Cereal sharpener

[Seagull]

Its more than likely "old-hat" with the sharpening guys, but heres what happens when I used stropping crayon with cardboard, instead of the usual leather strop.

,Taint all that clear, but large deposits of something (no its not the blade coating).
Must be that the lack of flex, (using the cardboard atop a hard flat surface) does something that a leather strop doesnt do.

All that Ive seen happen, with the strop, is that the crayon deposit gets a good glazing.

Axe certainly feels a lot sharper than its ever been.

So, can I take it that porridge boxes are the sharpening secret that no-one talks about?


Ceeg

 

[OldJimbo]

So, can I take it that porridge boxes are the sharpening secret that no-one talks about?

We've surely tried to spread the word - but a person has to see to believe.

 

[laurens ch]

I usually strop on charged cereal cardboard too. I can’t think of a good reason why it should give better results though, perhaps the give of the strop means the knife edge is scraped too much

 

[OldJimbo]

With leather one has to treat it first with neatsfoot oil. That will allow the wax medium for the chromium oxide to dissolve in. It's also the reason to use old scraps of leather since it isn't great for an expensive strop. Most neatsfoot oil these days is really some petroleum product.
It's well worthwhile trying different types of cardboard and paper to see which works best and remember to use the thinnest layer of GBC possible. Otherwise the blade is just skating around on a layer of wax. The particles are 0.5 micron so the wax should be just sufficient to bind them to the fibres of the paper.
Chromium oxide is very abrasive so whatever you are using it on should start turning black with removed metal almost right away. Otherwise you've spread it too thick.

 

[Seagull]

Mornin, OJ.

I have to admit to previously being a little sceptical about this technique, indeed, about the whole stropping thing. It always seemed laden with lots of wizardry, obscure materials and optimum lunar phases.

Results were mostly in the imagination, I,m sure; but this cardboard thing, is something that can be seen to be actually doing something. Therefore, its believable.

Right! now where,s my chisels!


Ceeg

 

[OldJimbo]

The reason I like the cardboard and green buffing compound routine is that a person can see just how effective it is and it's pretty basic.
Once a person gets on to straight razors and razor blades then stuff comes up that does seem like alchemy. The strangest thing is that I've found the most improbable stuff to be factual -like resting razor edges and never stropping after shaving. And how can the finishing side of a strop work when it's non-abrasive?

 

[addyb]

Yeah uhm.....I got bored last night, and for no reason at all I stropped my favourite SAK on a cereal box. It's....very shiny.

 

[sargey]

for folks who would like to experiment without spending money, have a root round in the garage and see if you can find some Autosol or tcut scratch remover or other polishing compounds and apply them to your cornflake box. for those who don't eat cereals you could try the cardboard backing off an A4 paper refill pad, or use the whole pad, it makes a nice slightly firmer alternative to the mousemat.

cheers, and.

 

[Stew]

for folks who would like to experiment without spending money, have a root round in the garage and see if you can find some Autosol or tcut scratch remover or other polishing compounds and apply them to your cornflake box. for those who don't eat cereals you could try the cardboard backing off an A4 paper refill pad, or use the whole pad, it makes a nice slightly firmer alternative to the mousemat.

cheers, and.

toothpaste will work too, although not as good as autosol.

 

[-Switch-]

I've made a strop by sticking a piece of mousemat to a block of wood then sticking an old souvenir leather bookmark to the mat, rough side up, and smearing a small amount of toothpaste into it.
It works better than the old belt I was using - very shiny and a good edge.

 

[addyb]

Yes, there's really nothing quite like GBC on a blade. I owe Jimbo big time.

Adam

 

[EdS]

I tried the cardboard this morning with some of the stropping stuf from starky - very impressed. Went a stage further and gave the blade a light stropping on some top quality printer letter paper (old soliciters letters) - cool. Guess this is as this type of paper has a fine layer of clay on it.

 

[OldJimbo]

Finishing up on paper can be great if a person will do some experimenting. I've been fixing up some old straight razors using fine emery paper, buffing compound on paper, and then plain paper for finishing. I wanted to see if I could do as well as with the proper hones and strops. It certainly worked.

 

[Seagull]

Brilliant! aint it?

I gotta admit that it looks like I,ve been doing it wrong, all this long time.

Well, H*ll, who is it who cant learn something new? eh?

Yer Man, OJ. He,s yer man.

O.course, the next question, is............

Whats the secret ingredient used in porridge boxes?




Ceeg

 

[OldJimbo]

Whats the secret ingredient used in porridge boxes?

I'd guess the weave of the cardboard and stiffeners. While it may sound ridiculous, there is a huge difference in the way the GBC sticks to paper and cardboard, and so it sure pays to try different kinds. A very light coating just sticks the tiny chromium oxide grains to the fibres by the wax - the cardboard shouldn't look like a waxed floor.
It's worth remembering too, that while GBC on cardboard works well for fine polishing, an old leather belt soaked in oil ( even motor oil - though real neatsfoot is best) with valve grinding compound is great for more aggressive stropping and ripping off wire edges with little edge damage.
And now off to test how well the edges work!

 

[RGRBOX]

Holy sh*t! I learned a lot today... I want to thanks you guys... Now I need to get to the kitchen, and get busy on my wife's knives next.... And to think people spend all of that money on high spped leather stromps....

Thanks agian guys,

MIke B.

 

[OldJimbo]

Be a bit careful with getting all the kitchen knives sharp - people often don't expect them to be and get into bad habits!
The green buffing compound sure does a good job of bringing up stainless steel cutlery like new, so lots of work to keep you busy while you GRADUALLY bring the kitchen knives to sharpness.

 

[RGRBOX]

Thanks for the advice Jimbo...