Spyderco Forums

I was reading some material on sharpening and I read about leather stroppers and these stropping blocks which have the stropping material and abrasive compound in it, attached to a wooden block. My question is this: Regarding my Spyderco knives, would you all recommend me use the strop blocks as a simple, cheap, easy to do sharpening, instead of having to use stones, SharpMaker, or any other sharpening system, or, are the strops not a complete sharpening system, rather, more for finishing ?

Can I get my Endura "Scary shaving sharp" on a strop block?

Definitely use a strop but it's in no way a complete system. Stropping is more for touch ups and after a sharpening.

dubya3 wrote:Definitely use a strop but it's in no way a complete system. Stropping is more for touch ups and after a sharpening.

Thank you. Do you think the strop blocks for sharpening a standard Saber Ground Endura would work or if one is using the stops its best to use the traditional ones for touching up the edge?

What do you mean by standard ones?

I mean a standard leather strop as opposed to the strop blocks.

I believe the block just keeps the leather flat which is what you want anyway. I don't use them but a mounted piece of leather like that should work fine for you I'd think.

Stropping is useful in touching up an edge. I use it as part of a sharpening largely to deburr the edge, especially after coarse stones that can raise a large burr. Leather, wine corks, coarse felt, newspaper all work well.

Hanging strops as used by barbers are not great for knives. Mounted strops can be good, but it is easy to dub over the edge by pressing too hard.

Spydercos arent special all blades lpve to be stroped.its the steel not the knife or maker.spyderco doesn't have a secret formula on steel .or edges.yes they come sharp but its up to you to keep it that way

endgame wrote:Spydercos arent special all blades lpve to be stroped.its the steel not the knife or maker.spyderco doesn't have a secret formula on steel .or edges.yes they come sharp but its up to you to keep it that way

They may have a secret heat treat, don't forget about that. But yeah the way the question was worded it doesn't matter if it's a spyderco, will moon or a Gerber, they all take to a strop.

euphorbioid wrote:Stropping is useful in touching up an edge. I use it as part of a sharpening largely to deburr the edge, especially after coarse stones that can raise a large burr. Leather, wine corks, coarse felt, newspaper all work well.

Deburring remains the reason I keep the stropping blocks I made awhile ago among my sharpening tools.

Yes, the black, white, green and red compounds that I melt on my leather-faced blocks will give me a mirror on the bevel and even a barber's razor, but all I really need (and have the sustained interest to maintain) is a working edge.

Nothing ruins a working edge like a burr.

I typically run my knives over the Sharpmaker's browns, then deburr them with very light passes over my black, then white strops.

If I feel my working edge is failing and I see no flats on the apex, I might go to the strops for a touch-up instead of going to the SM browns.

wrdwrght wrote:

euphorbioid wrote:Stropping is useful in touching up an edge. I use it as part of a sharpening largely to deburr the edge, especially after coarse stones that can raise a large burr. Leather, wine corks, coarse felt, newspaper all work well.

Deburring remains the reason I keep the stropping blocks I made awhile ago among my sharpening tools.

Yes, the black, white, green and red compounds that I melt on my leather-faced blocks will give me a mirror on the bevel and even a barber's razor, but all I really need (and have the sustained interest to maintain) is a working edge.

Nothing ruins a working edge like a burr.

I typically run my knives over the Sharpmaker's browns, then deburr them with very light passes over my black, then white strops.

If I feel my working edge is failing and I see no flats on the apex, I might go to the strops for a touch-up instead of going to the SM browns.

^^ Yep, same here.

After sharpening on the SharpMaker, I use the strop to de-burr, makes a huge difference. First on the courser side (white compound), then the finer side (green compound).

I really like the strop I got about 6 months ago, from StropMan, who was new to me, but great product. Mine is the HD Compact (with white & green compound), but he has quite a few others (see them here). Very impressed with the quality, just really nice workmanship for a good value, and it works.

Here's an excellent video talking about it - https://youtu.be/wb9x-3q0Esk

Dan

I recommend Heavy Handed washboard that reduce the potential rounding effect. Check him out over BF.

Recently I rarely use strop. Finishing on old DMT EEF and Spyderco UF with ultra light edge leading pass. If I strop at all, it'll be on washboard.

Strops definitely have their place, but I think far too many people rely on them to counter poor sharpening techniques.

That said, I'll just leave this right here.
https://youtu.be/O3oK8nKkX0A

I don't strop. My knives are always sharp. I used to strop a little but it doesn't do much for me. They work but you do not need them and by themselves they certainly do not compose a complete system.

bearfacedkiller wrote:I don't strop. My knives are always sharp. I used to strop a little but it doesn't do much for me. They work but you do not need them and by themselves they certainly do not compose a complete system.

Well the problem with using them exclusively is the condition of the edge after repeated use/strop/repeat. No matter what compound you use, unless you're using diamond DUST to the point that you can reprofile a bevel on your strop (which brings up a slew of other huge problems like how can you clean all that contaminated crap out of the strop?), you can't remove enough metal from the edge to remove the damaged teeth that become bent over from use. So, like a barber's razor, what you're doing is standing up those teeth, but they become fragile from being bent back and forth and stressed. So, there goes your edge retention. This may not matter to some people, but it's something to consider. When we have things at our disposal like the Sharpmaker with UF rods that are insanely easy to touch up an edge on, it seems kinda silly to rely solely on a strop to "maintain" an edge unless you're ok with a weakened edge.

Yup, I agree 100%. I would rather remove metal and create a new edge every time and the sharpmaker makes that too easy so why do anything else?

Strop related...what do you guys do when your strops become over loaded with compound, what is the best way to remove old compound down to fresh leather again or does it even matter, just let it build up?

farnorthdan wrote:Strop related...what do you guys do when your strops become over loaded with compound, what is the best way to remove old compound down to fresh leather again or does it even matter, just let it build up?

Well, this is why I prefer to NOT glue my strop to anything. I have gone so far as to scrape the leather raw and wash it in an attempt to clean all the contamination out. Then I just hope the new layer of compound at least covers anything that's left behind. I just lay my strop on the edge of my desk when I use it, same effect as being glued to a board. Then I hang them on a nail out of the way.

Evil D wrote:

farnorthdan wrote:Strop related...what do you guys do when your strops become over loaded with compound, what is the best way to remove old compound down to fresh leather again or does it even matter, just let it build up?

Well, this is why I prefer to NOT glue my strop to anything. I have gone so far as to scrape the leather raw and wash it in an attempt to clean all the contamination out. Then I just hope the new layer of compound at least covers anything that's left behind. I just lay my strop on the edge of my desk when I use it, same effect as being glued to a board. Then I hang them on a nail out of the way.

I use flexxx strop field pro 2, not glued to a paddle but really thick piece of leather. Usually I just scrape off the build up but there's got to be a better way to get it cleaner.