Spyderco Forums

whats the best compound to use on the strop .I have a leather strop that i use and i am not sure which compound to use . I want something simple to apply and will give a good stropping edge . Suggestions on what and where to get?

It is hard to recommend anything without better understanding what you want.

There are many pastes and compounds and all are good for something...

What are you using to create your edge? and what is the finest grit you intend to use prior to employing the strop? What steel are you working on? Is this a convex edge or a V-grind?

What is your intended goal for the strop? Burr removal? Polishing?

I use a lansky through all the stones and a Sapphire stone which is 2000? i think then I strop on a homemade leather strop . I just wanna add a little more bite on the leather . I don't have to have a mirror finish but just a very keen edge is what I'm looking for .. thanks

I have the same question. I work through Ultra fine on the spyderco and I ahve been having some luck with green jewelers rouge. MY goal is gaining sharpness and polishing an edge and it works well.

Spyderco UF stones are about 8000 grit (3 micron) and the green rouge is usually 0.5 micron. This is a reasonable step, though it should be VERY difficult to witness much difference in sharpness between the 3 and 0.5 micron finish.

The leather should not have much "bite" (nor should the two (or three) stones you use before it). The edge should glide over it smoothly and your pressure between the blade and the leather should be like the whisper of an angle (i.e. very light...just as the last two or three stones were).

Some use a very shallow angle and more pressure on leather, but I think a better recommendation for the novice would be to stick with the honing angle they have used throughout the sharpening process (why change now?)

The step between 3 micron and 0.5 micron is where I start to notice my edges loosing their bite when I do my thumb/fingertip test. At 3 micron a thumb or finger tip stroked across the edge (perpendicular to the edge) the edge feels like it is trying to bite into the flesh...at 0.5 micron it looses a lot of this feel and simply separates flesh.

As I have said in other threads...I fear a lot of people think they will achieve the next step in sharpness with a strop, but the reality is often that they have several steps already available to them without the strop if they improve their technique on the stones first. I can not stress enough how utterly stupid-sharp a Spyderco UF stone will get a good knife.

i guess im cheap, ad to that i dont know where to get a paste locally. i have been using red rouge buffing wheel compound i rub it directly to the strop and its great for vg10, aus8 8cr mov etc, with the harder steels like zdp and cpm m4 , s30v ive been using another strop with a grey buffer wheel compound thats made for tougher steels. the last one i have to use a old file to powder it and apply it to the strop dry and as evely as i can, it works great. its cheap and i can get more at the local stores. ive got one more that i think is a white compound for ferrous metals that i havnt tried yet. in both i can achieve a mirror polish and nice for in between touch ups.

Suggestions on what and where to get?

The Bark River compound works well. I got mine from here.

marknett wrote:I use a lansky through all the stones and a Sapphire stone which is 2000? i think then I strop on a homemade leather strop . I just wanna add a little more bite on the leather . I don't have to have a mirror finish but just a very keen edge is what I'm looking for .. thanks

If your patient, that Sapphire hone will put a mirror polish on the blade that is quite impressive. Ask Dr. Snubnose what it did with a certain hawkbill once upon a time.

If your really trying to indulge in the addiction, then see this:

http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showt ... id/776367/

I made a double-sided strop using Hand American leather. On one side, I use 1200 grit Clover Compound - it is a silicon carbide powder in grease. On the other side, I use Norton diamond paste - .5 micron, if I recall correctly.
I have used Lee Valley green compound in the past. It works fine and is .5 micron chromium compound - but I am allergic to the stuff. There are a number of fine stropping compounds available, but most have been designed around carving tools. They should work well with knives as well. I have used Yellowstone and "wood is good" on carving gouges and chisels. They are finer compounds, somewhat between the two that I use.

Depending on if that grit size (1200) is ISO/FEPA Grit designation, or CAMI Grit designation, your particle size might be 15 micron or about 8 micron. Either way, that is a fairly large step if you are going straight to 0.5 micron.

That said, there are proponents of stropping a coarse edge, though the results and benefits are debatable.

