# Stropping... Stack of Newspaper Fine? Or should I get Leather?!



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 13, 2018)

I've been just using a stack of newspaper (per Korin's recommendation if you don't have a leather strop). But should I invest in a Leather Strop? if so what kind? I hear that you can sharpen a knife with Just a Strop? Like using a steel on a western knife almost, but instead you use the strop...


----------



## JBroida (Apr 13, 2018)

newspaper works great... leather works great too, but leaves a very different feeling edge. If you prefer smoother feeling, leather is your friend. If you like a bit more bite (assuming no compound has been used on either), newspaper tends to do that. If you want to add abrasive pastes/sprays, then leather or similar is the way to go.


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 13, 2018)

JBroida said:


> newspaper works great... leather works great too, but leaves a very different feeling edge. If you prefer smoother feeling, leather is your friend. If you like a bit more bite (assuming no compound has been used on either), newspaper tends to do that. If you want to add abrasive pastes/sprays, then leather or similar is the way to go.



Awesome thanks for the help! How much more important are the additives? I definitely want a smoother finer finish.


----------



## JBroida (Apr 13, 2018)

its less about being important and more about preference. I would advise against going too smooth for kitchen knives though. You can loose tactile feedback from the edge, and the kind of bite that is helpful with tomatoes, bell peppers, etc. But if you like smooth, high grit compounds or chromium oxide on a strop will do just that.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 13, 2018)

I like newsprint. Works well and I can use it to light a fire in the pit outback when it is worn out. Plus I get it for free. (We get a free newspaper here, two in fact.)


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 14, 2018)

Yeah like Jon says you don't want to go too smooth and polished. Smooth is great for shaving, but most of us don't shave our tomatoes and bell peppers... 

Compounds come in a lot of different grit sizes. The really fine ones can be used for burr removal or edge polishing. The coarser ones can stand in as an alternative for sharpening stones. For example some people use stropping compounds after a 1000 grit stone instead of a 3k, 4k or 5k stone (you see this mostly in the shaving community). There's pro's and cons to it. The pro is that if you're already good at stropping (which is sort of a requirement for shaving), the technique is largely the same. The downside is that it's also very easy to round over your edge if you're putting too much pressure or screwing with the angle.

I wouldn't obsess too much over diving into the stropping hole. There are a lot of roads to rome, but as long as you do at least some form of stropping (so you're not trying to cut with a wire edge) you'll generally be fine.
For touchups you can also just use your finest stone for a quick touch up.


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 14, 2018)

JBroida said:


> its less about being important and more about preference. I would advise against going too smooth for kitchen knives though. You can loose tactile feedback from the edge, and the kind of bite that is helpful with tomatoes, bell peppers, etc. But if you like smooth, high grit compounds or chromium oxide on a strop will do just that.





Jovidah said:


> Yeah like Jon says you don't want to go too smooth and polished. Smooth is great for shaving, but most of us don't shave our tomatoes and bell peppers...
> 
> Compounds come in a lot of different grit sizes. The really fine ones can be used for burr removal or edge polishing. The coarser ones can stand in as an alternative for sharpening stones. For example some people use stropping compounds after a 1000 grit stone instead of a 3k, 4k or 5k stone (you see this mostly in the shaving community). There's pro's and cons to it. The pro is that if you're already good at stropping (which is sort of a requirement for shaving), the technique is largely the same. The downside is that it's also very easy to round over your edge if you're putting too much pressure or screwing with the angle.
> 
> ...



thanks both of you for the help! and nice to meet you Jon, I was actually just going through those videos again to see if I missed anything; like Jovidah said there are somethings I've seen so far that are slight differences than Korin that are nice.

But to the smoothness of the knife... I prefer a polished smooth edge compared to anything with a bite. For instance if I have a soft pepper (because we buy cheap quality all the time!) the knife Stops and has to be pushed through or sliced through to get it to cut; hence I have to resort to a rock chop because I don't glide through the soft peppers or tomatoes.

