Need to strop

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havugla
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Need to strop

Post by havugla »

I am not able to get ny knives hair shaving sharp with only stones. Have to use my leather strop with some cheap China compound in order to do achieve paper slicing sharp. Using a 500,1000 and 4000 Sharpton glass. What are I doing wrong?
gladius
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Re: Need to strop

Post by gladius »

Probably nothing. How do your knives cut food after sharpening?
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ken123
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Re: Need to strop

Post by ken123 »

Are you trying to slice paper or shave hairs?

My bias - get a better strop and throw away the cheap compound. It is cheap for a reason.

You need practice. and more practice. You should get paper slicing cuts at 500 grit.

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bruin
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Re: Need to strop

Post by bruin »

I’ll echo Ken in saying it’s just a matter of “getting good”. It take a long time and a lot of practice. I’ve been sharpening with whetstones for about 3 years and I’d say just in the last 6 months or so have I been truly satisfied with my results. And I know I have a long way to go still. Even most very skilled, very practiced, even professional sharpeners would tell you they do have o. Do more reading, watch more videos, put more hours in on your stones. If you can’t cut paper off your 500, keep trying before you move up to 1000.

What efforts are you making to deburr before you try to cut paper? If you have a large burr on your edge from your 500 grit that’s definitely contributing to any trouble you have testing on paper and hair. I do edge trailing strokes with very light pressure on both sides of the edge and lightly pull my knife through a cork (CKTG also sells a very cheap felt block for this) after I’m done on each grit and it gets the job done.
nakneker
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Re: Need to strop

Post by nakneker »

You have great stones, lots of guys use those stones and get great results. I’ve seen more than one pro use SG stones. They are great for a variety of steels, don’t dish badly and cut fast with little load up. I’ll echo what has already been said, practice, lots of stone time. I’ve found many of the videos found right here on CKTG extremely helpful for sharpening kitchen knives. Peter Nowlan has several great videos and teaches in very easy to understand steps. I’ll link his sub forum.

https://www.chefknivestogoforums.com/viewforum.php?f=17

Mark and Ken have several too. I learned a lot last year. Gotta hold the angle, can’t wobble and expect good results. Pressure, understanding pressure has helped me get better, Peter does a great job describing when and how to use pressure, it helped me a bunch. Practice. Watch the videos, read the threads and try to emulate or apply what your seeing and are learning in the videos. A 500 SG stone can give you an edge that will shave hair or cut paper. I like trying to ripe tomatoes and other ingredients better for testing edges but to each their own.

It’s easy to get discouraged if your not getting the results you want. Your edge has to be burr free, lots of thread to help understand that. Most of all, realize we are all students, many are better than we are but the good thing is they are also willing to help and want you to succeed. Don’t be bashful if you have more questions. I’ll repeat myself, there is loads of good videos right here. They helped me the most. Just my experience, everyone’s is on their path but they were helpful.

Good luck!
“The goal is to die with memories, not dreams.”
jmcnelly85
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Re: Need to strop

Post by jmcnelly85 »

I think jumping early from your coarsest stone is your primary culprit. It’s easy to view your higher stones and think “this edge is going to get sharp when I take it to that 4K” when in reality sharpness begins on your coarsest stone. It’s shocking just how sharp a clean, coarse edge is when done right. I personally don’t like leaving my first stone until I have an edge that feels burr free, cuts a rolled up paper towel, and doesn’t reflect light when shined with a bright led flashlight. Once your early edges start getting better, your mid and higher grit edges will jump exponentially. Strops are a valuable tool, but it can easily be used as a crutch, sensational edges are achievable with stones only with practice and the self discipline to maximize each stone.

Once you have your kick ass 500 edge that seems determined to destroy everything in its path, get a 1000 grit edge sharper than the majority of new knives out there, follow that up with something so sharp off the 4K that other people are scared to use it... Then your strop will show you a new level
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ken123
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Re: Need to strop

Post by ken123 »

jmcnelly85 wrote: Sun Sep 22, 2019 1:34 am I think ...
Very well stated! Follow this.

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Organic
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Re: Need to strop

Post by Organic »

I think the others have covered it here. If you don't have a sharp edge at your coarsest grit then you probably won't get a sharp edge at the end of your progression. I primarily sharpen on a Wicked Edge setup and use diamond abrasives. The edge I get from a 100 grit diamond plate will slice paper.
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