I see I got moved , Sorry for posting in the wrong place . :)

I used DMT diamond paste. It comes in little syringes in 6, 3 and 1 micron grits. I originally bought it to use to sharpen my chisels. Using it I was able to get my chisels back to brand new sharp. That was about 2 years ago. I recently thought about using it on a strop and called DMT. They do recommend it for this purpose. I made 3 strops, one with each grit. They are working very well. I don't know how much the other compounds cost. The DMT syringes are around $13 each. It does go a long way though. I will probably try other compounds in the future but for now I'll stick with the Dia-paste because I can also use it for woodworking tools. To sharpen chisels you put the paste on a piece of glass or hard wood. I don't know if it is the best thing available for strops because it is the only thing I've tried.

Jack

Ken... I must be not spending enough time on each stone cause the UF gets them sharp but Ican't whittle hair yet. Do I need to just spend more time on each one or is there some trick I'm missing. The strop actually madea difference so if what your saying is right, and I believe it is, then I could achieve the same thing by just taking more time on each stone.

When I want a razor polish -- which isn't always -- I think the default way to go is the green chromium paste. I first got used to it doing stonework; that stuff will polish a semi-precious stone to glass. It works really nicely for a knife edge, too. A bit more recently, I've played with the DMT paste jackknifeh mentions, and like it alot.

Jeez Ken how do you know so much stuff? I've been wondering what the grit/micron ratings are on the Spyderco stuff just so I know what steps to use after. Thanks that info!

Another question, I used a DMT coarse (if a reprofiling is necessary) and then to Sypderco medium, then fine then ultra fine. Is that a proper step down or should there be something between the coarse and the medium?

Nonprophet wrote:Another question, I used a DMT coarse (if a reprofiling is necessary) and then to Sypderco medium, then fine then ultra fine. Is that a proper step down or should there be something between the coarse and the medium?

You could probably go medium DMT. I usually use a diamond of some sort to reprofile, then go to the Sharpmaker.

BTW, I've had my Crossbill whittling hair with just the fine rods on the Sharpmaker, so I'm guessing it's your technique.

Nonprophet wrote:Ken... I must be not spending enough time on each stone cause the UF gets them sharp but Ican't whittle hair yet. Do I need to just spend more time on each one or is there some trick I'm missing. The strop actually madea difference so if what your saying is right, and I believe it is, then I could achieve the same thing by just taking more time on each stone.

Essentially yes. Though perhaps not how you think.

Sharpening skill comes with practice. The more time you put in with what you have, the more you will realize and improve you abilities.

Practice leads to mastery. Purchases just lead to more stuff most of the time.

unit wrote:Essentially yes. Though perhaps not how you think.

Sharpening skill comes with practice. The more time you put in with what you have, the more you will realize and improve you abilities.

Practice leads to mastery. Purchases just lead to more stuff most of the time.

That right there is quotable.

If your passing the magic marker test with the Sharpmaker, then that means your hitting the whole bevel, and should be able to make due with the Sharpmaker.

I still haven't gotten there myself, but like I said, I have occasionally been able to whittle hair with just the fine rods on the SM. Unless your one of those rare few who can do things naturally, then you need to just put your time in.

ghostrider wrote: If your passing the magic marker test with the Sharpmaker, then that means your hitting the whole bevel, and should be able to make due with the Sharpmaker.

ghostrider, I'd quibble with that particular quote -- in fact, I'd say that 9 times out of 10, believing that is the cause of sharpening problems... assuming that what you mean by magic marker test is marking up the edge and sharpening it til the marker is all gone. If that's not what you mean, ignore the rest of this post . The magic marker is really useful to gauge your progress, as a visible indicator as to how close to being done you might be. But very often, the magic marker will be gone, or not visible to the naked eye, before the bevel is quite at the end of the edge. The one indicator that I've found is always reliable and spot-on, 100% of the time, is the formation of a burr along the entire length of the opposite side of the edge. When you feel that, you know you've reached the end, and it's time to switch sides. When you've gotten that on both sides, you spend the rest of the sharpening process refining the edge and removing the burr. If you didn't form a burr, it's a crap shoot how sharp the final edge will end up -- maybe it'll be super sharp, maybe it won't, maybe it'll just be sharp in spots.

As a benchmark, coming off the white fine stones, an edge should easily shave hair. I can tell you I'm not very good with my hands -- "mechanically inept" wouldn't really be a lie -- but by looking for idiot-proof clues, like the burr, I've been able to consistently produce really sharp edges. I can get an edge hair-scraping sharp off a DMT x-coarse!