Stropping

[ninefivefox]

Thanks Wentworth,

Stropping is every bit effective and extremely useful in the bush, the second technique demonstrated can be easily modified in the field, by locking your buckle off around a branch or fence.

 

[AussiePreppers]

Is there an ideal look to the backside of a belt that will produce the best results? Some I have are hairy, some patchy, some smooth, and combinations of them all. Is kangaroo leather better than cow?

 

[Wentworth]

AussiePreppers, I use a belt that is on the softer side of rough. Make sense? Probably not.
I have tried a very rough leather belt and didn't feel like I was getting the same results. I'd suggest taking a couple of your moras (so the blade geometry is the same), sharpening them on stones till they're both about the same degree of sharpness and then stropping one on the soft belt, the other on a rougher belt and see what the result are like. I'd be interested to know what you find.

Does anyone want to do the stone tutorial? We have a lot of knife enthusiasts on here.

 

[Templar]

Another method of stropping is to glue a piece of leather to a small plywood paddle and rub buffing/polishing compound into it, this makes the strop a little more stiff, similar to the old razor strop. It only needs to have a stropping surface of about 20-25 cm to be effective and is a good option for use in the field too.

 

[Mountainwalker]

Knife was starting to lose it's edge and I remembered this post by Wentworth. Gave it a go and was surprised at how effective a light strop can be for resurrecting an edge.

 

[n5750547]

Stropped my knives using a compound on the leather for the first time this afternoon. I have been missing out!

Can't believe how quickly I could get the knife RAZOR sharp...and how cheap it is. I used Josco green from Bunnings which cost $11 and will probably last me forever.

I will definately be keeping a piece of leather and a small block in my pack alongside my DC3

 

[Ben Dono]

Nice one mate! Not everyone wants or needs to strop a knife but I have always felt it was such an easy and inexpensive step that drastically improves an edge. I pretty much strop everything now unless I want to keep the wire edge on the tool.

 

[n5750547]

I look like I have some sort of alopecia as I have gone through and stropped all of my knives with this compound. You can't claim to have it shaving sharp without proof right?

Anyhow it has worked great although it is not as good for my scandi grind knifes - which I am new to. I'm using a pieces of leather laid on a table with a light coating of the compound. Is there anything I should be doing differently for this type of grind?

Cheers
Phil

 

[Ben Dono]

Depends if it has a micro bevel or not. If it's 'no micro bevel', You could try mounting your leather to a flat board to make a paddle strop. This should help a lot. It does not need to be leather. You can use cardboard, MDF and cork as a strop.

Haha....bald patches are part of the fun! I stopped doing that as I was sick of the sweat rash in summer. Now I use newspaper to test them.

 

[Foxtrot65]

some great advice here, I was wondering about all the questions that have been answered on here, thanks guys

 

[n5750547]

Made something I bit lighter and more compact for my hiking kit (than my DC3 wrapped in leather). It's a piece of paint stirrer with leather on one side and 800 grit sandpaper on the other

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[Totumpole]

Stropping is definitely the key to maintaining an edge in my opinion.

I'm not so sure about the comments of expensive knives being left at home. I have knives through a huge range of prices and give them all a good go, and my Ben Orford has been my favourite by far for quite some time.

Made something I bit lighter and more compact for my hiking kit (than my DC3 wrapped in leather). It's a piece of paint stirrer with leather on one side and 800 grit sandpaper on the other

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

That is a great idea! I've carried a small strip like that for years but never considered putting some 800 grit in the other side and ditching the DC3!

 

[oncedisturbed]

Never made a set up to carry out bush before but I do make them up for portable Leathercraft kits as they're great for touching up scalpel blades, swivel knives and other generic tools


Never underestimate the power of the tap, let it flow through you.

 

[n5750547]

Stropping is definitely the key to maintaining an edge in my opinion.

I'm not so sure about the comments of expensive knives being left at home. I have knives through a huge range of prices and give them all a good go, and my Ben Orford has been my favourite by far for quite some time.



That is a great idea! I've carried a small strip like that for years but never considered putting some 800 grit in the other side and ditching the DC3!

Agree on the stropping and on using expensive knives. I understand that some people trade knives and therefore have to keep them in mint condition (unless they are OK with losing a lot of money) but this won't ever be a problem for me, I have too many hobbies to be able to afford a large collection.

I haven't had to use the sandpaper yet but I figure that it will be handy for fixing rolled edges and micro chips. Anything more serious I would fix at home anyway so I'm not losing much by leaving the DC3 behind. I will still take my DC3 when I have an axe in the bag however.

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[Wave Man]

I have really embraced stropping lately and am impressed by the results that stropping can achieve, taking a already sharp knife and polishing the scratch patter even further and making the knife truly sharp. (I can get a just shaving sharp edge to go to shaving easily by stropping)

I have three dedicated strops, two are used often, the third being an experiment and not used much at all. First off I bought a cheap 2 sided strop off Ebay and it came with some rouge, which I loaded one side with, and left the other side bare. I them began stropping and soon decided to make my own. I had watched many stropping vids and the idea of kangaroo tail leather came out, which turns out to be one of the best stropping leathers available.

on top, cheap leather strop bought off Ebay, bottom top, roo leather strop, bottom roo leather loaded with stropping compound.

 

[Randall]

I've recently discovered stropping too. I also have one of those ebay paddles and probably the same green waxy stropping compound. I used to use a steel between sharpenings, but now I prefer the strop. Apparently you can over strop. Stropping puts a convex angle up to the apex - too much stropping and things start to go backwards - time for a re sharpen. I just do the 4 or 5 strokes after a bit of use.

Re the green waxy compound - I have no idea what grit rating it is

 

[Thrud]

I use Autosol as the stropping compound, you can get it from Bunnings or Repco.

 

[Wave Man]

apparently the ultimate in strops, kangaroo tail leather and emulsion. I have the kangaroo tail leather but the emulsions are expensive so haven't dropped the hammer yet.

[video=youtube;XHWrOM4Qgdk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHWrOM4Qgdk[/video]

 

[Randall]

apparently the ultimate in strops, kangaroo tail leather and emulsion. I have the kangaroo tail leather but the emulsions are expensive so haven't dropped the hammer yet.

160,000 grit? This seems beyond the needs of a sharp knife for every day use I could imagine this, possibly, for a cut throat razor that is used for shaving. I'm happy enough when a knife shaves. He's also using a 10 degree bevel. That's way too fine for every day knife. Apparently mag wheel polish is good for restoring faded headlights and watch chrystals (after using various fine glass papers to get rid of the scratches) that's probably good too, for normal stropping.

 

[Wave Man]

yeah the emulsions are for the ultimate finishing of a super sharp, fine edge. I have one such knife, BESS tested twice sharper than a razor but you are right mate, not for the average day to day knife.

Here is my Reate Horizon D after professional sharpening, it is not as sharp now but still easily shaves and is still the sharpest knife I have ever owned or seen.
The knife has a 12DPS polished edge. The M390 can support such a fine edge without fear of chipping or such.

[video=youtube;o22lll8qq2Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22lll8qq2Q[/video]