Now my smooth polished finish may be completely different than some of you all with much more experience and expertise, but when I have a Smooth Polished Edge it never bites in a piece of paper at all, every inch of the blade glides through. And if I don't polish it correctly, or even after a fine stone polish and don't strop it on newspaper then it will catch when going through the paper. And this makes a big difference for me and how I like to cut. Not saying an extra bite isn't fine and will get the job done, because for years I Never was going to buy my own knife when they were provided; but never say never, and once I was gifted a knife (a cheap stamped stainless) I was bit by the Knife Bug!

But what do you two mean by "too smooth and polished"? Gliding through paper without any bite throughout the entirety of the blade? or is that common even if you have a "bite"?


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 14, 2018)

K813zra said:


> I like newsprint. Works well and I can use it to light a fire in the pit outback when it is worn out. Plus I get it for free. (We get a free newspaper here, two in fact.)



haha yeah I know I just go up to the local grocery store and grab a stack of the ads.

I have liked the newspaper so far, I definitely can tell a difference when not using it.

Just wondering if with leather i'm missing something out.



OH! And Jon and Jov, when you strop do you use the same exact angle as when sharpening or does it really matter? I guess it can if you're going crazy, but just for a few strokes does it matter if its the same angle?


----------



## JBroida (Apr 14, 2018)

yeah... same angle. Angle consistency is rather important.


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 14, 2018)

JBroida said:


> yeah... same angle. Angle consistency is rather important.


okay cool I appreciate that.

do you understand what i'm saying about the smoothness though? Is the smooth polished when it glides through the paper? or is that just common regardless? maybe I haven't actually gotten my knife to a True Smooth Polish like some of you can obtain.


----------



## JBroida (Apr 14, 2018)

i can get a 3k edge to move through paper with ease, but the higher grit and more refined you go, the less you feel any feedback doing that


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 14, 2018)

JBroida said:


> i can get a 3k edge to move through paper with ease, but the higher grit and more refined you go, the less you feel any feedback doing that



ahhh see I don't know if im really getting that "extremely smooth" edge I think. when I do it right and the stones are flattened it goes through with ease, I can still feel it. but if its not flat or a minor flaw with my sharpening it will go through and then Catch and rip the paper then continue through the paper cutting... Is this what you are talking about? or do you not have any "catch"?


----------



## JBroida (Apr 14, 2018)

what i mean is it going through and being able to feel it vs having no tactile feedback as it moves cleanly through the paper... ripping is no good... usually a sign of bad sharpening and/or a chip


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 14, 2018)

JBroida said:


> what i mean is it going through and being able to feel it vs having no tactile feedback as it moves cleanly through the paper... ripping is no good... usually a sign of bad sharpening and/or a chip



Cool thanks


----------



## Benuser (Apr 14, 2018)

Black ink leaves a lot of bite.
Stay slightly under the sharpening angle, and for sharpening, stay slightly under the angle which makes the edge to bite into the medium.


----------



## Benuser (Apr 14, 2018)

JBroida said:


> i can get a 3k edge to move through paper with ease, but the higher grit and more refined you go, the less you feel any feedback doing that



Listen to the sound it makes. I usually try with the finest cigarette paper. When it goes smoothly through it, and only whispering, I'm quite sure there is no more burr left.


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 14, 2018)

TEWNCfarms said:


> thanks both of you for the help! and nice to meet you Jon, I was actually just going through those videos again to see if I missed anything; like Jovidah said there are somethings I've seen so far that are slight differences than Korin that are nice.
> 
> But to the smoothness of the knife... I prefer a polished smooth edge compared to anything with a bite. For instance if I have a soft pepper (because we buy cheap quality all the time!) the knife Stops and has to be pushed through or sliced through to get it to cut; hence I have to resort to a rock chop because I don't glide through the soft peppers or tomatoes.
> 
> ...



It sounds like what you're describing as a edge that isn't "smooth and polished" is rather an edge that hasn't apexed properly - so is effectively still blunt. Even on a lower grit stone you can get an edge that still that doesn't bite in paper. It may 'sound' rougher, but it should still glide through. Now if you leave an apex that still has some bite, that effectively means there's still some micro-serration there, which will give a longer lasting 'slicing' ability on tough stuff like tomato / pepper skins. If you polish it out until maximum smooth razor, it will work at first, but can lose its agressiveness extremely fast.

