Manual Stropping - Preferred Substrate

[cputnam]

Admiral uses brown shopping bags, Derek uses crayon on hardwood, others on MDF, and others on leather. What do you use? What differential benefits do you ascribe to your method?

[Timberwolf]

Admiral uses brown shopping bags, Derek uses crayon on hardwood, others on MDF, and others on leather.  What do you use?  What differential benefits do you ascribe to your method?

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I have used everything I can think of..Today I used a section of a cotton web belting which works very well and Firehose does as well.... Also have a 3X18" piece of 1/4" thick hard felt glued to a board and charged with rouge...All work about the same when not charged with anything and even better charged with diamond compound or rouge....Of course, nothing I have found works as well for me a a leather belt or wheel...they don't "just" strop and remove the burr,...they will actually sharpen a really dull edge, providing you learn the technique., and they will dull an edge quickly if you don't.

[msweig]

I use the green stuff on a thin (suede?) piece of leather glued to a piece of wood. Is it the best? No idea. I've also used horse butt glued to wood (or maybe MDF, I can't recall), and that works fine, but I seem to gravitate to the other one. I tried the green crayon on MDF once and just didn't like how it felt while stropping.

Can't say I've ever tried a side by side comparison. My chisels seem sharp after doing it, so I just go back to work. I actually find the thing that seems to make the most difference for me is the step before (I used two diamond stones, then a fine waterstone, followed by a strop. If I skip that waterstone I notice a difference. Even though I've seen people use the two diamond stones go straight to the strop and get excellent results I just can't seem to do as well as them).

Mark

[Peter Tremblay]

Admiral uses brown shopping bags, Derek uses crayon on hardwood, others on MDF, and others on leather.  What do you use?  What differential benefits do you ascribe to your method?

Hard leather (horsebutt or full grain stiff leather)

I apply .5 micron diamond paste on the fuzzy side.  The strop is a bit pliable, won't break if it falls off the bench, and the leather has just enough give to make it a fantastic stropping surface.  

When it gets loaded I just take a razor blade and scrape off the residue/old paste/steel rubbings.  Then reapply with just a bit of mineral oil to help smooth out the diamond paste.

[Stwood_]

MDF or leather with green compound

[Tony Z]

Horse butt leather, glued to piece of wood and made pliable with a dash of Marvel Mystery Oil. Works for me!

[adamcherubini]

I don't think it matters. Its a polish, not a hone. The substrate needs to give to do its job. You can technically strop on card board box with nothing applied to it. I sometimes use it to buff out painted surfaces. I've tried a bunch of different approaches. I think the advantage of a simple piece of shoe leather is that you can curl it around a carving gouge.

[bandit571]

Old leather work belt, stretched out on whatever is a flat surface at the time....charged will the green stuff every now and then..

Quick strop while sitting at the bench, chopping joints.....pants leg of my jeans, or the cotton duck of my shop apron....a few strokes on both sides, and back to work...

[Scoony]

I got a piece of 1" MDF. Cut off a 2" wide x 14" strip and have been using that with the green stuff. Works fine and is easily replaceable.

Also use leather belting that was manufactured for the old time mid-century overhead shaft run machinery. Brother got a big roll (new old stock) from an auction that included stuff from a huge patternmakers shop. Some Woodnet members got some from me.

[Admiral]

Admiral uses brown shopping bags........

Actually, the bag is the final polishing strop; I do use a piece of belting (from a weightlifter's belt I got at a flea market) lightly charged with compound first.