Stropping compound?

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CPH

Tenderfoot
Jan 2, 2025
55
16
61
Suffolk
Hello again folks.
I have just received a King whetstone through the post from Japan.
I want to purchase some stropping compound and have seen one chap on YouTube suggesting that Autosol can be used as effectively. I was wondering if anyone has any feedback on that idea please?
The main consensus among the YouTube community though seems to be for the Smurf Pooh.
I have various pieces of appropriate leather, so I don’t want to buy a package of any sort. I was also wondering whether anybody has a link to a reliable source for the aforementioned Smurf stuff online please?
 
You can pay over the top for various 'special compounds' but, in the end, it's just a metal polishing compound whatever anyone says - Autosol works just fine as do other metal polishes.

Having said that, you can get Smurf Poo cheaper than Autosol :)
Ok thank you.
Can you recommend somewhere to buy the Smurf Poo?
 
It is worth pointing out that not everywhere that advertises something as "Smurf Poo" is actually the same stuff.

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https://
youtu.be/hZSen2d475Y?si=SNVJyKMcfdVd2FCt&t=176
(sorry, owner blocks video embedding, so linking to the 3:14 point is blocked, and BCUK insists on embedding all youtube url links.)

More than one place describes the blue buffing bars as "Smurf Poo", and I remember when people referred to the Starkey Sharp blue compound bars as "Smurf Poo". I don't know for sure whether what is now marketed as Smurf Poo was around then and people were being sloppy calling any blue stropping abrasive "Smurf Poo", or whether the slang term entered use and bolpol chose to use it for an actual product. I lean towards believing the latter.

In the early days of this forum I was much more closely involved with knife stuff (British Blades, meets, hammer-ins, and shows) and I don't remember ever seeing the tubs of soft paste now sold as Smurf Poo, but I do remember the term being applied to Starkey Sharp bars.

Bars must be rubbed vigorously on your strop so that by friction and heat it deposits a layer of abrasive waxy stuff (compound) on the strop. With use, the surface of the compound on the strop will develop a metallic glaze and after a while stops cutting and needs to be renewed. Renewing might initially mean just scrubbing some more compound on top, but will soon involve scraping glazed dirty waxy compound off the strop with a steel edge that you don't care about dulling.

In contrast, Autosol, Tormek paste, and Flitz are solvent based creamy pastes that come in tubes, and dry to a powdery consistency on the strop This makes them easier to renew on the strop and less messy to deal with when glazing happens. The strop can be brushed to break up the glaze and expose the leather again.

I haven't used bolpol Smurf Poo paste, but it looks like a water based version of Autosol etc, with similar behaviour for refreshing. Might have to try some since my 24 year old Tormek tube is almost finished!

Bar polishing compound is easier to deal with for field sharpening since a small piece can be sawn off the already small stick and carried in a micro zip bag or pot. Autosol et al need to be stored in a squeeze tube and are less convenient for travelling, I have tried putting them in film pots and the like, and they just dry out.
 
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Starkie Blue, as Chris says, is the original stuff. I’m not keen, I find it glazes over quickly. I bought some diamond paste that’s been good, you can feel it cutting and it leaves a mirror edge.
 
While toothpaste does work in that it is an abrasive paste.
I found it does not work anywhere near as well as any of the blue coloured abrasives.
I presume it's something to do with the amount of abrasive particles in the paste and/or a different size?
 
While toothpaste does work in that it is an abrasive paste.
I found it does not work anywhere near as well as any of the blue coloured abrasives.
I presume it's something to do with the amount of abrasive particles in the paste and/or a different size?
Probably a softer particle, and uneven size. A problem with any poor quality or cheap abrasive is even particle size.
 
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