Stroping?

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AnthonyMcEwen2014

AnthonyMcEwen2014

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What is the difference between stropping and sharpening, what is it and what is actually going on technically, and can you do one without the other, aka just strop to keep it sharp or do you do it after sharpning and in-between sharpnings, and dose it need to be done to get the best out of a knife or is it optional, aka is it like wine and cheese.

Properly been covered before but I found out little after a quick Google search.

Not trying to post nooby questions, just intereted in gaining a bit of information / knowledge.




Then I can take over the world as knoladge is power muahahah! Im not mad......honest. (That last bit was a joke just in case it was not 100% obvious)
 
Will ask the misses.............she is very good at stropping:D i find she is at her best after buying more flashlights:whistle:

I presume a different stroping your talking about;)
 
A Google search frrom your post revealed a lot of links.

Norm

AnthonyMcEwen said:
Properly been covered before but I found out little after a quick Google search.

Not trying to post nooby questions, just intereted in gaining a bit of information / knowledge.

Then I can take over the world as knoladge is power muahahah! Im not mad......honest. (That last bit was a joke just in case it was not 100% obvious)
Click to expand...

From the very first hit.

honing shapes the edge of a razor and creates the cutting angles whereas stropping re-aligns and polishes the edge
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Will ask the misses.............she is very good at stropping:D i find she is at her best after buying more flashlights:whistle:

I presume a different stroping your talking about;)
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They are both stropping. A strop is a strip of leather like a leather belt, "our dads gonna gerra strop on wi' you" - removing belt (or strop if he had one for sharpening his cut-throat razor) to give you a good belting, stropping or maybe to "sharpen you up".:eek:
Growing up in modern PC UK robs you of certain memories. :D
 
Odd. I was looking at unread posts and had to check what forum I was reading. I use straight razors and have been for about 10 years. I also have numerous youtube videos on shaving, sharpening and stropping. lets talk about sharpening first. when sharpening, material is removed from the otherwise dull edge down to a specific angle. on straight razors this angle is created by the slope of the edge up to the top of the back of the razor. this is with the edge and the bottom of the back against a sharpening stone. as the edge is sharpened it will remove material from the back. if done properly the angle will remain close to the same as the razor wears down. this is where most mistakes are made when sharpening. its difficult but essential to hold the back and blade flat against the stone with even force across the whole blade. otherwise the back will wear unevenly causing an uneven angle across the blade. once you get the angles on both sides of the blade down as far as you can go without causing a burr, you have it sharpened.


if you think about a very sharp edge, with carbon steel, the very tip of the edge is actually still rough, if you look at it under a microscope. the metal is very thin and for some reason, believe it or not, the metal deforms and because its so thin, it sort of breaks and causes a fine burr. put your two hands together, palms to palms, and interleave your fingers so that they one behind the other when looked at straight on. this would be the ideal edge. now slightly move your finger tips out a bit on each side. this is what happens on the edge over time.

stropping moves the burr back into place like your fingers would move back to alignment. this makes the blade sharper and reduces the thendancy of the blade to grab.

stropping does not remove material like sharpening does.


you strop before every shave with a leather strop with the blade on the trailing side as you strop (so it wont cut into the leather). you do both sides the same amount, about 30 strops each. you sharpen when the blade starts to get dull, about once every 6-12 months. you sharpen with the blade on the forward side, pushing into the stone. you usually use a wet stone. 4000 grit first, then 8000. about 50-200 strokes each side.


hope that helps
 
To add more to plexus' xlnt post, you should know that the ways and whys of sharpening of cutting tools of all sorts varies quite a bit depending on the tools being discussed. And, how/why to sharpen brings with it multiple layers of tool geekdom, up to and including electron microscope imaging of cutting edges. Lots of engineers, it seems, end up interested in this stuff.

See here: http://www.popularwoodworking.com/w...log/sharp-and-dull-for-an-electron-microscope

I'm a fan, and a geek, and come at it from a wood-working and knives-as-tools perspective. Not patient enough for straight razors... ;)

On point: since razors need a hair-splitting edge, stropping as the final step in preparing the edge before use makes sense. Not many other cutting tools benefit from that, except may wood-working planes used for finishing. You could see using a steel on a chef's knife as a kind of final edge-prep, but that's not stropping in the usual sense.


Check out that link, and the references for sharpening info if you want an excellent education on the subject.

If you just want a reasonably sharp pocket knife, get and use something like a Smiths field sharpening system and have at it.
 
I'm an ex joiner so I sharpened a lot for my living, plane blades. chisels, hand tools right up to making spindle moulder and six cutter profiles from blanks so I'm used to sharpening and getting an edge in general, after using bench stones diamond systems are very much quicker to use but with a lot less mess, I've got a Lansky system that I've added to with stone, diamond and serrated sharpening hones. It's great for setting an edge or re-profiling. for quick touch-ups I find diamond paddles and flat plates give a good result, I've been meaning to get a Spyderco or Lansky crock stick set-up as well but what I've got works for me.
 
8steve88 said:
I'm an ex joiner so I sharpened a lot for my living, plane blades. chisels, hand tools right up to making spindle moulder and six cutter profiles from blanks so I'm used to sharpening and getting an edge in general, after using bench stones diamond systems are very much quicker to use but with a lot less mess, I've got a Lansky system that I've added to with stone, diamond and serrated sharpening hones. It's great for setting an edge or re-profiling. for quick touch-ups I find diamond paddles and flat plates give a good result, I've been meaning to get a Spyderco or Lansky crock stick set-up as well but what I've got works for me.
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Nice! What a great breadth of experience we have here at CPF! I'm just a hobbyist, but can't stand knives that won't cut worth a dang. Worse are knives that never get used. But that's my problem...

I'm thinking a simple, low-cost setup is more likely to get bought and used by a young guy like our OP. Any suggestions for first-timers on a budget?
 
This is a cheap way into diamond sharpening but they are really "cheap 'n' nasty" feeling to use (I have had a set for a couple of years) you still need to know how to sharpen, getting the muscle memory, to use them efficiently and they are very easy to ruin an edge with. I've got a set in my SHTF bag and they are great for the price.
They are extra fine, fine and coarse, a medium would have been better as the coarse feels like it's made of pebbles.

These aren't bad I bought them to try them out,(you can't have too many sharpeners) at least they have a grit size on them but 600 is still very coarse for a fine edge, unless you're cutting cordage and rope and want a very "toothy" edge. The plastic paddles are flat and would make a good base to stick wet/dry paper to to get finer grits.
 
plexus said:
stropping does not remove material like sharpening does.
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If you strope with any kind of stroping compound you remove quite a bit of metal as can be seen on your strope turning dark grey with even moderate use by transfert of metal from your blade.
 
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