It sounds to me like you might have been making one of the most common mistakes; moving up to higher grit stones too quickly, and relying upon them to apex your edge instead of doing that on your mid-grit stone.
This video might illustrate the concept in a nice comprehensible way (though you should probably ignore his sharpening technique): 
[video=youtube;OPGGo3W15HQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPGGo3W15HQ[/video]

And yes, stropping on same angle. If you start stropping on a higher angle you risk rounding over your edge. If you do it on a lower angle you're just polishing the shoulders of your bevel. Minor exception being if you want to add a microbevel, but you should probably just watch Jon's video on that.


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 14, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> It sounds like what you're describing as a edge that isn't "smooth and polished" is rather an edge that hasn't apexed properly - so is effectively still blunt. Even on a lower grit stone you can get an edge that still that doesn't bite in paper. It may 'sound' rougher, but it should still glide through. Now if you leave an apex that still has some bite, that effectively means there's still some micro-serration there, which will give a longer lasting 'slicing' ability on tough stuff like tomato / pepper skins. If you polish it out until maximum smooth razor, it will work at first, but can lose its agressiveness extremely fast.
> 
> It sounds to me like you might have been making one of the most common mistakes; moving up to higher grit stones too quickly, and relying upon them to apex your edge instead of doing that on your mid-grit stone.
> This video might illustrate the concept in a nice comprehensible way (though you should probably ignore his sharpening technique):
> ...



Awesome thanks for the help on that! The video link didnt show up though...


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 14, 2018)

Weird, works for me.

Just google "Cliff stamp basic three step knife sharpening" and you should be able to find it on youtube.


----------



## Keith Sinclair (Apr 14, 2018)

Cheap newsprint and junk literary material work well. National Enquire is premium stropping paper.


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 14, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> It sounds like what you're describing as a edge that isn't "smooth and polished" is rather an edge that hasn't apexed properly - so is effectively still blunt. Even on a lower grit stone you can get an edge that still that doesn't bite in paper. It may 'sound' rougher, but it should still glide through. Now if you leave an apex that still has some bite, that effectively means there's still some micro-serration there, which will give a longer lasting 'slicing' ability on tough stuff like tomato / pepper skins. If you polish it out until maximum smooth razor, it will work at first, but can lose its agressiveness extremely fast.
> 
> It sounds to me like you might have been making one of the most common mistakes; moving up to higher grit stones too quickly, and relying upon them to apex your edge instead of doing that on your mid-grit stone.
> This video might illustrate the concept in a nice comprehensible way (though you should probably ignore his sharpening technique):
> ...



Crazy! Thanks so much for that video! So simple and yet informative! Im still trying to figure out how to incorporate that into everything else Ive learned so far... its almost the Complete opposite of Japanese sharpening...


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts (Apr 14, 2018)

For chromium oxide paste, you can also use balsa wood (available from model building stores) as a carrier.


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 15, 2018)

Another advantage of using balsa wood is that because it's a hard surface it's a lot like stropping on a stone, and doesn't bring the danger of rounding over your edge.

On the Cliff Stamp movie; I wouldn't necessarily try to incorporate his technique... I mostly gave it because I think it might help to understand concepts such as apex and agressiveness. As I said the most common issue is that people move up to higher grit stones too soon before they truly apex their edge. As a result they underestimate the results they could (should!) already reach with their medium grit stone.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 15, 2018)

You can get balsa at big box stores sometimes as well, from the craft section. Not sure I would consider balsa hard though. Wonder if stropping on basswood would work. Same price at the craft store but harder and more dense. I use hard felt anyway...:lol2:


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 15, 2018)

Well it's hard compared to leather. 
And yeah I use felt too, but that's mostly because I just happen to have one. Plenty of roads to Rome when it comes to stropping!


----------



## K813zra (Apr 15, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> Well it's hard compared to leather.
> And yeah I use felt too, but that's mostly because I just happen to have one. Plenty of roads to Rome when it comes to stropping!



Agree but I have some roo leather that is very, very thin and mounted on glass. It feels very hard, no give. But also smooth and it has that 'draw' in action that I love, compared to balsa.


