What do YOU use on your strop ?

[nilo52]

Rune , (a VERY kind man) was nice enough to educate me on how he gets his knives "CRAZY" Sharp . He uses a strop and a white grind compound sold in sticks. In America the White kind is for polishing aluminum, and the "black" kind is for polishing hard metals like steel. I have even heard of a green paste used to sharpen straight razors. My question is , what do You use ??
I am going in to town today to buy some and get my spring haircut ( I'm starting to look like Benjamin Franklin :mad2:) Thank you ! Nilo52

[Silverback]

Tears and jumping up and down usually get me my own way...........OHHHHHHH ! that kind of strop ;)

[The Joker]

I use two Flexcut Gold for my carving tools and Autosol pink for my shrafting sharps.

[JEEP]

Green Puma paste or jeweller's rouge.

[nilo52]

Did I mention money IS an object ?

[nilo52]

Your killing me sapper

[luresalive]

Black polishing compound then finish with blue

[BJ]

Tears and jumping up and down usually get me my own way...........OHHHHHHH ! that kind of strop ;)


http://yoursmiles.org/bsmile/fun/b0201.gif (http://yoursmiles.org/b-fun.php)

[nilo52]

Thanks guy's for this !
I can only probably get one kind, as Rune so aptly out it , SWMBO Will eyeball me if I attempt to spend "HER" money on more "junk you don't really need" :ashamed: sigh.....

[Primerib]

I use a chromeoxide powder. I got it from the dutch fella who crafted my leather hanging strop. You can buy it in arts & crafts stores where it is sold as a green pigment. It's basically the same stuff as in Jeep's puma paste.

From the powder i take about half a teaspoon full and put it in a small bowl like a eggcup and add a few drops of oil. I use a german product called Ballistol used for cleaning guns and treating leather. It is a hardening oil. Stirred up this leaves you with a paste that can be easily spread out on your new strop with a spatula or the back of a spoon. The paste soakes nicely into the leather. The strop treated this way should be left dry over night and the next day you are ready to go!

[Bob W]

I wonder if the fine grinding paste used for seating valves in cylinder heads would be any good? cheap enough from auto part shops.

[Silverback]

bicarb ?

[paulthefish2009]

Solvol. Paul

[JonnyP]

I use autosol for honing

[Humakt]

I use toothpaste.

[JonnyP]

I use toothpaste.

I tried that once.. It ruined my belt, stank for weeks n didn't seem to work anyway.

[Humakt]

I tried that once.. It ruined my belt, stank for weeks n didn't seem to work anyway.

It gives your knife a nice, minty, smell. And the added calcium and flouride mean the blade lasts longer and is protected from gum disease and bad breath...

Personally though, I've had no problem using toothpaste as a stropping compound. Works for me.

[JonnyP]

It gives your knife a nice, minty, smell. And the added calcium and flouride mean the blade lasts longer and is protected from gum disease and bad breath...

Personally though, I've had no problem using toothpaste as a stropping compound. Works for me.

Lol.. Yes, I have heard others find it works for them.

I will sometimes hone on the palm of my hand too.

[Johnnyboy1971]

Smurf poo for me and Flexcut gold for the carving tools.

[fish]

i have tried all manner of compounds,the best for me was 60 micron diamond paste but its megga expensive,i also like to use red brick dust with 3 in 1 oil works a treat and practically free,my old middle school was demolished 10 years ago and i have a brick from it which i file to get the powder.
Incidently i got the idea from the tv series 'the victorian farm' where brick dust was used to polish copper cooking vessels.

[nilo52]

Thanks one an all !

After Sunday's Drinking ALE binge ( strictly to further Anglo/American relations I'm quick to point out ) I bought BLACK , WHITE , JEWLERS ROUGE , and GREEN Polishing Compound. Now I guess I can polish ANYTHING ! I made a paddle strop out of a belt that's now to small for my gut.... err, manly physique . While it was Beer Thirty in the UK , IT WAS A LITTLE EARLY in the AM here . I discovered that Mexican ALE (Modelo Nagro) acts as a buying accelerator HA HA !
Now to try em out. I will let you know the results.

Nilo52

[dave budd]

i use a variety of stromping compounds, depending on wha sort of edge I'm after and the type of strop I'm using. For example autosol works great for paper backed strops (such as the reverse side of the wet n dry paper on a convexing mousemat) but is generally a bit messy for my tastes. I have a soft green compound (my famous cock paste) that I've been using and selling for years that is great for a quick edge that you can tweak between toothy or polished depening on the last stone you use (so you can have toothy but no edge-killing burr).

Over the winter I've been testing a range of other compounds to add to my range for sale :) I've picked them because there are various well known 'experts' on sharpening knocking about the UK scene and we all have our preferences and all get the job done, but obviously each has their followers; so this means I can sell stuff to please folk from every church. I gotta earn a living after all :cool: They include the much loved blue Smurf poo, the Flexcut gold, a dry white and a dry pink compound:


Blue smurf poo gives a finer polish than the green assuming you finish on a finer stone, but you can't do a quick'n'dirty toothy edge and it takes ages for a super polish. (Ian 'Longstrider' prefers this one)

Gold is a bit slower than blue but gives a finer polish than blue. Overall I wasn't massively impressed. (I can't recall who, but a few of the carvers like this)

Soft Green is fast to remove the burr for a toothy edge, but with a bit more patience (or fine stone) will produce a fine polish. Its quite sticky so leaves a residue on the blade,good waterproofing but not good in your food. This has been my general purpose compound for years

White puts a very good polish on edges and is pretty quick. It won't rip the burr off like the soft green, but is the fastest and finest tried so far.This is what I have been using for carving tools since last summer. (Also, used by Nic Westerman, another toolmaker with a following)

Pink. This one is virtually identical in use to the white one, infact I can't decide whether it is actually slightly better (Each time I try a side by side test I change my mind!). (woodcarver Sean Hellman uses this one I believe)



In addition to that lot I've used all sorts in to sharpen/strop in the past.From toothpaste and chocolate to powdered hammerscale and talcum powder.

One thing to remember though. f you are using different compounds then you must use seperate strops for each one, otherwise you contaminate the strop. Also when the the compound ont eh strop builds up into clumps, scrape it off with the side of a file/scraper and apply fresh compound

[snowleopard]

White rouge from Tandy usually for me, but then I do a lot of stropping for my swivel knife.

Joel

[snowleopard]

White rouge from Tandy usually for me, but then I do a lot of stropping for my swivel knife.

Joel

[snowleopard]

Sorry delete one post:ashamed: