Strops necessary

[Lk@marill0]

After sharpening my knives on my 6k stone, is it necessary to use a strop?

Looking if I should buy one. Asking because I never used one and would love feed back and or a recommendation if possible.
Thanks

[jknife]

Short answer is no. That being said I own and use a couple of strops. I keep them in the kitchen for quick tuneups instead of using a honing rod. I just feel the strop is more precise. I use to strop after every time I sharpened a knife but I find finishing on a 6k stone is usually more than adequate for my needs.
I made my own but I bought my brother the CKTG version and he loves it.
This is just my opinion and I have been shown to be wrong in the past (don’t tell my wife) so I look forward to the more knowledgeable comments to follow.

[Drewski]

I often finish knives at 3k, so this might not be relevant to you. I notice that stropping after 3k makes a noticeable difference on how smooth the blade will slice through newsprint. This is probably because I still have some remnants of a burr after the 3k sharpening (and a couple stropping motions on the 3k stone). I would personally never sharpen a knife without stropping at the end.

I have personally grown to love the balsa wood strops, and I use a 1 micron diamond paste on the wood. Seems to be a good, easy to use setup for me. I know lots of people use leather, but I found the leather would gum up more than I liked (not sure what I was doing wrong, or if this is just expected). There are lots of other stropping options out there as well.

[Radar53]

Hi there LK & welcome to the forum.

Sharpening regardless of the grit is a destructive process, where metal is abraded away from the edge of a knife. There is always detritus left clinging to the edge, or to quote Pete Nowlan "steel still clinging on to the mother-ship". All edges benefit from tidying this up and stropping is a great way to do it.

I prefer to do most of the work of creating / sharpening an edge, on the stones & that means getting the edges as "precise, burr free & clean" as I can on the stones. I have seen some people try to improve the quality of their edges by using stropping to do work that should be done on the stones. (Similar to jumping to finer stones before all the work has been done on the coarser ones, if you like.)

Stropping is also a good way of "refreshing" an existing edge that has been used for a while without having to go back to the stones.

I'm a bit of an outlier with stropping, in that I do all my stropping on bare strops. For strops I use newsprint, denim, rough & smooth cow hide and rough & smooth kangaroo hide, amongst other things as well. I get great results with just newsprint most of the time & on my better knives I will use a progression on the leathers as well. As I say I'm a bit out on a limb here so take these comments with that in mind.

HTH & let us know how you get on.

[orezeno]

Short answer is no.

+1

If your deburring skills are up to snuff, then you don't need to use a strop. I went for about 2 years of sharpening (knives) without stropping. And I never really was dependent on stropping to deburr, or for the final result. Today I use loaded strops for extra levels of abrasion; and, frankly, because I have a bunch of strops lying around that I wanted to use. So even today, for knife sharpening, I'm using a strop to abrade metal rather than primarily for deburring. For straight razor sharpening (haven't done one in a long while), I follow the traditional path and use a cowhide strop as the final sharpening step.

Stropping on a material that is not loaded with an abrasive compound is useful for straight razors; where the strop's purpose is to realign an edge after it gets abused during shaving. Stropping burnishes (moves) metal and can help refine softer steels (like those used traditionally in straight razors) after sharpening. Many people use stropping for deburring; making many passes until the burr "breaks off". Personally, I think deburring should occur as part of an abrasive process.

People, myself included, have been stropping knives for a long time as a quick way to realign an edge after use. Denim is great for this. Today's super hard, high alloy steels don't lend themselves to burnishing as well as steels of yesteryear.

[Jeff B]

My father used to say that you're not done sharpening until you strop on bare leather. Necessary? No, but once I started stropping as a last step my edges went to the next level, my dad was right. It only takes a few strokes and it makes a difference.

[taz575]

I strop on rough side leather after my Rika 5k stone. Really sick edge that way! Just get a leather belt blank (8-9oz or heavier) from Amazon and you will have a rough and smooth side to strop on, or plenty of leather to try out some compounds.

