Strops!

[taz575]

I am making up some strops since I can do some of the work in the house since there is a cold front moving in!

Most strops are 1 micron or less. Great for upkeep of a kitchen knife, but I wanted something to touch up hunting/pocket knives. I tried a 8 micron/2 micron strop. Worked OK. Then I made and tried a 16/3 micron strop. Bingo! The coarser micron is around 1200, so it will bring an edge back quickly and the 3 micron polished it up to cut smoothly!

1 walnut, 2 maple and 2 cherry are in this batch:

Getting 14/16 micron on rough side and 2/3 micron on the smooth side.

Using a granite reference plate to press them while the glue cures.

[taz575]

Apparently the wood pieces were off just enough that the leather didn't lay flat when it glued, so I am doing these over again. I got the Walnut one done for an order I am getting ready to send and got some more leather in, so I will be getting back to this project soon!

[Wjhunt]

This may sound crazy but I’ve had good luck using slime rubber cement to hold the wood and leather together. I used to use the green compound on my strops. It was easier to replace the leather than trying to clean it.

[taz575]

I will have to get some of the stuff and try it!

[taz575]

3 walnut, one maple and one cherry done! Just letting the Tung Oil dry!

[XexoX]

Ah, thought I'd mention that California has laws about selling anything with kangaroo, so if you use it, don't sell or ship it to California. People are trying to get California officials to more strongly enforce those laws.

[taz575]

Typical California! These are moo cow leather...lol.

[stevem627]

XexoX I never realized that about kangaroo in California. I guess all I can say is…wow.

[taz575]

And the 3 walnuts are gone! Got 4 more cherry and a few maple to glue up.

[XexoX]

XexoX I never realized that about kangaroo in California. I guess all I can say is…wow.

Yeah, a few months ago I came across an article about it and sent it to Mr. Mark. I think he is going to stop carrying kangaroo products.

[taz575]

I have 1 Cherry and 2 Maple strops ready to go and posted in the classifieds! These are double sided strops, so the rough side is pre loaded with 14 micron diamond compound and the smooth side is pre loaded with 3 micron diamond compound. I have been using my prototype for a while now and the 14 micron side will actually remove micro chips and the 3 micron will give a nice polished edge.

[taz575]

Got 11 more in the works!! 8 walnut and more maple and cherry.

Stopped by a local Tandy store and got a nice shoulder of leather!!

[taz575]

5 Walnut, 3 maple and 2 Cherry ready to go! I have another couple walnut and maple to build up and I need to order more wood soon once these sell!

[taz575]

One of the questions I have gotten is how often do I need to recharge the strop. I have been using this strop since Jan 8th on every knife I have made, done a handle on and/or used/carried in the mean time. I have used it on HD2, CruWear, M390, Elmax, S90V, regular carbon steels, Magnacut, S30V, Nitro V, AEB-L, etc. It still works just about as fast as when it was original! I removed micro chips from a HD2 kiritsuke a few weeks ago and got it slicing paper towel cleanly in under 3 minutes. I took an AEB-L blade, just under 4" long, with an edge that you could see light reflecting off (flat edge) and stropped it back in a few minutes. CPM CruWear, Elmax, Magnacut are no match. Even a 5" Shechita in S90V responded very well to the strop and got a wickedly, stupidly sharp edge in a few minutes with this strop. The compound soaks into the leather and lasts a long time, even with looking as black and clogged as this one does!

[Kekoa]

Sounds like a very handy strop to have around! What brand compound are you using for these?

[taz575]

Venev diamond paste

[ppiibbss]

Hey Are you still making these strops?

[taz575]

Yes, got several ready to go in cherry and walnut!