Honing/stroping questions

[Mosinguy]

I've got a cheapo belt from Wal-Mart that isn't any good anymore. Could I use that as a strop? It says it is made out of leather. It's got a very smooth finish too. I figured I'd cut a foot long section of the belt and mount it to a piece of wood and use that for my strop.

Now about the technique, what angle do I strop at? How often should I strop? Should I use a compound or will regular leather work fine? How long should I strop?

 

[jkwparrott]

My method of stropping is to use raw leather, nothing treated, do dyes. I am a leather worker and have lots of scraps laying around so that's easy for me. I use jeweler's rouge as an abrasive. It comes in a stick something like a big stick of chalk. I rub that into the leather so it impregnates the pores.

I have found that as long as you keep the angle of the edge and just drag the blade backwards across the leather you get a nice sharp edge. Make sure you place the leather on a hard surface and strop that way, you don't want to use the old barber technique, you'll get the wrong angle and not get a good edge.

 

[Mosinguy]

My method of stropping is to use raw leather, nothing treated, do dyes. I am a leather worker and have lots of scraps laying around so that's easy for me. I use jeweler's rouge as an abrasive. It comes in a stick something like a big stick of chalk. I rub that into the leather so it impregnates the pores.

I have found that as long as you keep the angle of the edge and just drag the blade backwards across the leather you get a nice sharp edge. Make sure you place the leather on a hard surface and strop that way, you don't want to use the old barber technique, you'll get the wrong angle and not get a good edge.

You use untreated leather but would my belt do fine? Also is an abrasive really needed?

 

[grunt soldier]

[/QUOTE]

You use untreated leather but would my belt do fine? Also is an abrasive really needed?

that is up to you. all stropping is doing is polishing the edge. the abrassives just help take that many more scratches out. I personally love a strop with the black compound on it. it makes the edge amazing and helps it to hold up that much longer. some people go through all the phases including green, pink and then plain leather.

they definitely aren't necessary but I have noticed that when you go from your higher grits to blk compound and then the leather the edge will stay sharp for longer and is much easier to bring back vs just stopping at 600 grit and leaving it toothy

the angle setting is a bit tricky because a strop can dull your blade just as quick as sharpening it. here is a good video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3WuY4Str02o

 

[grunt soldier]

damn it. someone embed this for me because it's not working!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3WuY4Str02o

 

[tradertator]

[ame]http://youtu.be/3WuY4Str02o[/ame]

 

[Mosinguy]

I can't watch videos. My computer is slowly dying on the inside and my audio cuts out and the thing crashes nearly everty 15 minutes. What's the guy teaching?