# Green compound issue



## adam92 (Jan 25, 2020)

After i apply those compound to my strop it won't become sharper.

I use strop without compound seems like better, did i do something wrong ?


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## bruce8088 (Jan 26, 2020)

the compound must be faulty! try returning it and get another one or it may be the strop or the knife - it may just be easier sending it out for an edge if you keep running into sharpening issues.


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## refcast (Jan 26, 2020)

The compound looks like its in wax stick form, which is used for rotating buffers, which have a higher temperature that melts the wax . . . which is when green abrasive will actually cut. this works out for buffers, but not room-temp stropping. i found out this way as well. . . a paste or suspension works better

You can add a little alcohol/mineral oil, etc to take some abrasive from the stick to create a paste or suspension and then use that.

otherwise ,yeah it would be like coating the strop with wax, and wax doesn't cut or sharpen. at this relatively cool room temperature, the abrasive particles don't stand proud of the wax surface, so practically no sharpening occurs. 

alternatively you can heat it . . . but the wax will just cool again


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## zizirex (Jan 26, 2020)

adam92 said:


> After i apply those compound to my strop it won't become sharper.
> 
> I use strop without compound seems like better, did i do something wrong ?


add some mineral oil to the strop, it will dilute it a bit and make it easier to spread. it is just one of those wax that is not really meant to use for stropping/honing, but you can still use it with a little bit of oil (or heat).


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## adam92 (Jan 26, 2020)

refcast said:


> The compound looks like its in wax stick form, which is used for rotating buffers, which have a higher temperature that melts the wax . . . which is when green abrasive will actually cut. this works out for buffers, but not room-temp stropping. i found out this way as well. . . a paste or suspension works better
> 
> You can add a little alcohol/mineral oil, etc to take some abrasive from the stick to create a paste or suspension and then use that.
> 
> ...


Can i just heat it up if i want to use it ?


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## vicv (Jan 26, 2020)

Every time you strop? Sounds tedious. Just rub some mineral oil into the leather. The compound will spread out evenly. As for the dulling you're probably rounding your edge with poor technique. The leather is more aggressive now with compound so it's dulling faster. You should only be doing one or two passes on a strop. More dulls the edge


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## vicv (Jan 26, 2020)

Also by looking at the picture you've put about 10x more compound on than needed. Should barely change the colour of the leather


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## labor of love (Jan 26, 2020)

burrfection made a video on stropping and he goes over how to apply and remove these green compounds pretty throughly. He used a block or bar or whatever just like what you’re using.


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## refcast (Jan 26, 2020)

you can heat it up . . .but it has to stay that temperature during the stropping process . . . which isn't always convenient. . . but yeah, you can see what works for you


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## kayman67 (Jan 26, 2020)

labor of love said:


> burrfection made a video on stropping and he goes over how to apply and remove these green compounds pretty throughly. He used a block or bar or whatever just like what you’re using.


I've seen one of his videos and again, wasn't one of his best work to date. Not sure if after all the comms, he did another. 

Back on topic, several problems. As already said, this compound might be just too complicated to use. If you can find some Ballistol, that's a great oil for stropping, but you need to remove most of the compound first. And would just be easier to get a better compound.
If you really want it to sharpen, go diamonds. These are much easier to maintain at maximum performance for months, maybe years. My oldest one still works as intended after 5 years or so. Maintenance required is just some routine Ballistol.
Another problem is the nature of the strop. It's really hard to use. It will round the edge on its own. With a great deal of compound, it will most probably kill the edge entirely. 

How did you get these? I'm very interested in understanding how some things work. There's a great deal of info on compounds and strops that would make this purchase highly unlikely.


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## labor of love (Jan 26, 2020)

Here’s what I’m referring too. This stuff is out of my area of interest.


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## adam92 (Jan 26, 2020)

Maybe i should stay with newspaper..


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## vicv (Jan 26, 2020)

Stropping is fine. But you can't rely on it to cover up a bad starting edge. That's why only a couple strokes


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## labor of love (Jan 26, 2020)

I keep it simple with some nice felt. Works for me. Feedback feels great too.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 26, 2020)

I personally don't like using bar compounds on leather strops. They over coat the leather too easily making the leather's surface irrelevant which takes away the purpose of using leather...for the draw it provides. To get the compound to spread lots of people use mineral oil which makes the leather mushy which then leads to rounding of the edge as the leather wraps and dubs over to the opposite side. Plus, most compounds used for buffing do little to nothing for a really hard edge unless a crap load of strokes are done which often finds a user getting sloppy and using poor technique leading to edge rounding. Sure, some white compounds will cut fast enough but most won't as they're for polishing only. A black compound would be far better for a strop as it's for cutting. A green compound, especially one heavily loaded with chromium oxide will round edges easily. For reference - a stropped edge that cuts paper nicely but doesn't pass the 3-finger test is rounded.

As to your specific strop issue Adam, it looks like you've loaded up your leather W_A_Y too much. If you must use this strop then I'd suggest to scrape the excess off and then to clean the surface with water-less hand cleaner (*the type without pumice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*) and wipe dry. You might find that what's left at this point is a pretty good strop to use as is but if not then I'd suggest starting over with a new strop and to not use the buffing bar compound stuff, try diamond compounds/sprays instead as they're a much safer bet to getting a great edge.


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## kayman67 (Jan 26, 2020)

labor of love said:


> Here’s what I’m referring too. This stuff is out of my area of interest.



I'm pretty sure if you look at it with some common sense from this topic alone, you understand the guessing game he plays.


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## labor of love (Jan 26, 2020)

kayman67 said:


> I'm pretty sure if you look at it with some common sense from this topic alone, you understand the guessing game he plays.


No need to be cryptic. If he’s doing something incorrectly then point it out.


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## kayman67 (Jan 26, 2020)

Well, I've said "not one of his best work".
But Dave did some of my work for me. I could analyse further, but I don't think is that necessary.


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## lemeneid (Jan 26, 2020)

Not a fan of stropping. If you want toothy edges, skip the strop and deburr with cork or cardboard.


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## adam92 (Jan 27, 2020)

Dave Martell said:


> I personally don't like using bar compounds on leather strops. They over coat the leather too easily making the leather's surface irrelevant which takes away the purpose of using leather...for the draw it provides. To get the compound to spread lots of people use mineral oil which makes the leather mushy which then leads to rounding of the edge as the leather wraps and dubs over to the opposite side. Plus, most compounds used for buffing do little to nothing for a really hard edge unless a crap load of strokes are done which often finds a user getting sloppy and using poor technique leading to edge rounding. Sure, some white compounds will cut fast enough but most won't as they're for polishing only. A black compound would be far better for a strop as it's for cutting. A green compound, especially one heavily loaded with chromium oxide will round edges easily. For reference - a stropped edge that cuts paper nicely but doesn't pass the 3-finger test is rounded.
> 
> As to your specific strop issue Adam, it looks like you've loaded up your leather W_A_Y too much. If you must use this strop then I'd suggest to scrape the excess off and then to clean the surface with water-less hand cleaner (*the type without pumice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*) and wipe dry. You might find that what's left at this point is a pretty good strop to use as is but if not then I'd suggest starting over with a new strop and to not use the buffing bar compound stuff, try diamond compounds/sprays instead as they're a much safer bet to getting a great edge.


I think from now i will stay with news paper...


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