# What's the ultimate strop for regular touching up of kitchen knives?



## mark76 (Apr 10, 2015)

I strop my knives regularly before use. So the purpose is not burr removal, but simply keeping them sharp before they have to go to the stones.

I have a leather strop, mounted on wood, which I load with 1 micron diamond spray. It works well, but it's wearing (and I cut it a few times). And a disadvantage of leather is that it is easy to round an edge.

So what's the ultimate strop for this purpose? Balsa, felt, roo leather, nano cloth, anything else? And mounted on wood or ... Any links to commercial offerings for complete mounted strops would also be appreciated.


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## mhpr262 (Apr 10, 2015)

I use balsa wood, it works and it is very cheap.


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## PushCut (Apr 10, 2015)

I only strop on a high grit stone or a plain leather strop and I am not an advanced user. That being said, Salty's 4-sided strop would be my recomendation. [video=youtube;lQTe1NR-Z0g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQTe1NR-Z0g[/video] The only commercial version I can think of is here: http://www.whippeddog.com/products/view/four-side-strop


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## TheDispossessed (Apr 10, 2015)

for me ultimate = cheap, effective and plentiful
newsprint on a stone, boom, done.
and if you really want to stretch your powers of recycling you can slice the paper afterwards for edge testing.


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## panda (Apr 10, 2015)

Cardboard


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## ThEoRy (Apr 10, 2015)

Rock Hard Felt from Dave Martell loaded with diamond.
http://www.japaneseknifesharpenings...lt-De-Burring-Honing-Pad-Strop-p/feltpad2.htm


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## gic (Apr 10, 2015)

balsa with diamond spray


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## Dardeau (Apr 10, 2015)

I use a dry stone, or the legal pad my prep list is written on. In less civilized timesi use the giant cardboard box the list is written on. Thankfully it has been a few years from the cardboard list.


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## chinacats (Apr 10, 2015)

No such thing as the perfect strop...it's as individual as the knives we use...as can be seen from the replies already given. Try something, try something else until you find something you like that works for you...


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 12, 2015)

chinacats said:


> No such thing as the perfect strop...it's as individual as the knives we use...as can be seen from the replies already given. Try something, try something else until you find something you like that works for you...



Yup, word China


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## Mrmnms (Apr 12, 2015)

I seem to get the most refined edge using the side of one of my wife's designer pocket books. She doesn't read these posts. Otherwise, it might be my last one.


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## mhpr262 (Apr 13, 2015)

I bet it could still get better if you put some abrasive compound on the sides ...


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## Geo87 (Apr 13, 2015)

panda said:


> Cardboard



+1 
I went through an experimental stropping phase, tried a few different strops & compounds. Now I don't use em at all. just cardboard or newspaper. It's free readily available and it works so why not.


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## malexthekid (Apr 13, 2015)

For those that use the strop and diamond spray from JKS, can I ask, how long does the spray last/how much do you use?

Looking at purchasing sometime in the near future and just wondering if I can get away with the smaller amount, or if I should just pay the extra and get the larger bottles.


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## Asteger (Apr 13, 2015)

I sometimes forget about it, but when I remember it works quite well: a Kanayama leather strop (leather glued to a base, the size of a toishi) from JNS. Anyone else use this one?


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## daveb (Apr 14, 2015)

Not so much the stop as the stropper.


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 14, 2015)

daveb said:


> Not so much the stop as the stropper.



Stropper huh? Are you cursing at me or is that what they call it way down south, oh right Florida's not part of The South.


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## daveb (Apr 14, 2015)

Schweinmeister, 

If I was cursing at you, (which I would never ever do (unless of course you beat me to the next Gengetsu Petty)), you would know it. :whistling:


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## mc2442 (Apr 14, 2015)

Mucho Bocho said:


> Stropper huh? Are you cursing at me or is that what they call it way down south, oh right Florida's not part of The South.



Florida is another level of crazy. Why is it when you hear crazy crap on the radio or in odd news on the web there is a great chance it is from Florida?


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## XooMG (Apr 15, 2015)

Etched glass.


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## Stumblinman (Apr 15, 2015)

I used the newspaper and it worked great. I wanted a proper strop and bought the Kramer one, worked great... so.... Long time ago I used halide light bars to strop knives. Much like the ceramics but with diamonds.. i.e. street lamps.


