Total cost was $6.79 for a clearance belt from Target. I already had the polishing compounds. I didn't even bother gluing it to wood, i just lay it right there on the edge of my desk which has a sheet of glass over it so i know it's flat. I'm shocked how well this works. I made it a point to use my knife as much as i could today at work, which didn't turn out to be very much but it was enough to take the edge down enough that it wouldn't shave at all, and this strop put it back to hair popping sharp. Chalk up another believer. If i change anything i'd like to get a larger sheet of leather, something at least 4 inches wide for better edge coverage per stroke, and i might invest in some fancy diamond paste but so far this is working great and those bricks of compound will probably last the rest of my life.
At work, i made it a point to use my knife as often as i could, just so i could see how much my ghetto strop would bring back the edge. When i got home i stropped it for about 5 minutes and was blown away how sharp it was. Well, as fate would have it, today one of my favorite cutting boards bit the dust on me and split in half. It was made from two different woods glued together and had little rubber feet it sat on and it split right where two strips were glued together. So, instead of being bummed, i saw opportunity. I ran out and bought a nicer quality leather belt with a nice natural finish to it, worked over a piece of the cutting board and here's what i ended up with:
That belt was $12, so now i have enough invested that i could have ordered a nice "quality" strop from pretty much anywhere, but i love the fact that something that used to serve as a cutting surface has been repurposed as something that makes edges sharp again. It's double sided, red compound on one side and green on the other.
Yeah, the leather was raised enough that i could still hit the edge all the way to the tang, but it occurred to me that some knives may not work as well so i already ripped it up and glued it onto the edge.
