A few questions on strops...

[Hammock Hamster]

Hi Guys,

I have two strops i use to finish off when sharpening bladed tools one is wood backed and used with a cutting agent (smurf poo) and the other is a barber style strop used just on its own.

My questions are when using a cutting agent should i be scraping off the residue after each use (as it turns black and shiny due to the metal being removed) or if not should i be doing this periodically?

Also i tend to used the wood backed strop with cutting agent first then finish off on the barbers strop, it makes sense in my mind to do it this way as the barber strop is just a quick final polish but is this correct?

All the best, Hamster

 

[Stringmaker]

I do it the same way that you described in terms of the sequence. I also clean the dried compound off my wood backed honing block every time, so I'm interested in the comments too.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

I do it the same way that you described in terms of the sequence. I also clean the dried compound off my wood backed honing block every time, so I'm interested in the comments too.

My tip of the day is - dont use the edge of your freshly honed blade to scrape off the compound as this somewhat undoes all your hard work!

 

[robevs73]

I clean it off after use and use autosol on the second strop.

 

[Perrari]

I don't use any compounds when stropping, just plain leather on a board. I can get my knives razor sharp without the compounds so have never tried them.

 

[MartiniDave]

So far I've never removed the residue from my wooden backed strop, I just add a little bit more from time to time.
I don't add any abrasive to my barber type strops at all.

Sometimes, when I use a really fine, hard probably antique stone, I don't even find I need to strop, but it is a VERY VERY fine stone, almost glassy in appearance.

Dave