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## labor of love (Apr 15, 2015)

daveb said:


> Schweinmeister,
> 
> If I was cursing at you, (which I would never ever do (unless of course you beat me to the next Gengetsu Petty)), you would know it. :whistling:



:scratchhead:


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## Keith Sinclair (Apr 16, 2015)

Naked Horse clean & condition leather every now & then with blue Goop.


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## ecchef (Apr 16, 2015)

Mrmnms said:


> I seem to get the most refined edge using the side of one of my wife's designer pocket books. She doesn't read these posts. Otherwise, it might be my last one.



You think a pair of Ferragamo boots would work about the same? unish:

For real quick touch-ups, the leather sheath from my D&R borosilicate rod.


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## Ruso (Apr 18, 2015)

I am very happy with leather strop loaded with 1micron diamond. I do couple passes each side before cooking session; perfect.


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## Mrmnms (Apr 18, 2015)

ecchef said:


> You think a pair of Ferragamo boots would work about the same? unish:
> 
> For real quick touch-ups, the leather sheath from my D&R borosilicate rod.



I think that patent leather might be a little too refined, but what the heck, let's give it a try! I'll report back unless I get caught  .


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## daveb (Apr 18, 2015)

"One of these these boots are gonna walk all over you..."


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## jeeptrash (Apr 19, 2015)

I have tried quite a few different compounds on leather with mixed results. If you are not careful you will round your edge. My personal favorite is 1 micron diamond spray on balsa wood.


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## Knifehobbyist (Oct 2, 2022)

jeeptrash said:


> I have tried quite a few different compounds on leather with mixed results. If you are not careful you will round your edge. My personal favorite is 1 micron diamond spray on balsa wood.


How do you prevent the mistake of rouding the edges? Any tips? Thanks


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## HumbleHomeCook (Oct 2, 2022)

Knifehobbyist said:


> How do you prevent the mistake of rouding the edges? Any tips? Thanks



That person hasn't logged into the forum five years so it might be a while before you get a response. 

Angle and pressure are the keys to reducing convexity on leather but you'll never really stop it. Some like a touch of it at the very apex.

If you're angle is too high or you press into the leather too much then it will round your apex.


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## cotedupy (Oct 2, 2022)

Knifehobbyist said:


> How do you prevent the mistake of rouding the edges? Any tips? Thanks




Here’s my 2c fwiw...

This isn’t really a problem with kitchen knives ime. If the edge isn’t sturdy enough to hold up to slightly inaccurate stropping then it’s going to collapse more significantly as soon as it hits a board anyway.

Also - the physics of stropping edge trailing with compound simply make it quite difficult to round an edge that much, even if done not particularly well.


(Others’ opinions may differ though!)


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## Knifehobbyist (Oct 2, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> That person hasn't logged into the forum five years so it might be a while before you get a response.
> 
> Angle and pressure are the keys to reducing convexity on leather but you'll never really stop it. Some like a touch of it at the very apex.
> 
> If you're angle is too high or you press into the leather too much then it will round your apex.


Wow, thanks! I read to do very hallow angles, is that true? Have you ever used 3m Trizact? 5000 to strop


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## Knifehobbyist (Oct 2, 2022)

cotedupy said:


> Here’s my 2c fwiw...
> 
> This isn’t really a problem with kitchen knives ime. If the edge isn’t sturdy enough to hold up to slightly inaccurate stropping then it’s going to collapse more significantly as soon as it hits a board anyway.
> 
> ...


Great, you just confirm my theory! The edge trail technique shouldn’t round the apex.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Oct 2, 2022)

Knifehobbyist said:


> Wow, thanks! I read to do very hallow angles, is that true? Have you ever used 3m Trizact? 5000 to strop



For reasons I've never truly understood, stropping seems to be one of the most controversial and debated topics in sharpening. So, you're going to get a lot of differing inputs. Because of that, this is one of those things where you really do need to do some experimenting to find what you like.

On leather, I try to strop at the angle I sharpened or maybe a titch higher and my pressure can range from light to moderate. I've done higher pressure and higher angles and it ain't for me. If you're too shallow though, you won't really be doing much.

