leather stropping

[ToddW]

I ordered 2 of these to sharpen my tools

https://www.amazon.com/AMAZSHARK-Leather-Strop/dp/B07X2RKD5R?ref_=ast_sto_dp

1 of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XRRXRWQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1 of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CGM89I0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

just realized I am a bit confused.. I was going to contact cement them to a board but after watching youtube videos. some people use the shiny side and some people use the rough side.  should I leave it loose to be able to use both sides or should I glue it to a board/paddle for ease of use.  Not sure what side of the leather (or both) I should be using to sharpen my tools.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Frodo]

I used to do that.  Now,  I just grab a bit of scrap rub some rouge on it and strop my blade

I have used both sides and can not come to a conclusion that one is better than the other

 

[Klara]

I've glued the flesh (rough) side to the wood and rubbed the honing compound to the hair side (smooth). I have a grey strop and a green one (Dialux as well) but mostly use the green. 

[zuludog]

I've made three or four strops by gluing leather to pieces of wood, with contact adhesive or PVA woodworking adhesive, they both do the job. They all had the grain side glued to the wood, with the flesh side exposed. Flesh side up seems to work well enough, and after a while it becomes polished anyway. I suspect the grain side up will give you a finer polish, but after the flesh side develops its polish I don't think there will be much in it

I haven't used those stropping compounds, so perhaps others can comment. I use Veritas green chromium dioxide compound

On a couple of the strops I treated the leather with a smear of leather grease, just once, before rubbing with the compound and it seems to make the compound stick a bit better  

Obviously there are variations, just Search YouTube, but the proof of the pudding.......... Perhaps more important is to strop frequently

Strop your blades, but if you Search YT there are videos on using the edge of the leather to sharpen edge bevelers; you can make a purpose made sharpening board for that

[mike02130]

You'd be better off ordering some horse butt strips and make your own; a crap load.  I've always used contact cement on a piece of nice plywood or MDF.  Horse has more silicates than cow leather and is thicker and denser.  The Dialux is a good brand.  I use the green for carbon blades and white for harder steels like D2.  The flesh side of horse gets the compound, the grain side gets nothing.  There is excellent information at bladeforums.com.  I only use leather for pocket knives.  For my leather and woodworking tools I use a piece of MDF.

[MtlBiker]

I'm about to make some strops, but I don't recall ever having seen one in real life (unless as a kid, I saw a barber sharpening something)...  I have some pieces of veg tan leather and some that are chrome tanned.  Would either work equally well?  I'm talking about using the flesh side for sharpening and gluing the other side to plywood.  I've also ordered some green Veritas Honing Compound.

Thanks.

[Klara]

I used chrome tanned because I didn't want to "waste" veg tanned fot the purpose and it works fine. No idea whether veg tanned would work even better. But the way I see it, all that's needed is a surface for the honing compound to stick to....

[chuck123wapati]

 

I use a simple piece of 2000 grit sandpaper spray glued on my pounding stone to keep up the edge. No flex no mess and much easier and cheaper.

To soft and the flex of the leather will round off your edge.

Use the hardest leather you can find if you want to make one i hear horse hide fits the bill best. 

[MtlBiker]

52 minutes ago, Klara said:

I used chrome tanned because I didn't want to "waste" veg tanned fot the purpose and it works fine. No idea whether veg tanned would work even better. But the way I see it, all that's needed is a surface for the honing compound to stick to....

Funny, but that's what I was thinking also... that I didn't want to waste "good" leather.  Merci beaucoup!

 

[MtlBiker]

38 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

 

I use a simple piece of 2000 grit sandpaper spray glued on my pounding stone to keep up the edge. No flex no mess and much easier and cheaper.

To soft and the flex of the leather will round off your edge.

Use the hardest leather you can find if you want to make one i hear horse hide fits the bill best. 

Interesting.  So you don't use a strop at all?  Just the 2000 grit sandpaper?