----------



## labor of love (Apr 15, 2018)

How do you guys keep newspaper in place when used for stropping?


----------



## swarth (Apr 15, 2018)

I roll it up and use it like a steel.


----------



## JBroida (Apr 15, 2018)

labor of love said:


> How do you guys keep newspaper in place when used for stropping?



with my hand... is this a trick question?


----------



## labor of love (Apr 15, 2018)

Unfortunately it isnt. I was genuinely curious.


----------



## labor of love (Apr 15, 2018)

swarth said:


> I roll it up and use it like a steel.



This a good enough visual I suppose. Ive used leather, balsa, felt and even cardboard but never tried newspaper even though Ive read great stuff about it.


----------



## JBroida (Apr 15, 2018)

labor of love said:


> Unfortunately it isnt. I was genuinely curious.



so, I lay the newspaper flat on a flat surface and hold one end with my handle while stroping away from that side... then I switch my hand positioning so that I can strop in the opposite direction.


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 15, 2018)

I just put a stack on the corner of my kitchen island (but any table or surface will work as long as you put it on the edge). Just push down with one hand so you can strop with the other while having the handle over the edge. That way you have no issues with knuckle clearance.
I've seen Murray Carter basically put a sheet of paper on a sharpening stone.


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 15, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> I just put a stack on the corner of my kitchen island (but any table or surface will work as long as you put it on the edge). Just push down with one hand so you can strop with the other while having the handle over the edge. That way you have no issues with knuckle clearance.
> I've seen Murray Carter basically put a sheet of paper on a sharpening stone.



Thanks for mentioning Murray Carter his videos are really good too


----------



## Chef Doom (Apr 15, 2018)

I don't strop at all.


----------



## Chef Doom (Apr 15, 2018)

labor of love said:


> How do you guys keep newspaper in place when used for stropping?


You can always glue a stack to the front of your pants.


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 15, 2018)

Or you can actually strop on your pants... although it probably won't increase longevity supposedly it works on standard jeans? At least I've seen the Takamura brothers and some others do it.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 15, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> Or you can actually strop on your pants... although it probably won't increase longevity supposedly it works on standard jeans? At least I've seen the Takamura brothers and some others do it.



Triangle of death and all that...No thanks. 

(Knife related kind, not the other.)


----------



## HRC_64 (Apr 15, 2018)

nail your jeans 
to your phonebook 
two sided strop


----------



## labor of love (Apr 15, 2018)

Think Ill just use newspaper for now. Thanks?


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 15, 2018)

Some of us actually wear pants that extend below our butts. You should try it... you actually can strop on those on your legs without endangering your crown jewels...


----------



## K813zra (Apr 15, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> Some of us actually wear pants that extend below our butts. You should try it... you actually can strop on those on your legs without endangering your crown jewels...



I wear regular pants. But yeah, no dragging blades on my thigh...Just not going to happen. To each their own.


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 16, 2018)

Thank god my girlfriend doesn't share that sentiment.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 16, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> Thank god my girlfriend doesn't share that sentiment.



Probably isn't using a straight razor either. :rofl2:


----------



## Grunt173 (Apr 16, 2018)

It's called Bobbit stropping.:lol2:


----------



## K813zra (Apr 16, 2018)

Grunt173 said:


> It's called Bobbit stropping.:lol2:



Ouch. Was thinking more like femoral artery. Just as easy to strop on a darn table...lol.


----------



## charlesquik (Apr 16, 2018)

So you guys slide the blade edge on a pile of newspapers? 

Is cutting through a cardboard box or a rolled up newspapers achieve the same thing? 

Do you only do that after sharpening or it is part of regular maintenance to strop on the newspapers (like replacing honing)


----------



## K813zra (Apr 16, 2018)

charlesquik said:


> So you guys slide the blade edge on a pile of newspapers?
> 
> Is cutting through a cardboard box or a rolled up newspapers achieve the same thing?
> 
> Do you only do that after sharpening or it is part of regular maintenance to strop on the newspapers (like replacing honing)



You do an edge trailing stroke on the newsprint as you would on leather/balsa. Not actually cutting through anything. Me, I use newsprint as a maintenance strop daily. Cheap/free and works well.