These days I use a strop primarily only for edge maintenance or _maybe_ a nice finish to sharpening but not burr removal. I started sharpening 40+ years ago and let's say I started to figure it out eight or ten years ago.  In those 8-10 years I've played around quite a bit with stropping but there is always new experiences to ponder. Case in point, I recently found myself needing some new green compound.

Wanted some good stuff this time and bought some from Bernal Cutlery. In his video demo, Josh discusses how to coat the entire strop with it. I've normally just sort of haphazardly applied it and rather lightly. So, my little bottle comes and I follow Josh's direction. Then I strop some shirogami on it.

Whoa!

First, the paste is indeed much better quality and far more consistent than what I'd used in the past. So it works much better. Then having that amount on my strop changed the results as well. What I got was a HIGHLY polished edge bevel that was too slick for my liking. Now, that is a positive reflection of Josh's product, and certainly not a negative one. It means, that if/when I use that strop, I need to limit my passes to a couple of very light strokes.

Also, to @cotedupy's point, with leather, it is pretty hard to round the apex to the point of poor performance. As I said, many people like that bit of convexity it can provide.

I haven't tried the product you mentioned. For the most part, my stropping tools are simple. Cardboard does a lot or a two-sided leather strop with some compound on one side. I do have high-vanadium steels in pocket knives and for those I use diamond lapping film on a piece of poly.


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## mengwong (Oct 2, 2022)

With a MagnaCut on the way I’m tempted by the Nano Hone strops. Has anyone here tried them? Nano Strop


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## HumbleHomeCook (Oct 2, 2022)

mengwong said:


> With a MagnaCut on the way I’m tempted by the Nano Hone strops. Has anyone here tried them? Nano Strop



I haven't but I've always thought they were way too expensive for way too little surface contact.


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## William Hunt (Oct 2, 2022)

If you make the knife come to a complete stop before lifting it off your strop it really helps with the edge rounding problems.


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## Kawa (Oct 2, 2022)

A little side step to the stropping subject:

I finish deburring after sharpening with edge leading strokes, light pressure on my last stone.
I do this as good as possible: I admit I find it very hard to do a complete heel to tip sweep and holding the right angle all along the knife. I sharpen in sections.
Sooner or later, I have to stop before all burr is removed, or I will ruin the edge at some point by over angling some sections. This ofcourse, is part of the learning journey. So when I do the flashlight trick to look for burr, sometimes I see a little part light up. Too small for me to improve at this point with my skills with leading strokes on the stone. So I settle for now.
There is an improvement in performance in testing media (newspaper) before doing edge leading strokes and after and by feeling with fingertips.

When I try newspaper stropping after this, I can't seem to notice any difference in performance. I've tried way too high angles aswell, to confirm I'm atleast hitting the very edge.
A leather strop with 1 micron diamond paste/spray gives me a noticable keener edge cutting through newspaper and feeling with the finger tips.

What could it be the newspaper doesn't change anything? Many like it here, so it must do something. 

Is my burr too big for the abrasiveness of newspaper to handle?


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## HumbleHomeCook (Oct 2, 2022)

Kawa said:


> A little side step to the stropping subject:
> 
> I finish deburring after sharpening with edge leading strokes, light pressure on my last stone.
> I do this as good as possible: I admit I find it very hard to do a complete heel to tip sweep and holding the right angle all along the knife. I sharpen in sections.
> ...



It's just the difference in having compound vs. no compound. I suspect if you put compound on the newspaper, you'd see a difference.

I'm often not steady enough to get a full really clean de-burr off stones. So I grab a strop. I'm not anti-strop . If it works for you then there's nothing wrong with it as far as I'm concerned.


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## M1k3 (Oct 2, 2022)

Kitchen towels! Duh.


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## Todd762 (Oct 2, 2022)

I got a really nice kangaroo tail strop off a member here on the BST. I don’t use any compounds on it and really like it for touchups.


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## Legion74 (Oct 3, 2022)

IMO, to help avoid rounding you need something with very little give. I use thin kangaroo leather bonded to hard wood. You could paste it, but I use it after a stone.


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## Knifehobbyist (Oct 3, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> I haven't but I've always thought they were way too expensive for way too little surface contact.


Agree, it like these people just be making up any price. Prices should be realistic!


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