Hi all since BLF also has a large portion of busget knfe affectioados I has to aak qhat TN does a leather strope do to a knifes esge I have a Gatco ultra fine ceramic hone and I was told by many people (mainly on the forum)to get that super scary edge I need to on strop if TN so what soesitdois my question and what do I look for in a atrope?I have bwwn looking on ebay and found some but I sont know what to look for, Thanks
I use a 3” wide piece of scrap leather, about a foot long. I’ve rubbed metal polish and oil into it, have used it about 15 years, now just a few quick runs over it will keep most any knife I have in tip top ready to go shape.
I like the Lansky hone system for bringing the rough edge up to par, then rely on the leather to keep the daily wear and tear in line.
The old barber shop strait razor strops are fantastic if you can find one. About 3” wide and 3’ long, try searching for one in ebay.
I use the folded edge of a corrugated cardboard box .
It depends on how you use it. Good technique can restore a dull edge or make an already sharp knife scary sharp. You can strop with anything really; paper, newspaper, leather, denim.
Before rushing out and buying one I’d experiment with things you may already have. An old leather belt (grain side), or thick denim are pretty good.
First thing is if you’re needing to strop during resharpening to get the edge sharper you’re not spending enough time on your stones/hones, you should get the knife sharp enough on your hones that a strop wouldnt take it any further. A good strop (or several, I have 5) is great tools to maintain an edge but if you cant get the edge fully refined using just stones you need to spend more time on your technique.
I am a pretty good sharpener, not excellent or a “pro” by any means but I’m more than “just good enough”. here’s a few video’s I’ve made of my CRK small Sebenza CF with S35VN steel I sharpened all by hand. (these were my first 2 video’s ever so they’re pretty bad and only 1/2 on screen lol)
(video 2 more centered)
I sharpen on 6” DMT diamond plates (the continuous surface ones) from XC-EEF [thats extra course threw extra extra fine] then switch to a 8x2” spyderco ceramic stone that started out as a fine stone but I hand lapped it so one side was 3600 grit and the other side is 10k grit. Coming off the 10k ceramic hone it doesnt need any stroping, even using my finest strop wouldn’t provide any more refinement and using a more course strop would actually hinder it.
I have 3 2 sided leather strops (I make all my strop’s out of 2 5gal paint stir sticks glued together) and 2 fully wrapped denim strops The leather ones are the “course” ones (still very fine overall) and have different stick and paste compounds on them. The denim ones have 1, .5 and .25 micron diamond sprays and the final side is just bare denim. I use these for edge maintenance which I do nightly (takes under 2 minutes a night and I can keep the edge push-cutting paper for a couple months before needing to touch stones again)
This isn’t me but this is a link I have saved and direct anyone that asked me towards, very helpful basic / beginners info:
CK, That’s SICK! 
I just got a Strider clone stupid sharp, like an hour ago. Wonder if it’ll do that….
A strop will make your blade razor sharp.
Honing on stones is good to bring the knife to sharpness. Really sharp if you’re good.
As you move down in coarseness, the edge will look (under a microscope) serrated. The serrations are jagged and uneven in size. As you get to the fine stone, the serrations begin to be more evenly spaced and uniform in size, making it good for a smooth sharp cut.
Using leathers to finish it off, the serrations get even more even…like a razor blade.
Stropping with bare leather doesn’t really do anything but polish the blade, perhaps straighten some bent serrations after use.
You need stropping compound. The compound is rubbed onto the leather…then you strop. I have a strop for gold compound, which is a little courser, and then move to a strop with green compound which is fine. This will get it wicked sharp.
Red compound (extra fine) which is known as jewelers rouge, will mostly polish the edge.
Get a piece of wood about 2-3 inches wide and a foot long, go to a shoeman and get some leather, and glue it down. (He can do this for you also). I use it with the fuzzy side up.(it gives better bite) you can have fuzzy leather on one side of the board, and smooth on the other.
Get compound and strop! It makes a difference.
CK, I checked my Strider clone and by gosh if it doesn’t do similar to that with a page out of the phone book! Supposedly a 440 blade, it’s 3/16” thick! I used the 600 stone last in my Lansky kit, then used a strip of leather I have fastened on an old stone to “strop” it on the Lansky. Not quite a mirror finish on the edge, but getting close.
I seem to recall that stropping by hand with a loose strop, barber shop style, will put a convex edge on the blade that is tough and extremely sharp. My Katana is sharpened in this way, not a flat edge coming together but two convex curves meeting in a razor sharp edge the full length of the 28” blade. (similar to the shape of an acorn if imagined in a cross section of the blade.)
Jack that’s is what I have just started doing lol and I have noticed a difference in guess I am trying to get rid of the folded over part of the blade and thanks Cera l _ killer Chloé and everyone else’s I just remember I think 8steve88 and xatu mentioned leather stop to get that razors edge … I mean I can get them sharp enough to shave the hair of my arm and slice through pages of magazine but somewhere I seen video a of a knife slicing through loose sheets of toilet paper .I have found quite a few st ropes on ebay and amazon I just don’t know what the difference is or the technique on how to use either the 3 ’ barber stops or the Lansky stiles or the various compounds.
Even with a Lansky hone that has guides to give you the “perfect edge” you have to develop a technique that works for you. I push the stone/diamond into the blade, never dragging it back. So in a sharpening session like todays, cutting a new edge on both sides of a new blade, it can take hours to recut the bad sharpening job the knife came with. After that it’s easy.
Work on developing a consistent style, and find the proper way to hold the blade, whether fully manual or on a guide, and stick to that. Consistency yields the best results, whatever your style may be.