----------



## Benuser (Apr 16, 2018)

Here not only for maintenance, but for deburring as well: to make sure all debris went to one side, where they can be abraded with longitudinal strokes.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 16, 2018)

Benuser said:


> Here not only for maintenance, but for deburring as well: to make sure all debris went to one side, where they can be abraded with longitudinal strokes.



Yep, this is a good use.


----------



## Chef Doom (Apr 18, 2018)

charlesquik said:


> So you guys slide the blade edge on a pile of newspapers?
> 
> Is cutting through a cardboard box or a rolled up newspapers achieve the same thing?
> 
> Do you only do that after sharpening or it is part of regular maintenance to strop on the newspapers (like replacing honing)


I mean, if you want to cut through cardboard knives to test out your edge, you certainly can do that. It will be the ultimate test of your sharpening skills.

Now you will have to re-sharpen your knife after this test. Then test again on cardboard. Then sharpen again, then retest.

This will allow you to fall into an ENDLESS RECURSIVE CYCLE OF SHARPENING DOOM!


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 18, 2018)

I used it just for general deburrign at the end of my sharpening before someone was generous enough to provide me with a felt strop. If you want to use cardboard you're supposed to strop on it, not cut through it.

Admittedly... I'm not too organized in my deburring. I just do a bit of everything. I do the deburring on stone (a la Jon), cutting into a cork-block, then go back to the stone and finish with stropping on felt. I figure by the end of that even with my mediocre sharpening skills it should be pretty damn deburred....


----------



## Nomsdotcom (Apr 18, 2018)

I just strop on my highest grit stone. never really felt the need to go to leather/felt/paper. few strokes on 6k and its back to action


----------



## labor of love (Apr 18, 2018)

Nomsdotcom said:


> I just strop on my highest grit stone. never really felt the need to go to leather/felt/paper. few strokes on 6k and its back to action



Same. I like stone stropping. But I do like trying new stuff.


----------



## HRC_64 (Apr 18, 2018)

Nomsdotcom said:


> I just strop on my highest grit stone. never really felt the need to go to leather/felt/paper. few strokes on 6k and its back to action



ike 10 years ago people thought it was required to strop
leather after takining their knife to a 10-12k stone

Now, I think stropping (on a strop) is more practical, say, when coming off a 2k. or something like a 1200 diamond,
you're stropping (on a strop) to actually finishing in lieu of the polishing stone.

Great for minimalism, travel, work etc.


----------



## Nomsdotcom (Apr 18, 2018)

fair enough, that makes more sense to me.
I guess I always think about stropping in terms of what my co-worker does. Takes his knife to 18000 or something stupid high and then strops with diamond paste. I just shake my head since he's cutting shallots on a poly board haha

I could see it being useful to keep a strop hanging around at work for touch ups.


----------



## Paraffin (Apr 18, 2018)

Nomsdotcom said:


> I just strop on my highest grit stone. never really felt the need to go to leather/felt/paper. few strokes on 6k and its back to action



Same here, but I think it depends on how conveniently located your stone setup is. 

I did the leather-on-balsa with green paste stropping thing for a while, but then a few of my harder PM stainless knives just laughed at that. I keep a few stones soaking in a sink in the utility room just a few steps away from our home kitchen, so it's easy to pull out a 6k Gesshin soaker for a few very light trailing strops for touch-ups before cooking. Then rinse the stone and knife, put the stone back in the soaker tub. 

Not everyone has a setup like that, but I like it a lot more for "touch up" stropping because it's so fast and convenient. And I think it's the only thing that works on really hard steels like HAP40 or R2.


----------



## charlesquik (Apr 18, 2018)

Chef Doom said:


> I mean, if you want to cut through cardboard knives to test out your edge, you certainly can do that. It will be the ultimate test of your sharpening skills.
> 
> Now you will have to re-sharpen your knife after this test. Then test again on cardboard. Then sharpen again, then retest.
> 
> This will allow you to fall into an ENDLESS RECURSIVE CYCLE OF SHARPENING DOOM!



