Lifespan of strops

[No skills]

Random thought for the day..

Is there a point where a leather strop becomes unusable/unsuitable to use through contamination of metal particles?

IE you charge it with your nondescript green bar and expect it to contain a certain particle size for polishing/refining your tool edge - and through use it becomes loaded with particles of steel from the tools and ends up being less effective (courser). Maybe tiny bits of wire edge lodged in the fibres?

Is this complete rubbish? Again it's just a random thought provoked by the other thread I was reading.

Please excuse the poor English, I'm from Essex.

 

[NazNomad]

Given that you can easily clean a strop, it would only become unusable when you'd eventually worn right though it.

Just an idea, from one Essex boy to another. :-D

 

[Biliphuster]

I think to an extent the larger particles will either bed down deeper into the strop or breakdown from life in the abrasive filled environment. Also steel particles will not be harder then the tools you are sharpening so will not have as bad an effect as a piece of grit the same size.

 

[D_W]

Random thought for the day..

Is there a point where a leather strop becomes unusable/unsuitable to use through contamination of metal particles?

IE you charge it with your nondescript green bar and expect it to contain a certain particle size for polishing/refining your tool edge - and through use it becomes loaded with particles of steel from the tools and ends up being less effective (courser). Maybe tiny bits of wire edge lodged in the fibres?

Is this complete rubbish? Again it's just a random thought provoked by the other thread I was reading.

Please excuse the poor English, I'm from Essex.

If your leather is mounted on something hard like a wood paddle, you can sand the surface of the strop. You can also scrape it with a card scraper. It should last almost indefinitely if you're a hobbyist. It's nice to have a broken in strop more so than a new one.

This presumes (more or less) that you are keeping the smooth side up.

I hate wire edge particles in the strop, they always mar the edge, so I use a bovine strop with the smooth side out, and when I see a couple, I scrape the strop and re-oil it. Works well.

To get the most out of even a bare leather strop, it's important to keep it clean of anything other than oil or maybe some iron filings that are not large pieces of wire edge.

 

[bugbear]

Given that you can easily clean a strop...

How do you clean a strop, please?

BugBear

 

[paulm]

I use a card scraper, edge of a steel ruler or similar to scrape off old compound and metal deposits, then refresh with new compound, only takes a few minutes now and again.

 

[bugbear]

I use a card scraper, edge of a steel ruler or similar to scrape off old compound and metal deposits, then refresh with new compound, only takes a few minutes now and again.

Are you removing a layer of dirty leather, or just a layer of dirt from the leather?

BugBear

 

[Glynne]

There is mention of oil in this thread and I know Peter Sefton suggests the use of baby oil (still talking about about strops!). I' assuming this is part of the cleaning process and then you reapply the compound?

 

[Rorschach]

There is mention of oil in this thread and I know Peter Sefton suggests the use of baby oil (still talking about about strops!). I' assuming this is part of the cleaning process and then you reapply the compound?

Depends if you use compound or not, some do, some don't.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Is a rare earth magnet any use for collecting steel particles?

 

[paulm]

I use a card scraper, edge of a steel ruler or similar to scrape off old compound and metal deposits, then refresh with new compound, only takes a few minutes now and again.

Are you removing a layer of dirty leather, or just a layer of dirt from the leather?

BugBear

The latter, although maybe an inconsequential amount of the former in the process I guess.

 

[essexalan]

I usually try to hone the wire edge off with my finishing stone but you will hear a piece of steel on your strop while you are stropping and you want to get rid of it. Usually I just rub the strop down with the side of the plane iron or chisel blade and clean with a spray bottle of leather cleaner/conditioner from Wilkcos, that's wood or leather strops. I never oil strops.

 

[thetyreman]

I also use a scraper to remove the dirt, it works very well.

 

[D_W]

Is a rare earth magnet any use for collecting steel particles?

No, they'll be smeared onto the strop and some will be stuck into the leather like wire stuck through shoelace holes. Not all of them, but a lot of them. It's easier just to scrape the leather until you see no metal winking back at you. Most of what comes off is probably just filth, and the amount of leather that gives way is very small.

 

[No skills]

My imagination wasn't running complete wild then

I can see why people get lost in the rabbit hole of sharpening there's certainly a lot to play with, luckily I don't need any more hobbies.

Thanks for the input folks.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

There's a lot to be said for making a little case or box to keep the strop in - keep it protected from all the other grit and muck sources that tend to proliferate in workshops when it's not actually being used. That would extend the time intervals between clean-ups, possibly by quite a lot. Above all - keep it well away from grinders!

 

[No skills]

That's not a bad idea, especially for those of us that mix materials a lot when making.

 

[bugbear]

There's a lot to be said for making a little case or box to keep the strop in - keep it protected from all the other grit and muck sources that tend to proliferate in workshops when it's not actually being used. That would extend the time intervals between clean-ups, possibly by quite a lot. Above all - keep it well away from grinders!

True for all stones/abrasives at the finer end of the scale.

BugBear

 

[beech1948]

I read the title and wondered why the aurthor was talking about small children. My kids strop limits are about 4 minutes normally.....you know on the floor legs kicking, wailing, screaming and crying accompanied by Dad's laughter.

You can tell that I don't use a strop.

Al

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

Given that you can easily clean a strop...

How do you clean a strop, please?

BugBear

I clean my strop with a rag moistened with solvents, like mineral spirits, or what I use on my stones-Marvel Mystery Oil. Does a fine job of removing dirt and any compound remnants.

My strop is mounted on a piece of hardwood and now several decades olde-just getting broken in!