O/T knife shapening

Ive always used a stone but the other day a heard a leather strap would sharpen a knife better. Anyone heard this before or know if it works? Thanks for any and all replies.

My family has been in the leather business for many years and in that business a sharp knife is a neccessity.A strop is used to put a finish edge on a knife that has been sharpened on a stone.A strop is a leather strap that has a fine grinding powder on it called jewelers rouge.It will put a very slick finish on a knife sharpened on a fine stone such as a hard Arkansas stone.

Do you know of any stores that sell strops? Sounds like something i ought to get. Thanks.

guess you are a youngster, they used to sharpen straight razors on a razor strop, all the barber shops had them. If you google it up I am sure it will point you in the right direction

It's called a razor strop. They hang on the barbers chair in the barber shop. That's what they sharpen their razors on. You could probably get one where they sell that kind of equipment, or you could use the sole of your shoe, or an old belt.

Might check with a barber supply house; doesn't your barber keep a strop hanging on the chair that he hits a few times with the straight razor before running it around your ears?

Unless there is need for a razor edge,the strop is not nessary. Like some one said already,you must sharpen on a stone before stroping. Brings back memories of barbers using straight razors. Come to think of it,the term stroping was used to describe useing said strop on an unruly ladd.

When were you born?

Just get an old belt and strop the blade a few times after you use the stone, you don"t need any polishing compound. You can get a razor sharp edge

Yes it dose after I sharpen my shining and carving knives I run them over a long leather belt. and yes it put a nice edge on your knife.
All so as I use them I use the belt just to keep them sharp, But the trick is get the knife sharp
first. Good Luck From : JR Frye

As the barber said below the strop has rouge (1200 to 2000 grit (silicon carbide is better than most other powders) A plain leather strap will take off the Micro Burrs that are the result of stone work. This will make it feel smoother, but be little sharper than it was from the stone. Holding the knife at the correct angle (for the intended use) throughout the path on the stone, making the last passes in the direction of the cut only, (not backwards) and with light pressure, will get it to the point that a polish embedded strop will make it real sharp. (again keep the angle as intended! JimN

Both of these sites sell strops. If you want more, Gogle the search terms "shaving with a straight razor"

www.classicshaving.com/
www.premiumknives.com/.../

yeah i reckon im young, born 17 years agos and no, my barber doesnt use a straight blade. Hes just got the electric one. Ive just been wonder cause my huntin knife is gettin mighty dull and don't cut like it use to, what do you guys think a good angle is, i always used to try and get 20 degress? Thanks for all the help.

I knife has to already be pretty sharp before you can strop it. I like to sharpen my knives and plane irons with Japanese waterstones. You can put as fine and edge as you like, just keep going to finer stones.

I know a little about the razor strop. My father had a straight razor and used the strop on it, but used it on me more. lol. C.L.

We got some thing at work that we use to sharpen ours. I forgot what its called but the old sign says as seen on TV so we've all might have seen the ad once. It works really good cause I use it to sharpen mine every time I'm there. Is so sharp that it will cut Bale netting in one slashing motion when I get strands that won't pull off and it cuts Square Bale twine in one pass, I just pull up from under the twine. The way to test a knifes sharpens is to cut paper. If it goes right thru it is sharp, if not, continue to sharpen until it does. I can sharpen by sound, but thats a learned skill.
Alex

A strop is like a steel. It's intended to touch up the edge of an otherwise sharp knife. No amount of time on a steel or a strop will sharpen a dull edge. And the guys are right, a strop is more than just leather. The grain of the leather holds the polishing rouge that works with the finish of the leather to make things just nice.

It sounds like you're just plain dulled at this point. That means wokring way down from coarser to finer stones to get it to where a steel will knock any wire off and a strop might help to finish it. The amount of work on each stone will depend on the metal in your blade.

Ceramic will do an outstanding edge.

Coarse stone, then fine with water, If you don't have strop leather shoe will do. Will shave you if you do it right.

Steiger: a few thoughts--first, as has been mentioned, you cannot sharpen a knife on a strop--it will make a sharp knife sharper, but it will not make a dull knife sharp. The function of stropping is to roll the very, very thin edge of the knife over so it is straight, remove any burrs along that edge, and polish the edge. While compound will help, it is not necessary--millions of knives have been stropped without it with perfectly adequate results. You can buy pre-made strops but it's just as easy to take an old leather belt, glue it to a piece of board, and use that--I keep several at convenient places like above my workbenches, at hunting camp, etc. The same technique is also useful on chisels, plane irons, drawknives, and many other edged tools. However, it's MUCH more important to get the edge of your knife formed correctly than it is to strop the blade, because without a properly formed edge you can strop until you're blue in the face and your knife will be no sharper. In a nutshell, you use a coarse stone to form the edge and remove any large nicks, then a fine stone to polish the edge and remove any marks from the coarse stone, then a strop to roll the edge and polish out any marks left from the fine stone. You can use additional grits if you have to (I sometimes use 5+ different ones on very dull blades that need to be very sharp) but that's the basics. As a side note, if you're ever lost alone in the woods, a handy technique is to take out your knife and begin sharpening it--withing 10 seconds, 5 different people will leap from the the underbrush to tell you you're doing it all wrong and offer to show you the right way, and all 5 will do it differently!

As far as a strop other then leather I have used ceramic, old gas light tubes, newsprint, doesn't need to be leather. I sharpen my knives reguarly so a coarse stone in my case hollows out pretty fast so as I walk by my shop I will put on my belt sander a 180 grit flex belt and grind a slight feather on the edge and then I have fine hone sitting on the bench that I swipe the feather off with and the knife ends up real sharp and I strop it on my pant leg a few times.

The edge used on the coarse stone can be about 20 degrees and then using the fine hone you increase the angle more, to say 25 degrees. so you should have a angle of relief ground in with the coarse stone and then the cutting edge is the steeper angle.

About everyone has a different method they use and for many their method works best for them while not at all for others.

I use a stone and then switch to 2000 grit wet or dry paper to finish the job. While I place the paper on a piece of glass others prefer to use spray adhesive or other to hold it on. I've not found that necessary.

I was in my teens before I realized the leather strop in the barber shop was really for honing straight razors.
My Father always told us that big leather strap was for kids who didn't behave.

I think I heard that too. It's been years since I've been to a barber that used a straight razor and hot lather to do my sideburns, ears, and neck and wipe with a hot towel. Kinda miss it. Had a barber that used a hand vibrator where he slipped his hand in under the springs and gave everyones shoulders a short rub down. Really hit the spot and a nice customer service addition. Good reason to keep going back.