Sharpening Gurus: Strop Advice Wanted

[DMW1116]

I have constructed a guided sharpener of sorts. It seems to work well. I’m currently using diamond stones glued to aluminum plates. I’d like to add a strop after the green diamond stones. I can get leather easily enough and the thickness in one of the aluminum plates will match the stones pretty well. What compound would be good to follow up a DMT Extra Fine green diamond stone?

 

[JohnKSa]

I like quick results and find that Flexcut Gold is pretty decent. The downside is that I find it to be a pain to apply to a leather strop because it's so hard/chalky.

If you want to get really fancy, look at some of the diamond stropping sprays/pastes. You can get them from a number of sources.
https://wickededgeusa.com/collections/stropping-compounds
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Strops-C11.aspx
https://toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/ST-DIAMLAP.XX

For reference in choosing a stropping grit, 1200grit (DMT Green) is about 3 microns. Anything smaller than that would put a finer finish than you'd get from the DMT stone.

That said, a 1200grit finish is really pretty good. If you're working purely for effect, then stopping at a 1200grit isn't going to handicap you any.

 

[DMW1116]

You are correct about the green stone being pretty good. It gives a very sharp edge. Using the strip is more just experimenting than anything else. So far my favorite finish is off a worn coarse blue stone. It’s extremely sharp and frighteningly aggressive. I have a couple of old water stones I’d like to try as well. They’re worn to the point they are fairly thin and I think I will cut them to the same size as the diamond stone or so and try them on a couple of Japanese kitchen knives with laminated blades.

I have a reduced knife collection compared to before so I didn’t see the need to go all out and buy an Edge Pro or similar. There are a couple Spydercos and a Cold Steel folder. I’d like to add a Case in carbon steel and a Benchmade Axis lock of some kind. The bench made would likely require the diamond stones. Most of their models are in steels I’ve found difficult to sharpen to the same level as my other knives.

 

[bikerdoc]

Long ago when I was learning, an old time showed me how he used Mothers Mag Polish on his strops The difference is he put the mothers on a small piece of corrugated cardboard - let it dry and used that to polish THEN just used a leather strip.

I have stones but I prefer Emory paper in various grits from 320 up to 2000.
I do everything by hand except polishing. I cut a circle of mother loaded cardboard and mount it to my rubber sanding disk on my electric drill.
You will get a polished edge you won't believe!

 

[DMW1116]

I’m not really a fan of powered sharpening anymore. Nothing I’ve seen puts a shine on an edge like a leather belt on a belt sander, but until I can slow mine down and/or get some coolant on it I won’t sharpen with it any more. I do like the idea of mother’s Mag but I’ll probably go with diamond or CBN compound to keep consistent with the stones I’m already using. If I mount the water stones and they work I may back up to an aluminum oxide based compound.

 

[Bazoo]

Woodworkers supply sells honing compound for loading strops. It's green and works well both powered and by hand. I have a stick of green that is the same grit, the finest offered for mirror polishing all metals, that came from Sears. I use it on leather and on cardboard, and just on a piece of plywood.

Leather by itself though works plenty good for a final polish on knife edges. Use the smooth side.