Arm Stropping am I the only one?

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Rideon66

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So seriously I generally strop on newspaper, but have found that arm stropping really works. It actually seems to work really well.

I enjoy a edge off an axe and knife Tam O Shanter. It leaves a nice bite that seems to cut paper towels pretty nice and clean. Slicing tomatoes thin. Well I started stropping the cleaver on top of my left arm. Doing so after a few uses brought that back to a really clean cut. Maybe better than I started with.

Still not as drop through as @cotedupy on a paper towel, but that has more to do with his skills at sharpening.
 
I palm/arm strop double edge razor blades. 5 strokes a pop, my longest lived blade still shaves cleanly after about 3 years and 50-100 shaves.

Haven’t really tried it on kitchen knives, but I imagine it shouldn’t be too far off from a bare leather strop since it’s all just meat wrappers. Biggest issue is having a wide enough forearm that the curvature doesn’t give you problems with the process.
 
Yup. I started doing the palm stropping on razors and used the arm some. So I ended up trying it on knives. I have plenty of arm meat to strop on so not an issue there.
 
mengwong said:
I hear it works better on shaved forearms…
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Lucky for me I have thin blonde light arm hair with thick leathery skin. So this works well for me.

Just test all your knives and razors on one arm and by the time you are done you won't have any hair to worry about. Then strop to make the edge better.
 
So the burr was taken off in the original sharpening and then stropped on newspaper. Then the blade used a few times before the arm stropping. I guess I could try it right after de-burring on the stone and see.
 
I palm strop my razors as a regular thing. I did try underside of forearm for a bit but the palm has more cushion that better conforms to the razor for me.
 
Rideon66 said:
So the burr was taken off in the original sharpening and then stropped on newspaper. Then the blade used a few times before the arm stropping. I guess I could try it right after de-burring on the stone and see.
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Wait, so what are you hoping that it’s doing if not deburring? Abrading or straightening the edge? That seems pretty unlikely to me.
 
I use palm stropping on one side to push the burr remnants to the other one where I can abrade them with a fine stone, and the other way around.
 
ian said:
Wait, so what are you hoping that it’s doing if not deburring? Abrading or straightening the edge? That seems pretty unlikely to me.
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Stropping is the final step in getting your edge razor sharp. After you've sharpened your knife to form a burr and then honed the burr off, stropping removes the microscopic-level inconsistencies of the edge so you have a true, razor sharp edge
 
I would think it would have more effect than a newspaper yet that seems to work for professionals with more skill than me.
 
I have never used compounds. I started with straight razors and never wanted that horrible feeling on my face. If leather works on straight razors then my arm leather will work on a knife.
 
Haven’t tried arm stropping, but when honing I often palm strop my razors. Works like a treat…
 
Rideon66 said:
I have never used compounds. I started with straight razors and never wanted that horrible feeling on my face. If leather works on straight razors then my arm leather will work on a knife.
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I dunno. The consensus seems to be you want some firm material to avoid rounding of the edge too easily.
Leather is backed up by a firm piece of wood. Newspaper is put on a table and the balsa-boys yeah well, balsa is firm right?

My arm, even though I'm 60 kg and about 8% fat, is not firm. It's kind of soft, and round and the 'leather' easily disforms when being pressed or is being pushed. even with low pressure.

I do believe you can palm push the burr to one side, but maintaining a consistant angle to strop both sides. I dunno..
 
I love stropping carbon steel blades on my hand. Sharp edge and force patina all in one. ;)
 
So I never had leather with a hard firm piece of wood behind it. I use a strop like for razors. It doesn't round a razors edge and it is sharper than any knife?
 
You are right, I forgot about those kind of strops. Im not a straight razor guy.


Do people also use those strops for kitchen knives?
 
I have in the past used hanging strops on knives. Nothing special nothing weird either.
I then went to newspaper I liked that better.

I am not an expert here. I don’t arm strop all the time. All I can say is after several uses it wasn’t cutting paper towels. After arm stropping. Oh and this is a $15 wokshop cleaver.
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