-
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.
Using a Newspaper to Remove Burr
- Thread starter Bluhrb
- Start date
UncleBoots
Gold Member
- Joined
- May 27, 2020
- Messages
- 569
Jeans, newspaper, a sheet of printer paper on a counter, all good.
Deburring by cutting into something is a crude process that risks tearing off a burr and leaving a jagged edge. Often it works well. Sometimes it doesn't, if what you want is a clean edge.
Deburring by cutting into something is a crude process that risks tearing off a burr and leaving a jagged edge. Often it works well. Sometimes it doesn't, if what you want is a clean edge.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2021
- Messages
- 1,439
I usually use a plain leather strop for deburring, but last night I was sharpening half a dozen kitchen knives and discovered that "stropping" on the T shirt I was wearing worked just fine.
I'm assuming jeans or a leather belt would be the best because texture n stuff. Also, I don't need any of that watery substance they put on right? I forgot what it's called, but you put it on leather strops.
PS: Why would anyone buy leather strops if using printer paper works?
Last edited:
So a leather strop is ideal but using a T-shirt works better then no strop?
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2021
- Messages
- 1,236
I don’t typically strop at all, but yes jeans work as a final deburring step and so does newspaper/phone book paper.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 1,345
A lot of household things can work for that purpose in a pinch.
I've tried:
Cardboard with a little bit of flitz
Cardboard with a little bit of Meguiar's ultimate compound
My jeans pants leg (Do be careful, I'm not gonna say I've stabbed myself but......)
Old leather belt
If you're a painter and have some canvas laying around, Canvas.
Back of a notebook pad
I've tried:
Cardboard with a little bit of flitz
Cardboard with a little bit of Meguiar's ultimate compound
My jeans pants leg (Do be careful, I'm not gonna say I've stabbed myself but......)
Old leather belt
If you're a painter and have some canvas laying around, Canvas.
Back of a notebook pad
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,386
What works or doesn't work for stropping a burr away will depend on how heavy the burr is, or even on the type of steel and its hardness.
Most anything can work, assuming the burr is thin enough and ready to come off. Steels at higher hardness will usually produce burrs that are a bit more brittle and therefore easier to strop away with simple materials like plain paper or fabric, wood, cardboard, etc. The whole key is in making sure the burr is very fragile and ready to come off. But some steels are very ductile (flexible, bendy) at lower hardness and their burrs will be more stubborn to remove without adequate thinning by abrasion. A loaded strop with an aggressive polishing compound can help with that. But the best strategy is further thinning of the burr on the stone, before stropping. If a burr is created by very heavy sharpening pressure on the stone, the burr can be thick and extremely stubborn to remove. This is also true for burrs created on powered grinders, which can be very thick and stubborn to remove. In cases like that, nothing but a stone or a strop heavily loaded with an aggressive polishing compound will remove or at least reduce the burr. Anything lighter, in terms of plain stropping, won't touch them.
Bottom line: it never hurts to try different materials for stropping. As you do so, test cutting in fine paper to see how (or if) cutting improves after stropping. If you're still seeing evidence of the burr not changing, then some more thinning of the burr on stones would likely help, before stropping.
Most anything can work, assuming the burr is thin enough and ready to come off. Steels at higher hardness will usually produce burrs that are a bit more brittle and therefore easier to strop away with simple materials like plain paper or fabric, wood, cardboard, etc. The whole key is in making sure the burr is very fragile and ready to come off. But some steels are very ductile (flexible, bendy) at lower hardness and their burrs will be more stubborn to remove without adequate thinning by abrasion. A loaded strop with an aggressive polishing compound can help with that. But the best strategy is further thinning of the burr on the stone, before stropping. If a burr is created by very heavy sharpening pressure on the stone, the burr can be thick and extremely stubborn to remove. This is also true for burrs created on powered grinders, which can be very thick and stubborn to remove. In cases like that, nothing but a stone or a strop heavily loaded with an aggressive polishing compound will remove or at least reduce the burr. Anything lighter, in terms of plain stropping, won't touch them.
Bottom line: it never hurts to try different materials for stropping. As you do so, test cutting in fine paper to see how (or if) cutting improves after stropping. If you're still seeing evidence of the burr not changing, then some more thinning of the burr on stones would likely help, before stropping.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2021
- Messages
- 1,439
Bear in mind that Obsessed with Edges has more experience with sharpening than I do.
Super steels and some cheap steels can be more difficult. And I have never sharpened some steels such as D2 that have been reported to be uncooperative. But every once in a while I get a burr that just does not want to leave the knife edge.
If stropping does not improve the BESS score, I use a flashlight to look for a burr that is too small for me to feel. If I can see a burr, then I might switch to a leather strop with compound or, in very difficult cases, draw the edge very lightly across the end of a 2x4, or go back to the belts or stones.
I think this is true.
I also think this is true.
Right, you don't want to get carried away with a powered grinder. I use a Ken Onion for kitchen knives and sometimes for machetes but not for super steels. I check for burrs fairly frequently, depending on the type of steel, while using whatever belt I start on. Once I have felt a distinct burr on each side of the blade, I proceed with the usual progression of grits. I check using my thumb nail at first and later my middle finger nail to see when to go to the next grit. This way, I have never had a stubborn burr.
Super steels and some cheap steels can be more difficult. And I have never sharpened some steels such as D2 that have been reported to be uncooperative. But every once in a while I get a burr that just does not want to leave the knife edge.
