georgiaboy
Senior Member
What are you guys using to strop? Commercial or DIY?
I strop constantly in the shop all my leather knives and skivers, I make my own by gluing 8-10 oz leather to a board, then loading it with jeweler's rouge.
Chief
Do you use oil on the strop with the rouge?
Good tips Chief, thanks. I generally use white polishing compound but may try some diamond paste or CBN spray.
Could do it either way I suppose. The configuration of my KMG is such that the top horizontal run to the contact wheel is all slack belt (no under support). With proper lighting you can actually see the micro burr develop. Couple of passes each side to make sure the burr is even is all it takes. Switch over to felt and do a pass or two to remove the burr. This is all done with the edge going same direction as the belt, just like you would normally strop a blade. The KMG also allows removal of the flat platen leaving a 10-12 inch slack area between the rollers if so desired, which I do with the larger blades like bowies and dirks for better control of the longer blades.
Mostly it's a matter of practice attained feel same as freehand grinding.
Found it simpler to sharpen knives before needed so they are ready to go. Yeah that's plural, gotta have a "throw down" handy all the time.
Back side of your belt will make a better emergency strop than your blue jeans. Just stand on the buckle and hold the tab end.