'Soap' to use on leather 'strop'

[SVB]

Hi folks,

At Waka's bash I watched Philly do a really great, down to earth, demo on sharpening, the final part of that was a quick wipe or two on a leather strop mounted onto some mdf.

My question is about the soap / compound to use on this leather. I have made myself a little strop up and have used the polishing compound that I got with my wetstone sharpening system (Autosol from memory).

However, in no time this toothpaste like stuff dries out and over time will just end up clogging the leather. Assuming this is not the desired outcome:

Philly used some sort of bar of stuff. (a) what is the bar of stuff? (b) when applied does it retain its 'moisture' or is the drying and clogging part of the game and does it matter?

Sorry for all the questions but this stropping has really made a huge difference to the results I am able to achieve and I would like to get it right!

Thanks in advance.
Simon

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi Simon,

On my leather strop I use Vaseline and jewellers rouge

The Vaseline keeps the leather moist and mine never dries out. Just put a small amount on and rub it in with your finger. You don't need to apply the Vaseline very often - I haven't added any for months.

The various honing compounds differ in the base material used. Some are hard to apply in cold weather. The jewellers rouge I use (maroon colour) stays soft and is always easy to apply. You don't need to use much - you can see from the stripes in the picture how much I use. Jewellers rouge is the finest of the various compounds so will give a very sharp edge.

Hope this helps.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Racers]

Hi, Simon

I use Autosol on mine it and a drop of water to wake it up. I have not had any problems with it cloging up.

Pete

 

[Philly]

Simon
I use a green compound (I bought a metal polishing set with four different grades and liked this results from this one the best). It does dry out - I use a splash of 3-in-1 oil to keep the leather supple.
Glad my little demo was of use!
Cheers
Philly

 

[wizer]

There was me thinking he was using Imperial Leather.... :lol:

 

[woodbloke]

Vaseline is the stuff to use. I use Jewellers Rouge as well and it works very well, but any very fine abrasive would do the job. I've also used Autosol and the white leather wheel polish used on the Tormek - Rob

 

[SVB]

Thanks all - (And thanks Tom!)

S

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

A couple of other options - I made a comparison of diamond paste and green rouge ..."Stropping with Green Rouge verses Diamond Paste"

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/Stroppingwithgreenrougeversesdiamondpaste.html

There is also a tutorial on stropping methods. I would be interested to read about or see yours.

For the record, my preference is green rouge with a little baby oil (scented mineral oil) on horse butt leather.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Philly]

Derek
Any further opinion on the diamond paste now you've had a few more months to play with it?
Cheers
Philly

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Philly

To be honest I have not played with it since then. Too many other projects. But I do want to get back to it,if only to see what a .25 micron strop will do.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Paul Chapman]

There is also a tutorial on stropping methods. I would be interested to read about or see yours.

Hi Derek,

I only ever strop the bevel or micro-bevel with the blade in the honing guide, so as to ensure that the edge is not rounded over. I strop the flat side similar to the way you do it, pressing down on the blade to ensure that it stays flat on the strop.

The main danger with stropping is rounding over the edge and I think care is needed to avoid this.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Tbh, I don't use a strop any more with my current honing set up as it's now redundant. Paul is correct in that the danger of stropping is that the bevel will get rounded over slightly, keeping the blade in the honing guide is one way to minimise that effect - Rob

 

[Philly]

Not to start "Dub Wars", but do you really think a swipe on a strop will round over the edge? This is an extremely fine abrasive?
I believe the main advantage of the strop is that it IS soft and polishes where a solid abrasive wouldn't touch. This is the reason it revives tired edges.

Try rubbing a finger along your strop and see how much finger is removed :lol:

Cheers
Philly

 

[Paul Chapman]

Not to start "Dub Wars", but do you really think a swipe on a strop will round over the edge? This is an extremely fine abrasive?
I believe the main advantage of the strop is that it IS soft and polishes where a solid abrasive wouldn't touch. This is the reason it revives tired edges.

You are right, Phil. The main point is to be aware of the potential for rounding over and use the strop carefully.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[bugbear]

Not to start "Dub Wars", but do you really think a swipe on a strop will round over the edge? This is an extremely fine abrasive?
I believe the main advantage of the strop is that it IS soft and polishes where a solid abrasive wouldn't touch. This is the reason it revives tired edges.

Try rubbing a finger along your strop and see how much finger is removed :lol:

Cheers
Philly

On that argument 8000 grit stones don't do anything either!

BugBear

 

[woodbloke]

Not to start "Dub Wars", but do you really think a swipe on a strop will round over the edge? This is an extremely fine abrasive?
I believe the main advantage of the strop is that it IS soft and polishes where a solid abrasive wouldn't touch. This is the reason it revives tired edges.

You are right, Phil. The main point is to be aware of the potential for rounding over and use the strop carefully.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

You're correct of course Philly...wer'e not worthy :lol: :lol: - Rob

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

As I see it, the issue with stropping is this ..

One either uses a strop to hone an edge (after all it is an abrasive) in the same way as one would use a waterstone, etc. The use of a honing guide here is suitable, especially if you are working with secondary bevels (especially micro secondary bevels).

The second use of a strop is for refreshing an edge, thereby delaying having to formally hone the bevel. This is the reason I use a strop.

For freehanders the problem lies with blades that have secondary bevels, because they are small (not necessarily even of the micro type), as it is difficult to balance the blade on this small bevel. On the other hand you would not want to use a strop to refresh a blade if you rely on a honing guide - it is too much effort to set up. You may as well hone on stones.

The advantage of honing freehand on a flat grind or a co-planar hollow grind is that one may strop without concern for dubbing. Add a secondary bevel and you are back to square one (this includes blades with the Ruler Trick). The consequence of all this is that I avoid secondary bevels where I can. The only time I use them is on BU plane blades, and then I use a honing guide.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Benchwayze]

I doubt one swipe across a rouged strop would round an edge over, but it's surprising how much material Jeweller's rouge will remove. Ask any telescope-mirror maker, but be prepared for a lecture on turned down and turned up edge!

That's why the backs of my plane irons and chisels have a fine satin surface rather than a mirror finish.

Just me I guess.

John :wink: