Stropping confusion

[Altadan]

Hey fellows,

I've a question regarding stropping on bare leather

I have the CKTG stropping set, and have gone on to paste 1micron on the balsa, and leave the leather bare.

I strop with edge trailing strokes, usually starting with five per side, and then reducing one at a time.
When do I strop? When I get a fancy to. Or, when I see some light reflecting on the edge of a knife.
Stropping on the balsa often reduces the number of rolled-spots along my edge, and very much turns most of the previously rather-sharp edge to a very-sharp edge. The shine is also evident.

Now, when it comes to the bare leather, I'm just confused. I've tried the same technique on the bare leather, and I've never felt any result come of it
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Angles to low? Not enough repetitions? Should I be using it more often, and not wait till I see the edge rolled/reflecting light?

Thanks for your help
Dan

[Papou]

G'day Dan and hope this helps , as its my thoughts or reason for stropping. Others onboard will step in and give their view and hopefully you can try and go from there ..There are two times i mostly strop , once after having gone over my stones to attain or finish of with the edge i want ie; to finish off with the sharpening process and secondly after i have had a session with the knife/knives mostly after Filletting or cleaning my Fish and yes always edge trailing .
Never really count the number of strops but do test the blade with the paper cut test. Slice through that without effort and edge is good enough for me.
I dont get too carried away nowadays ey as know how my edge should feel or cut ..
Been through the Balsa , Denim , Diomond Paste , and if bare leather for me it is soft bare leather i mostly strop on though at times depending on the knife the Denim comes in a second best .
Mind you the denim has had .5 Micron Dionond paste added to it ( Once).

[ken123]

Dan is this cow leather?
What stones or strops did you use before using either the leather or balsa?

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Ken

[ken123]

So the reason for my last question ... Balsa and cow leather is relatively coarse, imparting their own abrasive content. The abrasives are silicates which are usually better on softer steels. Now without adding any abrasive to cow leather you do get some function but it is a bit weak.

So it makes sense to think of your abrasives as going from a coarse grit to a fine grit - whether the grit is provided using stones strops or plain leather or other 'substrates like paper, linen etc.

So if you are using a 1 micron compound, that's a 16k finish. You dont want to go from something coarse (like 4k or coarser) to this. And your bare leather is going to be a bit finer but more dilute, so that could explain why you see little effect.

I would recommend putting some 2 (8k) or 3 (6k) micron cbn on your leather strop, using it first and following it with the 1 micron balsa. Select the emulsion formulation for best effect.

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Ken

[Altadan]

Ken, thanks so much for the clear direction.
As soon as I posted this it occurred to me that I use my strops sort of on a whim, and as a part of a thoughtful progression as I do with my stones.
I usually sport a 2k or 6k edge on my knives. Rarely do I go on to a takashima tomae (how fine would that be?). I figured that a strop would straighten the edge, by virtue of repeated gentle pressure. I guess it has to have at least some abrasive in it after all

[ken123]

A good Takashima has a considerably finer edge than a 6k stone. It is in fact a different kind of edge. Under a scope you will see a scratch pattern that is a matte finish rather than the fine parallel lines from a synthetic finish. Because of this it makes sense to use a coarser grit natural before the Takashima stone and after the 6k.

You should be using your strop not to straighten or remove the edge but rather to further refine the edge past the finish of your previous stone. You should have removed any residual burr before the strop is used.

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Ken