In terms of leather hardness, I really don't know what I have.  I've got some veg tan and some remnants I bought of chrome tan.  The chrome tan feels much softer than the veg tan, much more flexible/pliable.  The veg tan is stiff.  Is hardness of leather something else?  As a novice, I really don't know.  But I'd want to use a piece of something I already have instead of buying leather specifically for making a strop.  Anyway, I guess I'll make something, maybe one of each, and see if I can learn to use it properly.  At this point of my inexperience I probably wouldn't be able to tell which is better.  In another thread here about round knives, etc. I was told multiple times that I'd have to strop the heck out of my new round knife and that when the knife arrives it wouldn't be sharp enough.  But I'll pick up some 2000 grit sandpaper too... here at work the finest we use is 400.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[Squid61]

I've tried cardboard, denim and leather - smooth and flesh side and a few various "crayon" abrasive sticks.  I finally settled on 1/2' plywood backed smooth leather buffed with around 400 grit wet or dry and powdered Aluminum Oxide.  I buff up the leather so it will provide a bit of grip for the powder.  I don't care for the wax based compounds because they gum up the strop too much and too fast.  The most important thing isn't so much the strop or compound, rather it's how the blade is held against the strop; the angle, on leather, should be just less than the angle of the final bevel so the leather doesn't curl up over the edge and the pressure should be fairly light, again to prevent curling the leather and rounding the edge.

Edited September 10, 2021 by Squid61
spelling.

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

Interesting.  So you don't use a strop at all?  Just the 2000 grit sandpaper?

In terms of leather hardness, I really don't know what I have.  I've got some veg tan and some remnants I bought of chrome tan.  The chrome tan feels much softer than the veg tan, much more flexible/pliable.  The veg tan is stiff.  Is hardness of leather something else?  As a novice, I really don't know.  But I'd want to use a piece of something I already have instead of buying leather specifically for making a strop.  Anyway, I guess I'll make something, maybe one of each, and see if I can learn to use it properly.  At this point of my inexperience I probably wouldn't be able to tell which is better.  In another thread here about round knives, etc. I was told multiple times that I'd have to strop the heck out of my new round knife and that when the knife arrives it wouldn't be sharp enough.  But I'll pick up some 2000 grit sandpaper too... here at work the finest we use is 400.

Thank you for your comments.

 

Nope I don't strop my knives, none of them, hunting fishing butchering, leather or wood carving and i dont use a straight razor for shaving lol  I use the 2000 grit for leather and my wood chisels  and a butchers steel for butchering and the rest. i actually use a 2000 grit oiled belt on my sander for my finished edges on the knives i make.  Here's my take for what its worth. Polishing compound that you use on a strop is for polishing, i use a lot of it in making knives so i am well aware of its use and also how long it takes to polish tempered steel.  Stropping with it is like pissin into the wind IMO just to fine to do any real good because the steel is tempered so polishing is not easy and yet not hard enough like a straight razors steel to prevent rolling the edge, as well during stropping you can see the leather roll up from under the blade if you look closely that will make a good straight edge convex in short order as the leather pushes up around the edge.  I use the 2000 grit it works well and much quicker to replace the edge that leather takes off, veg tan is hard on edges for sure,  being glued on my pounding board it just takes a few strokes, wont round the edge and is handy right there. i have found there is a curve for sharpness that a cutting tool has to fit, to sharp for the job and it dulls quickly to dull and it doesn't cut, all cutting tools fit in that curve but axes don't fit the same place as leather tools or kitchen knives in that curve each needs it own edge, edge angle, edge grind etc.to meet its potential.

As for the leather type if i was to make a strop it would be with the right stuff not whatever is laying around or you may be doing more harm than good IMO.

Either way you decide to go what is important is that you learn the art of sharpening and  learn your own tried and tested techniques because there have been pages and pages of sharpening opinions posted here as well as online. You know the old saying about opinions lol same with sharpening.

All i know is what works for me.

good luck and god bless.

[Klara]

12 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

....But I'd want to use a piece of something I already have instead of buying leather specifically for making a strop.  Anyway, I guess I'll make something, maybe one of each, and see if I can learn to use it properly.  At this point of my inexperience I probably wouldn't be able to tell which is better. ....

 

I only got into leather work and stropping a few months ago, so from my inexperience I would say: Use the thinnest leather you have and stick it to a smooth and straight piece of wood with the least amount of contact glue possible (you don't want bumps of glue under the leather). Thin leather so the blade can't sink into it, as @chuck123wapati warned against. And yeah, the leather shouldn't be squishy like lamb nappa... Just feel what you have and think about what you want it to do (this advice goes for all your future projects, btw).

I actually think of stropping as polishing (recently I saw a guy on YouTube who strops ceramic knives with this argument) and it improves the blade enormously (even though I probably don't do it perfectly). However I should say that my favourite knives are from very soft carbon steel (not stainless)...