I use an Edge-On-Up to decide when to start stropping. For kitchen knives, if several tests along the edge are all below BESS 200 grams, I will strop, and the BESS score almost always drops by 20, 30, maybe 50 grams. I don't like kitchen knives to be under 100 grams--too easy to cut myself. For non-kitchen knives, I might use stones until the BESS scores drop below 150 grams before I start stropping.
If stropping does not improve the BESS score, I use a flashlight to look for a burr that is too small for me to feel. If I can see a burr, then I might switch to a leather strop with compound or, in very difficult cases, draw the edge very lightly across the end of a 2x4, or go back to the belts or stones.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2021
- Messages
- 1,439
Depends, like Obsessed with Edges says. For what I was doing, the T shirt worked just as well as a leather strop. But some burrs are more stubborn than others and may need stronger remedies.
There are lots of ways to sharpen knives. Do what works for you.
Strop back and forth on the stone to weakens the burr should help immensely
A cheap diy strop option is cardboard and stropping compound, cardboard is free and stropping compound is not too expensive, I bought mine at a jewelry polising store for about $2 and they lasts for years, even a cheap Chinese compound should give you decent results.
Stropping on newpaper could work, but it depends a lot on the paper and they're not very fast.
A cheap diy strop option is cardboard and stropping compound, cardboard is free and stropping compound is not too expensive, I bought mine at a jewelry polising store for about $2 and they lasts for years, even a cheap Chinese compound should give you decent results.
Stropping on newpaper could work, but it depends a lot on the paper and they're not very fast.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,386
Having thought some more about this topic, there is one way paper can be used more aggressively as a strop.
Paper can be used over a very hard backing, and with some pressure, to either straighten a stiff, strong burr or break it off. Again, whether it realigns or breaks away is more dependent on the steel itself and its physical characteristics. The method works differently than the typical light-pressure stropping we're accustomed to.
When I've used my oilstone (India) to sharpen a knife, I've usually finished up by laying a piece of clean printer/copy paper over the oiled stone and then stropping most of the burr away. The choice of paper used is significant, as is the use of oil on the stone. With some papers, like phonebook pages or newsprint, the paper itself sometimes won't hold up well - it'll tear or otherwise come apart under the blade. And done on a stone wetted with water, the paper's binders will usually break down and the paper essentially dissolves under the blade. But with oiled printer paper under the blade, the method can work pretty well - the paper tends to cling to the oiled surface and the coarse texture of the stone's grit underneath the paper keeps it from moving around under the blade. And it doesn't significantly alter the toothy bite left by sharpening on the stone - this is a big part of why I've liked the method.
This is another example of why it's never a bad thing to experiment with stropping, using different materials and techniques. And as I said before, if the burrs are reduced more completely on the stones first, then whatever method of stropping that follows will also work with much greater ease.
Paper can be used over a very hard backing, and with some pressure, to either straighten a stiff, strong burr or break it off. Again, whether it realigns or breaks away is more dependent on the steel itself and its physical characteristics. The method works differently than the typical light-pressure stropping we're accustomed to.
When I've used my oilstone (India) to sharpen a knife, I've usually finished up by laying a piece of clean printer/copy paper over the oiled stone and then stropping most of the burr away. The choice of paper used is significant, as is the use of oil on the stone. With some papers, like phonebook pages or newsprint, the paper itself sometimes won't hold up well - it'll tear or otherwise come apart under the blade. And done on a stone wetted with water, the paper's binders will usually break down and the paper essentially dissolves under the blade. But with oiled printer paper under the blade, the method can work pretty well - the paper tends to cling to the oiled surface and the coarse texture of the stone's grit underneath the paper keeps it from moving around under the blade. And it doesn't significantly alter the toothy bite left by sharpening on the stone - this is a big part of why I've liked the method.
This is another example of why it's never a bad thing to experiment with stropping, using different materials and techniques. And as I said before, if the burrs are reduced more completely on the stones first, then whatever method of stropping that follows will also work with much greater ease.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2012
- Messages
- 1,347
I remove the burr by thinning it and then stropping the edge on bare leather or cloth, as Obsessed with Edges described.
Since you are experimenting, you might also attempt the "micro-bevel" method. Once you have thinned the burr, make a few more passes at a slightly increased angle. The goal of those final passes is to cut off the burr and create a micro-bevel. Pause regularly to check for the burr, stop when you no longer feel it, and then perform a test cut on a piece of paper. When done correctly, only a few light passes at the increased angle are typically required. I'm not a fan of micro-bevels, so I don't normally use this method. However, some use it to great effect, so it is something for you to consider.
Since you are experimenting, you might also attempt the "micro-bevel" method. Once you have thinned the burr, make a few more passes at a slightly increased angle. The goal of those final passes is to cut off the burr and create a micro-bevel. Pause regularly to check for the burr, stop when you no longer feel it, and then perform a test cut on a piece of paper. When done correctly, only a few light passes at the increased angle are typically required. I'm not a fan of micro-bevels, so I don't normally use this method. However, some use it to great effect, so it is something for you to consider.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2020
- Messages
- 110
todd s showed a good way for burr removal is to use a pasted strop thats not diamonds (metal polish or similar) and remove the burr while slightly convexing the apex then to go to bare leather to straighten and re-lubricate. he says stropping on diamonds creates its own microburr. i follow some of his ideas for straight razors i shave with. also using a finer stone than you had created the burr with and one or two tiny higher angled edge leading passes will remove the burr will making tiny micro chips which i believe is ultimately still a better edge than one where the burr tears off being scraped into wood etc.