Stropping on glass?

R

Redstripe_808

Joined
Mar 25, 2002
Messages
254
I was wondering if anyone knew if stropping on glass would be a good idea. Isn't glass harder than steel? Would it make a good medium for straightening and maintaining an edge without removing material?


-redstripe808
 
I know of peopel who have honed an edge on the edge of a car window (roll it down, usually the edge isn't super smooth and is slightly abrasive). The trouble with using glass as a "steel" is that you'd probably end up scratchign it, and you'd have to be quite careful with it, as compared to a regular steel. I see no benefit that glass would give over a traditional steel. Now, normally with strops people use compounds on the strop, which actually cuts steel (Chromium Oxide is widely used). A leather strop backed on wood that is coated still flexes a bit, which is quite a different action tahn the bending/burnishing going on when steeling.

There is no ahrm in trying to "steel" or "strop" with glass, but I suspect you won't get any benefit over normal steels/strops. In fact, I suspect it would do a worse job.
 
I took a road kill deer to the jail a few years ago and the sheriff got one of the trustees to dress it. All the guy had was a cheap paring knife from the kitchen. He asked me to roll the window half way down on my truck and he stropped the knife on the frosted edge of the glass. It worked well enough to let him dress and skin the deer.

Ever since I've used that method to freshen the edge on many a knife. Works great.

As an aside, the whole time this guy was workin', the sheriff kept up a continuous banter of "Boy, you sure know a lot about skinnin' and dressin'. Man, you do that just like a professional, etc." I mean he just never let up on the guy.

After the guy finished up I asked the sheriff what was up with all the talk. The sheriff laughed and told me that the guy was in jail for stealin' hogs and butcherin' 'em! :D

GD
 
Many years ago, when people used double edged safety razors, poor folks would use a water glass to restore the edge on the razor blades. They would lay the blade inside the glass with the glass on it's side and strop the blade around the inside of the glass, pressing the blade down to conform with the radius of the inside of glass. I was told that it extended the life of the blades for a while.

Thomas
 
Commercially made glass hones were used for sharpening straight razors in times gone by.

The advantage of using it in modern days is that you could get an offcut for very little and you know that it would be flat. You might need to rough up the surface a bit first with some sand paper, something harder than silicon carbide as thats how hard the glass would be, aluminium oxide would do it.

Glockdoc, why were you taking roadkill to the gaol, were the prisoners going to eat it.I thought there were laws against eating roadkill. Although my knowledge of American law comes from watching the Simpsons.:)
Regards
Pinpoint
 
I'm sure the following has been said in older threads.

I've stropped a blade on the bottom of a tea cup, coffee mug, dinner plate, even a pocelain vase. Any piece of china or porcelain works pretty good, the finer the better. Just don't get caught using your mom's or wife's best Mikasa or Waterford set. It just doesn't look good!:eek:

Some other alternatives that work in a pinch:
The inside of a toilet tank and underside of its lid.
The cardboard backing of legal notepads.
Ceramic and porcelain tiles

Dayuhan
 
pinpoint :

... something harder than silicon carbide as thats how hard the glass would be, aluminium oxide would do it.
Click to expand...

Glass is made from Silica (SiO4), Silicon Carbide (SC) is different and *very* hard, much harder than glass and even harder than Aluminum Oxide. Silicon Carbide is 2500 on the Knoop scale, Aluminum Oxide is only 2100.

-Cliff
 
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