Edit: I just took this Strider clone to the 3” leather strop with some Wenol metal polish rubbed in and it now has a mirror finish edge that is just too sharp to shave with! It’ll slide under the skin trying to shave.
You have to love it when it’s stropped sharp like that. I always keep alchahol swabs and bandages nearby.
LOL
When they’re this sharp you can show it off by sliding it through the hair on your arm about 1/4” above the skin and watch it grab and slice hairs without danger of slicing yourself. I think this is the sharpest I’ve had this level of blade…most of mine are ATS34 or equivalent. Looking hard at that newish ZDP189…
ZDP-189 is amazing as a dress up knife steel but if you do any sort of work with your knife run away. I literally had it chip from stripping insulation off romex. ZDP also rusts (worse even that D2). I recommend M390 as a super high end, high hardness super steel that’s much more rust resistant and a lite tougher. Remember hardness and toughness are two completely different (and opposite) things.
My current favorite steel is M4 like on my spyderco Gayle Bradley but I’m not scared of having to prevent rust, just another aspect of daily knife care.
This was after a 3 hour reprofiling to 18DPS (from factory edge) on my diamond plates when I first got my GB (factory edges are never good enough for me). Both of the raw spots are where I make contact withthe stone to ensure I’m using a consistent angle/stroke and since I flip the blade over, not swith hands to do the other side the same 2 fingers are in contact the entire time.
Btw I sharpen back-n-forth, I don’t lift on the back stroke.
One time I did an 8-3 romex chopping test, M4 of my Spycerco vs D2 of my Benchmade 710 (D2 ain’t no joke either) but the M4 blade still shaved after making 5 threw cuts (took a fair amount of chopping) of the 4x solid strands (8-3 is 8AWG each 3 conductor/1neutral) but the D2 was destroyed, so much so I packed it up and sent it back to BM to let them deal with it lol.
I’m a user, will cut almost anything and it’s likely that just about anything will need to be cut. That said, I’m not out there like I used to be. It’s hot as hades here and we sweat. Salty sweat can really get to a blade. So rust resistance is important. But no, I don’t like a hard blade that chips. I can’t stand chips, because while it’s easy to sharpen a blade that’s gotten dull from use, it’s a pita to re-profile a blade with nicks and chips in the edge.
Ixnay the 189. Nuff said there, I’ll fugetaboudit.
M4 huh?
I’ve been carrying an ATS34 Buck Strider mini. The blade is thick, comparatively short, and I like Titanium liners and G10. Gotta have a liner lock, if not a frame lock, as I’ve been carrying them so long now I’d hurt myself with anything else. This Strider clone seems to have a much larger blade, but it’s actually only about a 1/4” longer than the Buck. (3” cutting edge) This one too has a thick blade, so it should be able to take some abuse. And it was only $16.98 shipped. I have no idea how they do it. I also don’t know if it’s 440A or C or 7Cr17Mo or what it is. It’s hardened pretty good, was not exactly easy to sharpen. It’s even got the BOS heat flame stamp on it, but it’s missing the little indention where the machine actually tests it. Go figure.
I use a cheap strop, £2 leather belt from a charity shop, Solvol Autosol or Peek or whatever metal polish you use, spread on the grainy side of the leather belt, strop away.
You can use 12 to 18inch lengths of the belt glued to a piece of timber or use it whole and hook the buckle over a hook or lever type door handle.
Recently I’ve been going for the more toothy edges as I cut Paracord quite a bit and find the tiny serrations of a toothy edge cut better. Dragging the blade across the Paracord it’s better with a toothy edge but a sharpened until shiny edge push cuts better.
EDIT………I must add that you have to be careful if you are going to strop slip joints or the SanRenMu detent locking knives, dragging the knife spine first over the strop might be enough for the blade to close, it shouldn’t because you don’t need to apply a lot of pressure when stropping but when first starting it’s tempting to push too hard and a slipjoint isn’t meant to have pressure on the spine side of the blade and stay open.
Want and yes I understand the lifting if the stone on back stroke I guess I am just frustrated because I have been stuck at this level and can’t pass to the next level of sharpness like I believe it was a youtube video of a mora fixed blade slicing through sheets of toilet paper effortlessly.
That is not an easy thing to accomplish and quite rare. The right combination of blade design, blade steel and expert sharpening techniques is a difficult combination to achieve. Very few will ever get to that level.
Can you completely and totally disassemble and reassemble your Glocks? Can you make the Glock have a 3 1/2 lbs trigger pull? Once upon a time I achieved that, wasn’t easy, and I was told very few Glock armorer’s could do it. I certainly wasn’t a Glock representative! But I had friends…
The point being, there are skills that few master, and sometimes it’s just impossible for others to duplicate what might come naturally to another individual. Cereal Killer has found a way to create an incredible edge. And he’s admitted it takes hours sometimes, with advanced techniques. Keep on keeping on and perhaps you will find yourself doing things you never dreamed possible.
I can vouch for CK’s knife skills, he elmered me a big ol honkerin’ blade…sharpest thing I own…
Oh CK, my bro in law can get those drilling well collar hardened steel plates (they use them in the well and use to lock the collar under ground in the rocks and angle the pipe over) very very
rotary slip wooley I think is what they call em
Back side is flat and hardened steel, can these be used to sharpen a knife…I need someone to teach me to keep my knives sharp…I can sharpen somewhat but not like you did
Found this
Lansky Sharpeners any good?
Im either to stubborn or to dumb to quit maybe about 1/2 &1/2 so next and hopefully last question, should I buy barbers stops off line or try 8steven88’s sugestion of just getting a. Old belt and nail it to a board, I also have some “Metall” aluminum and stainless steel polish, will that work?