[MtlBiker]

17 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

Nope I don't strop my knives, none of them, hunting fishing butchering, leather or wood carving and i dont use a straight razor for shaving lol  I use the 2000 grit for leather and my wood chisels  and a butchers steel for butchering and the rest. i actually use a 2000 grit oiled belt on my sander for my finished edges on the knives i make.  Here's my take for what its worth. Polishing compound that you use on a strop is for polishing, i use a lot of it in making knives so i am well aware of its use and also how long it takes to polish tempered steel.  Stropping with it is like pissin into the wind IMO just to fine to do any real good because the steel is tempered so polishing is not easy and yet not hard enough like a straight razors steel to prevent rolling the edge, as well during stropping you can see the leather roll up from under the blade if you look closely that will make a good straight edge convex in short order as the leather pushes up around the edge.  I use the 2000 grit it works well and much quicker to replace the edge that leather takes off, veg tan is hard on edges for sure,  being glued on my pounding board it just takes a few strokes, wont round the edge and is handy right there. i have found there is a curve for sharpness that a cutting tool has to fit, to sharp for the job and it dulls quickly to dull and it doesn't cut, all cutting tools fit in that curve but axes don't fit the same place as leather tools or kitchen knives in that curve each needs it own edge, edge angle, edge grind etc.to meet its potential.

As for the leather type if i was to make a strop it would be with the right stuff not whatever is laying around or you may be doing more harm than good IMO.

Either way you decide to go what is important is that you learn the art of sharpening and  learn your own tried and tested techniques because there have been pages and pages of sharpening opinions posted here as well as online. You know the old saying about opinions lol same with sharpening.

All i know is what works for me.

good luck and god bless.

Thanks very much the the fuller explanation, Chuck.  I appreciate it.

I'm going to pick up some 2000 grit sandpaper.  Do you use the sandpaper dry or with something to lube?

"...it would be with the right stuff and not whatever is laying around..."  What IS the right stuff?  I have veg tan leather and some chrome tan.  And I've got to order most leather online and I really don't know what to look for, for use in a strop.

I will certainly be experimenting with various materials and trying my best to learn the techniques.

Thanks again!

 

[MtlBiker]

6 hours ago, Klara said:

I only got into leather work and stropping a few months ago, so from my inexperience I would say: Use the thinnest leather you have and stick it to a smooth and straight piece of wood with the least amount of contact glue possible (you don't want bumps of glue under the leather). Thin leather so the blade can't sink into it, as @chuck123wapati warned against. And yeah, the leather shouldn't be squishy like lamb nappa... Just feel what you have and think about what you want it to do (this advice goes for all your future projects, btw).

I actually think of stropping as polishing (recently I saw a guy on YouTube who strops ceramic knives with this argument) and it improves the blade enormously (even though I probably don't do it perfectly). However I should say that my favourite knives are from very soft carbon steel (not stainless)...

Thanks Klara.  That's what Chuck said... that using a strop is more like polishing than sharpening.  I've just make a couple of strops to try out... one each of veg tan with flesh up and down, and one each of chrome tan, up and down.  My Green Chromium Oxide and round knife should arrive next week, so in the meantime I'll be checking out the numerous YouTube videos about stropping and of using a round knife.

Cheers!

 

 

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

Thanks very much the the fuller explanation, Chuck.  I appreciate it.

I'm going to pick up some 2000 grit sandpaper.  Do you use the sandpaper dry or with something to lube?

"...it would be with the right stuff and not whatever is laying around..."  What IS the right stuff?  I have veg tan leather and some chrome tan.  And I've got to order most leather online and I really don't know what to look for, for use in a strop.

I will certainly be experimenting with various materials and trying my best to learn the techniques.

Thanks again!

 

traditionally they used horse hide i believe. yes just use the paper dry 

[Squid61]

Stropping is the generally accepted and most prevalent method for refining a blade edge for those applications where a burr free, highly polished edge is desired, in my case both for carving wood and cutting leather.  Other cutting applications like the mundane day to day slitting open of mail or packages, cutting string or rope, etc do not require such a refined edge and actually do better with a bit of "tooth" to the edge, so I don't strop my pocket knife.  I have never tried sandpaper for sharpening but I do know it was/is very popular, I think it is the basis for the "Scary Sharp" method of sharpening with wet or dry paper on a glass backing.  Being an old fart set in his ways I won't be changing my process.

[Dwight]

Don't know much about it . . . just recall my old barbers . . . always stropped the razor before cutting my neck hairs . . . 

Never saw them do anything to the strop but use it . . . it always worked to shave my neck.

May God bless,

Dwight