Help with strop frustration
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Hi Kevin,
Could I ask – why do you feel a need to heat the leather? Is it because the temperature is very cold in your workshop? The real problem is that the wax holding the abrasive compound together is too hard. You will also find that you need far less of the abrasive on the strop. They work best when there is minimal abrasive on the leather – indeed some have said on this forum that you technically don’t need any abrasive at all on a strop. A few drops of oil or kerosene softens the compound up enough to spread it throughout the leather. If you get compound coming off the strop on the tool being honed, then you have too much compound on the strop.
MarkMark,
Heating the leather was something I had seen several other people do and decided to give it a try. It does get cold out in my workshop. It is not insulated or heated. Perhaps the oil is doing all the work of softening the compound, and the heat is unnecessary, so I’ll try skipping that part of it next time. I don’t personally know any other person who works wood this way and so I have to teach myself through what I can find online and through trial and error.
Kevin
OK, my secret. Must have been three years ago that I bought the “StropBlock” https://www.knivesplus.com/KP-STROP8-STROPBLOCK.html
from Knives Plus. Been using it ever since. This year was the first time the surface got flaky and I followed their instructions to rub a bit of olive oil into the surface. Problem solved. The description includes how they make if and bake in the compound. I have not, repeat not, had to recharge this strop with compound for over three years.
Under $25, not a bad deal and it works.
I do finish off the edges with 3M micro film down to 0.5 micron, and that has lasted for 3 years. You can get a mixed sample pack of full-sized sheets from “Tools for Working Wood” out of Brooklyn. Please pick up one of their saws for me while you are there. You can leave it on my porch by the door.[attachment file=138453]
Would only use a non-plant, non-animal based lubricant on your strop. There is a chance it would go rancid if you don’t.
Don’t use animal or plant based oils. Will go bad on you. Would suggest mineral oil.
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