At least I would get better haha


----------



## Badgertooth (Apr 18, 2018)

labor of love said:


> Unfortunately it isnt. I was genuinely curious.



https://youtu.be/FBC0t-iMf9Y

Skip to 6:12 I favour 2 sheets on a super hard surface. Resultant edge as has been noted above is toothy as all get out. 

If you go back to about 6:00 you can see my shirt deburring too. I use it less because Ive got holes in most of my tees now.


----------



## Badgertooth (Apr 18, 2018)

Jovidah said:


> Or you can actually strop on your pants... although it probably won't increase longevity supposedly it works on standard jeans? At least I've seen the Takamura brothers and some others do it.



The best strop you can get in my opinion. The heavier and rawer the denim the better the strop it makes as its more taught over your thigh when you bend your leg (you gotta stand like a flamingo in repose to do it). Sanforised Jeans have too much give. Also while youre wearing in a pair of Raw jeans youll have bragging rights of wear-marks from deburring knives in addition the usual whiskers and honeycomb patterns.


----------



## labor of love (Apr 18, 2018)

Man, I just use cork screws for deburring.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 19, 2018)

labor of love said:


> Man, I just use cork screws for deburring.



With the cork still attached? :rofl2:


----------



## Chef Doom (Apr 19, 2018)

Badgertooth said:


> The best strop you can get in my opinion. The heavier and rawer the denim the better the strop it makes as its more taught over your thigh when you bend your leg (you gotta stand like a flamingo in repose to do it). Sanforised Jeans have too much give. Also while youre wearing in a pair of Raw jeans youll have bragging rights of wear-marks from deburring knives in addition the usual whiskers and honeycomb patterns.


Shigefusa knives, Rolex watches, and raw denim? Where the hell do you people work? Clearly taxes are not high enough.

I have a strange urge to invite you all to a fancy party just so that I can rob you Joker style.

And then burn it all just to send a message. Muahahaha


----------



## labor of love (Apr 19, 2018)

K813zra said:


> With the cork still attached? :rofl2:



Oh yeah hahahaha! Cork I mean.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 19, 2018)

Badgertooth said:


> The best strop you can get in my opinion. The heavier and rawer the denim the better the strop it makes as its more taught over your thigh when you bend your leg (you gotta stand like a flamingo in repose to do it). Sanforised Jeans have too much give. Also while youre wearing in a pair of Raw jeans youll have bragging rights of wear-marks from deburring knives in addition the usual whiskers and honeycomb patterns.



You have to strop a flamingo on your fancy jeans while doing what to your raw thigh? 

I think we should just stick with natural stones...


----------



## Grunt173 (Apr 20, 2018)

They have Flamingos in New Zealand ?


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 20, 2018)

Flamingo loaded strops... maybe it's gonna be all the new trend in 2018? Would probably look prettier too than the same old chrome loaded green!


----------



## Benuser (Apr 20, 2018)

Nothing wrong with the 'old chrome loaded green', provided you use acrylic art paint, olive green, and Cr2O3 is the only used pigment.
E.g.
https://www.kunstburg.nl/Rembrandt,Acrylverf,Royal,Talens40-ML,Olijfgroen,18056202,8712079039295


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts (Apr 20, 2018)

Yeah... some other pigments that are found in authentic, high grade artist paints ... are far from anything you want anywhere near food. Chromium might already be something to be careful with - no need to elevate the risk by having cadmium, lead, mercury, cyanide compounds around...


----------



## Christian1 (Apr 20, 2018)

I believe you should be able to get decent strop for knives with 40 bucks or so


----------



## Benuser (Apr 21, 2018)

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> Yeah... some other pigments that are found in authentic, high grade artist paints ... are far from anything you want anywhere near food. Chromium might already be something to be careful with - no need to elevate the risk by having cadmium, lead, mercury, cyanide compounds around...



Green chromium Cr2O3 is inoffensive.


----------



## Benuser (Apr 21, 2018)

Not to be confused with chromium VI, CrO3, which is toxic.


----------



## K813zra (Apr 21, 2018)

Ya'll ate the paint, admit it. :urweird:


----------



## Benuser (Apr 21, 2018)

For those still worried about Cr2O3, it's the thin layer of it that constitutes our stainless steel.


