Stropping question

[BasketballJones]

The older boy asked a question, so maybe he is showing an interest. Of course I can't answer it. I explained the honing/stropping process, strop often rather than hone, trailing the edge et all.

The question. If you just want to touch it up (sharpen edge) why not push it forward on the strop with the abrasive compound to get the edge instead of using the stone then trail it on the strop to remove the burr?

Because that is not the way to hone and strop does not qualify as an answer to a 15 yr old.

A good way to answer this is to get out a good magnifier and look at the edge of a blade you have just sharpened on a stone or diamond hone. *You will actually see the 'wire edge' as a fine trailing film of steel that is attached to the very cutting edge of the blade. *This is caused when the abrasive action of the stone/hone pushes some of the abraded metal away from the edge, but does not quite remove it; just kind of rolls it around toward the back. *

When you strop the edge, *by pulling the blade away from the edge across the leather strop, you force this microscopically thin piece of steel to come loose from the blade. *If you were to push the edge into the strop, as you would when sharpening, the edge would likely cut into the strop, roll toward the strop and actually dull the blade, although it would probably remove the burr.


If all you want to do is remove the burr, you can just cut several times into a soft pice of pine, basswood, etc.

Before I got into carving, I used to strop my pocket and hunting knives on the back of a wide belt, with no compound at all, and it worked very well for removing the wire edge.

The compound you use, whether white, tripoli, green or jewelers rouge further adds to the process by polishing out the microscopic grooves cut into the edge by the stone. *The smoother you can get the actual cutting edge, the less resistance you have when cutting into your stock material.

Take that same good magnifier and inspect the blade in all the various stages and you can see the development of a 'razor' edge. *Seeing it happen is far more convincing than being told!

Just re-read your question, and I'll add that a 'touch up' stropping is not done to resharpen the blade, but to remove microscopic nicks and scratches in the edge, and there is no need to go the abrasive route of using a stone. When you push a blade against a stone or steel sharpener, you are dealing with a non- conforming surface and the blade simply rides over the abrasive surface. Leather or even wood strops are relatively soft and flexible, and the cutting edge of the tool will dig into the surface, as stated before, and actually work to dull the edge.

Al

[BasketballJones]

Thanks AlArchie. That was a wonderful answer and one I even understood. Now he's having a problem understanding women. Would you care to tackle that one for me.

Again thanks for the response. I have printed it out for myself as well.

Ken

[don]

Women? Never use anything abraisive on them, they can develop a really wicked wirey edge Don

thought for sure someone would say 'you have to take a strop to them occasionally'! :

Nope! Not on a bet!

Al

[FK]

I agree with the magnifing lens for inspection of the knife or tool edge while learning sharpening.

This should be a standard recommended 'tool' for anyone begining the sharpening process. Take a 10X lens and examine the edge under strong direct light, move the knife arround and watch the light reflect from the surfaces. This will show very clearly why some knives cut very smoothly and with little effort. You can also see the wire edge and great improvement from leather / compound stropping.

Regards,
Fred Krow

:-[

Question and remark...

So as i understand it stropping your cutting edge is only to be done after raising a wire edege, after honing a knive?
Did i get this right? ???

becuse i have always used the strop or red rouge on a wooden stick for touch up sharpening... The Thought was that i'd be saving my favorite chip knife from being ground away by the continued honing.. like grandpaws, old case pocket knife, which was just a toothpick reminate of the blade left from all the continous years of honing... ?

[hr]
since a sharp knife cuts with less resestance, and polishing the blade helps it slip through cutting with less effort, we should keep our blades as sharp as possible, as well as polished to a mirror finish..

With a sharp edege.
Your dont have to force the edege to do work, resulting in better well defigned cuts, less tearing, 'in softer woods', by using too much pressure you usualy get cut more often,
:-X and
finger cuts heal faster when made with a real sharp knife,

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression about stropping after sharpening to get rid of the wire edge, as the ONLY time to strop. That is important, but if you'll read my answer down the page, I also said that stropping is also meant as a method to remove microscopic nicks and scratches on the cutting edge. I should have mentioned to do this whenever the blade starts to drag as you are carving. You are absolutely right about keeping that edge polished by stropping during the carving process.

In the last paragraph I said (which may have been the point of not being so clear) that stropping is not done to resharpen the blade, but to remove those microscopic nicks and scratches. I probably should have explained that I consider 'resharpening' to mean going to the stone. You should need to do this only rarely once you have established a good cutting edge. Then a touch up on the strop will tune the blade up just fine.

I didn't really mean this to be an instructional on stropping, but was answering a question about exactly what the stropping does and why not to strop like you sharpen by pushing the blade into the strop.

Thanks for pointing out this bit of confusion....it will probably save some steel on a few blades!

Al

[BasketballJones]

I frequently click on so many links on this board that I missed an obvious sharpening illustration on CLifford Parker's linkpage.