What and when to strop

I though it would be good to have thread discussing strops. I don;t have or use strops at the moment but I am curious about them. The questions being generally:

- When do you use them?
- Are they good to use on everything or more recommended to specific groups such as stainless steel or Powder metals?
- Also what are the differences between using felt strops and leather strops?
- Do you use compounds on them or naturally
- And finally are they easy to build on your own?

Many questions, just wondering where to start.

 

I've had a dozen stops, large and small, leather and felt, but my sharpening didn't really take off until I got a belt grinder. A leather belt with chrome oxide on it gives me the sharpest edges I've ever seen. It also eradicates any lingering wire edges, and polishes the bevel. I have a Kalamazoo 1x42, but there are more reasonably priced grinders at Harbor Freight. Highly recommended.

 

I'd love to own something like that... but it's not an option at the moment, as I don't have a pace for it in my flat. Or rather I would never get away with that

So were the strops completely useless or just not worth the effort?

 

If you can get your hands on some really hard felt ( many claim rock hard, but aren't hard enough), use in conjunction with a diamond slurry spray, I suggest no less than 1 micron, you will see results.

I use a strop from Marko Tsourkan and spray from Hand American.

 

I use bare leather as a strop after I finish on the stones to refine the edge a bit. Sometimes, I put a green chrome or similar buffing compound on the leather, but most times it's rough side bare leather. Most knifemaking supply houses sell leather belts or hides for sheaths; I put mine on the counter and strop away! I strop when the edge feels like it has gotten a little duller instead of going to the finer jnat stones. If the strop doesn't bring the edge back, then I use the stone.

 

Standard strops are good. My favorite non-powered one was an 8" x 3" piece of balsa glued onto a harder piece of wood and impregnated with chrome oxide (I mixed chrome oxide powder with baby oil---worked great).

 

This is what I do. After the last hone I go to CrOx on a balsa bench strop, followed by 30 laps on my kangaroo leather hanging strop, which is the same one I use for my straight razors. Those last two steps are not really necessary for a kitchen knife, but since switching to knives with good steel I have had fun seeing just how sharp I can get them.

 

Is there a test you have to tell whether the bare leather makes a difference after the CrOx? I've tried it a few times and can't really tell, but---unlike Murray Carter---I've never tried shaving with my Takeda.

 

My usual test is to "fluff up" my leg hairs, and then run my blade over my leg so just the tips of the hairs brush the edge. If they catch and cut then the blade is getting pretty damn sharp. It is called "tree topping" the hairs on the razor forums. Kitchen knives I am still learning, but I have honed razors for a long time, so I can kind of tell how the edge is improving by how it goes through hair.

My new petty tree topped no problems, so then I tried the hanging hair test, which is just lowering a hair onto the edge, and to my surprise it worked. I'd never honed a knife that sharp before, so you know I had to shave with it. Took off a three day growth just fine.

 

Thanks of the info guys, will have to get that! Need to try to get my knife to that level at some point

 

Got leather strops from JKS and Marco and a felt one from some other vendor. I use CrOx on the felt, diamond spray on one of the leather strops and the other leather is currently naked. I strop when the all our gyutos are dull enough to annoy me, and when that does not bring back the edge it's time to hit the stones. I do not have a go-to strop; sometimes I'm in a felt mood and sometimes a leather mood.

 

I use felt that I'll sometimes hit with diamond spray. I do have leather strops but mostly stick with felt. I use it everyday first thing before going to town on prep, and depending on how the edge feels after a long day, I'll strop again before I put the knife away. I'll ride this wave for as long as I can before hitting the stones.

I am curious about a "hard felt" though. I'd like to find some of that and give it a go...

 

i agree i have used less hard felt which i liked fine until i happened to have purchase felt that sadly was being phased out by the vendor and i must say that felt is much harder then the previous felt; also in turn the harder felt gives better results then the softer felt.

id assume marko has the harder felt mounted to his lovely wooden stands. its hard to tell by internet pictures but in person you can easily see the harder one makes the other look fuzzy. i got mine from dave martell so he can most likely point you in the right direction.