----------



## Consequence (Apr 27, 2018)

you can strop on many things, old jeans, newspaper, phonebook paper, leather , shell cordovan, canvas, balsa. and so on
you can play around with various polishing compounds as well, rouges and buffing compounds and so on.


----------



## TEWNCfarms (Apr 28, 2018)

Corduroy is my preferred


----------



## K813zra (Apr 28, 2018)

TEWNCfarms said:


> Corduroy is my preferred



I still use my newsprint for touch ups because we have a local free paper and I get it twice a week so it is always on hand. I do like bare felt when sharpening though, to catch and residual burr. I have hear people argue that it does nothing if it is unloaded but it seems to work fine for me and turns grey/black over time so it must be doing something. But nothing, to me, has that feel that the draw of a nice leather offers.  

I guess I am just a nut with anything sharpening related but you know, I'v not tried corduroy.


----------



## aaamax (Apr 28, 2018)

K813zra said:


> ...but it seems to work fine for me and turns grey/black over time so it must be doing something. But nothing, to me, has that feel that the draw of a nice leather offers.





I'm with you on this. I have tried and still use a lot of different materials, sometimes just whatever is available, like the edge of a cutting board, but damn, my favorite old belt just can't be beat. Strange piece of leather too. It's a split from an old thick police service belt inside lining. The best I have ever used.


----------



## adam92 (Jan 26, 2020)

JBroida said:


> newspaper works great... leather works great too, but leaves a very different feeling edge. If you prefer smoother feeling, leather is your friend. If you like a bit more bite (assuming no compound has been used on either), newspaper tends to do that. If you want to add abrasive pastes/sprays, then leather or similar is the way to go.


I like more bite, Looks like news paper is my choice.


----------



## vicv (Jan 26, 2020)

Also with newspaper and a hard backing no worry of rounding over the edge which is the main reason you lose edge bite after stropping


----------



## kayman67 (Jan 26, 2020)

Makes a great good difference if you use some diamond paste on hard leather or balsa or other things (like plain old cardboard for instance, you don't need fancy unless you like some fancy in your life). This way you can control to some degree the amount of teeth that you desire to use. Usually a good sweet spot is 3000 or 5000 equivalent grit, with quality paste. I know that most people go for 0.5 micron (roughly 30k grit), but that's just different expectations.
Keep in mind that stropping looks really straightforward, but it's not really that easy. Easy is the way you can kill your edge with this.


----------



## vicv (Jan 26, 2020)

Also in my finding and others that putting abrasive on a soft backing more than doubles the effective grit rating or at least the result. That's why a 2k abrasive on a powered wheel or belt can give course to a mirror finish


----------



## Keith Sinclair (Jan 27, 2020)

A lateral sweep on a stone removes a burr with all but some stainless. It takes a little practice. Light to remove burr without pushing it to other side of edge. This is done at same spine off the stone as last sharpening angle. Covering all the blade heel to tip in one sweep. Call it one second burr removal.

A stack of newspaper is good for removing any residual burr. One or two sweeps on each side is enough no need 10-20 strokes more is not better.

I teach burr removal is a light touch and less is best.


----------



## kayman67 (Jan 27, 2020)

As a rule of thumb of my own, after stropping, if I cut some cardboard and the edge can easily pass some popular tests like shaving, tomato, nail, fingers and so on and so forth, the sharpening was clean and the stropping didn't mess it up.


----------



## panda (Jan 27, 2020)

cork or piece of cardboard works just fine.


----------



## playero (Jan 29, 2020)

Also blue jeans


----------



## riba (Jan 29, 2020)

playero said:


> Also blue jeans


Stonewashed?


----------



## vicv (Jan 29, 2020)

No it really only works with new expensive designer raw denim


----------



## ian (Jan 29, 2020)

vicv said:


> No it really only works with new expensive designer raw denim



I knew there was a reason people pay lots of money for those pants.


----------



## vicv (Jan 29, 2020)

Exactly. It's the perfect stropping surface. A nice cordovan strop isn't exactly cheap either


----------

