good as Horsehide but more fun.

That's it. Now it's up to you to decide which to use.
Kangaroo is outrageously expensive.
Horsehide, if good quality shell Cordavan is pretty expensive too, but horsehide 'butts' are pretty cheap on the internet and have the same amount of natural silicates. The 'Butt' is just a bit thinner than the 'shell' section
Cow hide is a perfectly viable stropping material and the cheapest of all.

Now... the reality. The actual difference when stropping on these leathers...
(... and these are just approximations, so don't quote me...)
For the same end results on a blade, you will strop;
15 strokes on Kangaroo
20 strokes on Horsehide
25 strokes on Cowhide Is it really worth the big bucks for Kangaroo?
3000 strokes on the Vegan Virgin's thigh, because, why not?
Kangaroo gives you 'bragging rights.' Kangaroo doesn't produce a 'better' edge. That part is up to you.
All of them give you the same edge, just at different costs.

And of course, the real final result with leather will depend on how you process it when making your strop... ;)


Stitchawl
 
I think the steel and what you are trying to do with it dictates the strop material or compounds. I strop after a 5 micron resin bond diamond stone so I don't need much from the strop. I find bare leather does a wonderful job of burnishing out the fine scratches right at the apex, perhaps the last .005"-.01" of bevel. It doesn't do much for looks but it does make the knife noticeably keener, so much so that when I first started doing it my wife yelled at me that the knives are now too sharp and not to do that to hers. Be careful with compounds as they often do more harm than good and don't strop until the bevel is polished as this will kill your apex. I have found that too few strokes on the strop is better than too many.
 
I'm planning on using a green compound although I don't know what the the grit is in it.
For most blades I want to strop after I sharpen with a DMT Fine Benchstone. For some blades I want to strop after using a fine ceramic rod (Idahone) instead of the Diamond stone.
 
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