Strop Setup Recommendations

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I have been off the forums from some time and interested to know what people are using from stropping setup these days. What seems to work best?
I noticed that most of the retailers here no longer carry any stropping supplies. Where are people getting their stropping supplies?

For reference, I am still using my HA strop setup with a Felt Pad for deburring and a leather pad loaded with Chromium Oxide for stropping. I am thinking about ditching the HA setup for something new.

Thanks in advance for any information and advice.
 
Leather can be obtained here.
http://www.woodcraft.com/catalog/productpage2.aspx?prodid=8620

I glued up 2 pieces of Plywood to get knuckle clearance, & used contact cement to mount .
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Make your own Salty's Strop v2? http://youtu.be/g9Smlj0fNnE
I'd like to make my own, but I don't have a garage or the tools.

Phoenix Knife House used to supply some of the stuff for Dave Martell's All U Need Strop Kit. They still seem to make replacement leather pads for Dave's Kit, and have their own strops much like Dave's.

tsourkanknives.com Marko's looks very nice.
And there's also Kramers.


Have you had any curling with the leather pads in the HA setup? I've seen a post with the leather curling off the pads
 
I have Marko's felt and diamond spray - effective and attractive to boot! My wife doesn't hate it sitting out like when I leave a wet muddy stone on the counter.
 
Leather can be obtained here.
http://www.woodcraft.com/catalog/productpage2.aspx?prodid=8620

I glued up 2 pieces of Plywood to get knuckle clearance, & used contact cement to mount .

+1. Be careful with whatever you use to fix the leather to the board - I woodcarver commented on an old strop I made that he could feel the uneveness of the glue lumps..

I'm convinced the better flat leather is worth the cost - tried scrap leather and leather belts and they worked ...ok. Actually the narrow leather belt is pretty good, but a lot of guys here recommend wider strops, so I tried that too. The softer leather belt would convex the edge slightly, where the harder flat leather seems not to do that as much. I used carpet tape on my latest strop, the local hardware store ripped a nice pine board down to an even 3 inches (I made 2 strops from the 6 in wide leather) at no charge since I bought the board from them.

For compounds I have used (10 micron I think) alu powder, green hard buffing compound, and now 1 micron Boron Carbide. The BC does an awesome job on my harder steel, but is a little messy - tends to leave a little black stuff that has to be washed off my hands. What I want is the waxy buffing compound that sticks to the strop and sprinkle really sharp, hard 1 - 5 micron powder on it as a refresh - it's what I did with the green stuff and the alu powder and still think that was the best combo. (caveat, haven't tried any diamond powders)
 
Make your own Salty's Strop v2? http://youtu.be/g9Smlj0fNnE
I'd like to make my own, but I don't have a garage or the tools

Have you had any curling with the leather pads in the HA setup? I've seen a post with the leather curling off the pads

I don't have a garage or the tools either to make myself a strop setup.

I haven't had a problem with the leather pad curling with my HA setup and mine is pretty old at this point.
 
I like wide strops,Jantz sells 12x12 Vegetable tanned Cowhide can make 3 4"x12" strops.Glue to wood wt. evenly rolled contact cement.
 
so which leather/medium works best with cr02? and diamond slurry? does it matter? im real green with strops...

Sorry, couldn't help you there. Oh wait, I do have an opinion - the rough side of the leather didn't work at all. Smoother hard surfaces are best for the green stick compound, (which is what I think you are talking about) .... It is pretty hard and doesn't melt easily, has to be rubbed until thin and soft to get an even surface. It does hold the alu oxide powder nicely though, and should work well with other powders.

I doubt it will work on balsa. I have used it on hardwood with grooves cut for my carving chisels.
 
I use cr02 paste on balsa and it works great. The stick compounds referred to earlier will work better on felt. If the diamond is a spray I would imagine it would work on anything (balsa, leather, felt, cardboard, card stock, newspaper, etc) with good results.
 
Since there are so many combinations of strop materials and different compounds which combinations seem to work best?

I was always interested in trying diamond spray on felt for final stropping? or is leather a better medium?

Where is the best place to get your diamond sprays?

Thanks in advance again.
 
i do strop with newspapers rolled around a flatwood block (or even a flat dry stone) i wrap all the sheets together and find a full written page to put upwards in contact of the edge from a 6000 grit stone :knight:
i dont use any compound; its cheap and pretty effective.
 
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