Strop it!

[Mjolnir]

Needed something quick and fun to do and be able to say, ' I made something!'. I'm personalizing as many of my tools as possible.

Then I see this!

Edited January 13, 2018 by Mjolnir
ps

[bikermutt07]

That is pretty neat. I bet you or @Sanch could make that pretty easy.

[JMcC]

Meh...I like yours better Mjolnir ! The other looks too dang finicky. Besides everything I have ever read says when stropping, to do it against a hard surface so as to not round off the corners of your blade. For whatever that's worth.

 

[billybopp]

Those stretched leather strops were pretty common (although usually not as pretty as that one)  about 100 years ago.  They were usually used to strop straight edge razors.

- Bill

[Mjolnir]

16 minutes ago, billybopp said:

Those stretched leather strops were pretty common (although usually not as pretty as that one)  about 100 years ago.  They were usually used to strop straight edge razors.

- Bill

That's what it advertised. But man it looked nice!

 

19 minutes ago, JMcC said:

Meh...I like yours better Mjolnir ! The other looks too dang finicky. Besides everything I have ever read says when stropping, to do it against a hard surface so as to not round off the corners of your blade. For whatever that's worth.

 

Thanks! Sharpening is an art unto itself. So far I've avoided it by occasionally taking out my Ivan Damascus round knife, rubbing my thumb against the blade and saying, "yep, still sharp." Then I use my fiscars rotary, or an x-acto!

[DJole]

My strop looks like this:

That's a flesh side strip with a thin strip for edgers glued to the side. 

that's the main stropping side (with rouge) and a thin strip for my French skiver. 

She ain't pretty, but she gets the job done. 

[bikermutt07]

32 minutes ago, Mjolnir said:

That's what it advertised. But man it looked nice!

 

Thanks! Sharpening is an art unto itself. So far I've avoided it by occasionally taking out my Ivan Damascus round knife, rubbing my thumb against the blade and saying, "yep, still sharp." Then I use my fiscars rotary, or an x-acto!

Don't be scared of sharpening. I was for over 40 years. It's not as mystical as we all grew up believing.

Yes, it can get really technical really quick. But it doesn't have too.

When I decided I wanted to own a knife worth more than 40 bucks I realized I should be able to sharpen it.

In all my research (YouTube) I found one comment that made the difference. No two sets of hands sharpen a knife exactly the same.

So the first time you sharpen the knife, it will take a long time. The blade needs a little extra time to get to know your hands. Later on you may only spend 10-15 minutes sharpening it back up.

I used the sand paper method until I got proficient and built my confidence. Now I use a Kalamazoo 1x42 belt sander.

Keep in mind I was frustrated by sharpening my whole life. I'm only 44 now. I have only been getting things sharp the last 3 years.

Now my Knipknives have only needed stropping so far. They are so so very sharp. I treat them with the utmost fear and respect. I shudder to think what one of those knives could do to my finger or hand.

Your ivan knife may have a long life with just stropping. You just have to stay on it.  I strop my Knipknives at least daily when I'm using them. More so if it is stiff thick leather.

Here is a picture of a folded piece of 7-8 oz Hermann Oak. It is three layers thick. Terry's French model rolled right thru them.

 

[Mjolnir]

1 minute ago, DJole said:

My strop looks like this:

That's a flesh side strip with a thin strip for edgers glued to the side. 

that's the main stropping side (with rouge) and a thin strip for my French skiver. 

She ain't pretty, but she gets the job done. 

I'm loving the side strips! brilliant!

[Mjolnir]

5 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

Don't be scared of sharpening. I was for over 40 years. It's not as mystical as we all grew up believing.

Yes, it can get really technical really quick. But it doesn't have too.

When I decided I wanted to own a knife worth more than 40 bucks I realized I should be able to sharpen it.

In all my research (YouTube) I found one comment that made the difference. No two sets of hands sharpen a knife exactly the same.

So the first time you sharpen the knife, it will take a long time. The blade needs a little extra time to get to know your hands. Later on you may only spend 10-15 minutes sharpening it back up.

I used the sand paper method until I got proficient and built my confidence. Now I use a Kalamazoo 1x42 belt sander.

Keep in mind I was frustrated by sharpening my whole life. I'm only 44 now. I have only been getting things sharp the last 3 years.

Now my Knipknives have only needed stropping so far. They are so so very sharp. I treat them with the utmost fear and respect. I shudder to think what one of those knives could do to my finger or hand.

Your ivan knife may have a long life with just stropping. You just have to stay on it.  I strop my Knipknives at least daily when I'm using them. More so if it is stiff thick leather.

Here is a picture of a folded piece of 7-8 oz Hermann Oak. It is three layers thick. Terry's French model rolled right thru them.

 

nice advice Mutt! my PawPaw's whittling knife had an arc in the blade after years of sharpening. It shaved cedar for longer than I've been alive.

[bikermutt07]

I bet. My maternal grandfather was a furniture maker, and a whittler. He passed before I was born. I never saw his whittles, but my family members have some nice furniture he had built.