Stropping is the practice of buffing the edge of a sharp knife. Typically, this is done using a leather strap and is usually applied to a hard surface.
It may be tough to imagine, but sharpening a knife using a leather strop will result in a substantially sharper cut. A prerequisite is that you have sharpened the knife ahead of time. When it comes to Japanese whetstones, the best stropping you need is refining to at least 5000 grains before beginning stropping. When you start stropping, you will notice an improvement depending on the steel grade and the blade’s hardness.
Stropping eliminates the cut’s final flaws, and as a result, the sharpness has increased. Stripping also has an aesthetic goal: it cuts sparkle like a mirror. Thus, stropped knife is also known as a “mirror-edge.” Many people connect stropping with classic razors, benefiting outdoor knives, pocket knives, and kitchen knives.
When slicing a piece of paper with a non-stropped knife, you will frequently observe that the blade catches and shreds the paper. This also happens with cutting utensils that have already been sharpened. The tearing is replaced with a smooth slice when you strop such a knife. Thus, strops can be a better alternative than a finer-grained grinding stone in some instances.
Is Stropping a Knife Necessary?
Stropping is one of the most romanticized aspects of the sharpening process. Everyone knows they’re meant to do it, some have a belt, and many are doing it incorrectly.
Stropping is the final stage in sharpening your edge. After you’ve sharpened your knife to generate a burr and then honed the burr away, stropping removes the edge’s microscopic irregularities, resulting in a genuine, razor-sharp edge.
Stropping at home is frequently done with a stropping belt or a piece of leather. This is commonly done with a polishing wheel made of felt or MDF with an abrasive paste in knife manufacturing.
Stropping is similar to sharpening since you set the blade before it was honed against the strop and pull. That’s correct, pull. However, rather than pushing your knife forward as you sharpen, you want to remove it inward so that the material takeoff goes off the edge of the blade.
One of the most common mistakes people make while stropping is changing the angle of their strop from the angle at which they sharpen. If you come in too shallow, you won’t truly make touch with the edge.
Is Strop Dressing Necessary?
Strop dressing or strop treatments are classified as abrasive or non-abrasive. It is necessary to remember that pastes should only be used on leather strops that have been designated for that purpose.
Strop dressing is commonly associated with leather razor strops; however, it has been shown that its benefits extend to any smooth leather strop. Rubbing the leather dressing into the soft leather of a strop offers the surface just the proper amount of drag for optimum stropping.
It is critical to preserve the quality of the leather while using a leather strop for everyday use; this is best accomplished with a non-abrasive yellow strop paste. The paste should be pushed into the leather strop sparingly with the palm of your hand and with light pressure. Treatment with yellow paste will maintain the leather strop smooth and keep it from drying out, which could cause crevices and damage to the razor.
Green grease is a coarse abrasive strop paste designed to be used with a hanging leather strop, the green side of a handheld leather strop, or the leather side of a handheld leather and honing stone strop. The ‘daily usage’ strop should never be used with green strop paste, and this should only be used when the razor’s edge begins to dull.
Do You Need to Strop After Sharpening?
Stropping is a vital stage in knife sharpening because it realigns the knife’s cutting edge, removes excess metal, and polishes and smooths the blade.
A strop is a surface used for the final stage of sharpening after the most delicate stone. A strop aims to polish the edge and remove any burrs left behind by sharpening stones. Strops are typically constructed of leather, though other materials are employed.
Suede and smooth leathers, often known as flesh side and grain side, are both utilized. They can be firm, like leather on wood paddle strop, or flexible, like a leather and linen razor strop.
When a strop is harsh to touch, it is considerably more effective. With a rougher strop, you will realize that you can polish faster. Roughening the strop is easy and can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
Stropping is typically used to distinguish between a sharp knife and a shaving knife. Stripping removes the edge’s microscopic abnormalities after you’ve sharpened your knife to form a burr and then refined the burr away, resulting in a genuine, razor-sharp edge.
Is A Strop OK For Kitchen Knives?
Stropping is the process of cleaning the edge of a sharp knife. Many people connect stropping with classic razors, benefiting outdoor knives, pocket knives, and kitchen knives. Using a compound, paste, or emulsion improves the polishing.
- Pull the knife slowly across the strop, towards the back of the blade. The knife keeps the strop from cutting. The strop can be used to cover the whole cup, ensuring that the knife’s heel is also touched after the strop.
- The best stropping is found in the middle of the blade from the tip down along the leather in one rapid but subtle motion. That sounds more difficult than it is. However, it guarantees that the blade’s core, which is the most frequently used, is as smoothly polished as possible.
- You repeat the preceding steps until you see that progress is slowing. You can now select a more refined grain size as an option. When you’re satisfied, carefully move the cut along the strop using only the knife’s weight as pressure.
- A wire brush can be used to toughen up your strop. Do not assault the leather straight once, but rather begin softly to assess how much pressure you need to use to roughen it up. You can toughen the surface by moving the saw sideways across the strop, and just be careful not to over-damage the strop.
The main picture is from Wtshymanski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