[lsboogy]

I often finish knives at 3k, so this might not be relevant to you. I notice that stropping after 3k makes a noticeable difference on how smooth the blade will slice through newsprint. This is probably because I still have some remnants of a burr after the 3k sharpening (and a couple stropping motions on the 3k stone). I would personally never sharpen a knife without stropping at the end.

I have personally grown to love the balsa wood strops, and I use a 1 micron diamond paste on the wood. Seems to be a good, easy to use setup for me. I know lots of people use leather, but I found the leather would gum up more than I liked (not sure what I was doing wrong, or if this is just expected). There are lots of other stropping options out there as well.

I love balsa with 1 micron for kitchen knives too! Ken sent me some of his compounds, and I also use some nanocloth for show edges (0.5 micron leaves a polish under a SEM) - leather on a razor, and I have felt stuff for pocket knives.

[Lk@marill0]

Wow so much to consider when stropping

[Lk@marill0]

Would you recommend the tojiro natural leather strop for a beginner? Just seen on the website

[jacko9]

I cut a piece of wood to fit into my Shapton Pro plastic stone holder boxes, hand plane it smooth and use 0.75 CBN Slurry on it. I've used cherry wood, mahogany and soft maple and they all work. I have given several of them away and use whatever wood is on my shop bench when I need a new one.

[Jeff B]

Would you recommend the tojiro natural leather strop for a beginner? Just seen on the website

Any piece of decent leather is a good place to start. Once you start to see the difference and understand what is happening then you can move on from there. You don't have to make it overcomplicated to start.

[Lk@marill0]

Would you recommend the tojiro natural leather strop for a beginner? Just seen on the website

Any piece of decent leather is a good place to start. Once you start to see the difference and understand what is happening then you can move on from there. You don't have to make it overcomplicated to start.

Awesome thanks for that Jeff. Much appreciated

[orezeno]

This comment is slightly off-topic, but for those of you who wish to understand what stropping does to a deburred edge from a physics and materials science perspective, a study of Science of Sharp's articles on loaded and unloaded strops is worthwhile. None of this information is necessary if you are already using a strop and are satisfied with your sharpening process, or if you are just learning to sharpen. It is for those looking for geek-level analysis.

[Lk@marill0]

Thank you for that

[epaulcdaid]

I really appreciate everyone's contribution to this questions. I found myself contemplating this very question today. I've been playing with a variety of different finishes. Arashiyama 1k and done. Arashiyama 1k to Arashiyama 6k and done. Arashiyama 1k to rubberized cork strop with chromium oxide compound. And Arashiyama 1k to Arashiyama 6k to rubberized cork strop with compound and done.

Trying to find the sweet spot on different knifes is fun and frustrating. Overall I have enjoyed the edges more, that have been on the strop.

[ColonelJLloyd]

I really appreciate everyone's contribution to this questions. I found myself contemplating this very question today. I've been playing with a variety of different finishes. Arashiyama 1k and done. Arashiyama 1k to Arashiyama 6k and done. Arashiyama 1k to rubberized cork strop with chromium oxide compound. And Arashiyama 1k to Arashiyama 6k to rubberized cork strop with compound and done.

Trying to find the sweet spot on different knifes is fun and frustrating. Overall I have enjoyed the edges more, that have been on the strop.

I have the same stones and recently added a roo strop with 1.0 micron diamond spray. I also use a ceramic rod (~2k equivalent?) from time to time. I like what I've been able to do with the tools I have, but I have decided that I want to add a stone in between the 1k and 6k Arashiyamas.

[daviddg]

All you need to do is take a piece of cardboard (IE; cereal box) and tape it to something, even the very edge of your table to keep it from sliding around. Strop like your finishing strokes of sharpening, on the unfinished side. ALWAYS edge trailing, Then take it from there, if you like what that does.

[taz575]

I've tried cardboard before and it does work, but may have more impurities/inconsistencies in it. It was also pretty slow IIRC too.

[daviddg]

Yes, however total cost (presuming one has some) is about 6 inches of tape to ty it out.