I stropped my knife and now it struggles to cut

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Hualicopter

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In my excitement of checking out stropping, I stropped a fairly new knife I had bought from Kama Asa, and my knife is struggling hard to cut big time. I have not sharpened it myself, just went straight to stropping to try and touch it up. Even the first cut after stropping is not sharp. How do I go about troubleshooting the cause and resolving this? I suspect the problem is I am rounding my apex since one side feels smooth and the other I can feel a burr. I am using a leather strop with a 2 micron strop shot.
 
Knife has a burr and needs to be deburred. Any sharpening stone should be able to remove the burr. Strops help to deburr very fine burrs, large burrs are better deburred on stone or if needed crumpled over on something hard but less hard than the steel, though that can lead to a ragged edge, that must be resharpened, although more readily resharpened that before
 
Had you been using it before and it performed well?

I'd agree with the initial assessment of rounding the apex. Time to start over on stones.
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
Had you been using it before and it performed well?

I'd agree with the initial assessment of rounding the apex. Time to start over on stones.
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It had been performing well though I definitely noticed it was nowhere near as the knives I got from Tokushu or another KKF member here. I will say that before I had stropped it, I did think it was losing its edge somewhat quickly.

Am I able to just go to my 2000 stone or should I go lower?
 
Hualicopter said:
It had been performing well though I definitely noticed it was nowhere near as the knives I got from Tokushu or another KKF member here. I will say that before I had stropped it, I did think it was losing its edge somewhat quickly.

Am I able to just go to my 2000 stone or should I go lower?
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Up to you. Time to learn. :)

Not being frivolous but that really is the answer. Start on the 2k and see what you get and if you like it. At that grit you won't be doing any harm to anything more than your time and it just might be enough. You have the edge and the personal experience so you're in the best place to judge.

Don't like what you get, drop down and come back up.

Just be very focused on your angle consistency, be honest with your results, and don't force/rush anything. Take your time and use this as a time to observe and learn.
 
Hualicopter said:
It had been performing well though I definitely noticed it was nowhere near as the knives I got from Tokushu or another KKF member here. I will say that before I had stropped it, I did think it was losing its edge somewhat quickly.

Am I able to just go to my 2000 stone or should I go lower?
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If you feel confident you can match the original edge geometry you can try a few light edge-leading strokes on the 2k to knock off the burr and crisp up the old edge that caused you to strop in the first place.

I usually drop to Chosera 800 (or lower) to set my own edge on a new knife, do a progression up to wherever I want to finish, and from then on out I can easily follow my own edge for touch ups on a coticule or high grit stone. Just easier to follow my own edge as it comes from the particular nuances of my sharpening motions if that makes sense? Not sure if everyone else feels that way too.
 
Hualicopter said:
In my excitement of checking out stropping, I stropped a fairly new knife I had bought from Kama Asa, and my knife is struggling hard to cut big time. I have not sharpened it myself, just went straight to stropping to try and touch it up. Even the first cut after stropping is not sharp. How do I go about troubleshooting the cause and resolving this? I suspect the problem is I am rounding my apex since one side feels smooth and the other I can feel a burr. I am using a leather strop with a 2 micron strop shot.
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I am not totally sure that a little bit of stropping would raise an appreciable burr. Another possibility is that you just over-polished the edge and it's just sort of slipping over whatever you try to cut because it's not toothy enough. What was it that you tried to cut? I often see this problem with tomato for example.
 
chiffonodd said:
I am not totally sure that a little bit of stropping would raise an appreciable burr. Another possibility is that you just over-polished the edge and it's just sort of slipping over whatever you try to cut because it's not toothy enough. What was it that you tried to cut? I often see this problem with tomato for example.
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I think you're right but factory edges can be dodgy about quality so maybe OP's stropping exposed it? Just spitballing.
 
A lot of factory edges are weak, very weak. Has to do with poor buffing. So you get a new knife with fatigued steel. All too common. So you better give it a full sharpening, starting with a 500 or a 320. Make sure to remove all of the original edge. A sharpie and a loupe are very helpful.
 
chiffonodd said:
I am not totally sure that a little bit of stropping would raise an appreciable burr. Another possibility is that you just over-polished the edge and it's just sort of slipping over whatever you try to cut because it's not toothy enough. What was it that you tried to cut? I often see this problem with tomato for example.
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I was trying to cut bell peppers and mushroom. It did better with the onion, but definitely not as well as my other knives.
azn_knives_4l said:
I think you're right but factory edges can be dodgy about quality so maybe OP's stropping exposed it? Just spitballing.
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For some reason I thought Kama Asa touches up the blade after you buy it, but maybe they don't. I'm not sure this is exactly the knife, but this is the one that matches up on the website.
https://kama-asa.co.jp/en-us/products/shirogami-no-2-gyuto
 
Hualicopter said:
I was trying to cut bell peppers and mushroom. It did better with the onion, but definitely not as well as my other knives.

For some reason I thought Kama Asa touches up the blade after you buy it, but maybe they don't. I'm not sure this is exactly the knife, but this is the one that matches up on the website.
https://kama-asa.co.jp/en-us/products/shirogami-no-2-gyuto
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I really can't say, unfortunately, as I just don't have the direct knowledge and it's unreasonable for me to speculate. It's known there are Japanese makers that ship their knives with exceptional edges and also that there are Japanese makers that ship their knives dull. Could be anywhere on that spectrum.
 
Don’t worry. Many of us goofed up stropping before we got the hang of it. Yes, I rounded over many good edges too.

Just remember, use a shallower / more acute angle than you would sharpening on a stone, and go lightly. (Others may use different techniques.)

And yes, rounding an edge from stropping almost always requires going back to the stones.
 
Hualicopter said:
Finally got around to touching it up (lots of traveling), and my new SP2k made quick work of it! I'll give stropping another try once this edge wear down some more. Thanks for the help everyone!
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It took me a few goes to figure out that stropping at a “how possibly?”
angle worked best. Hide strops require a correction for the material’s give.
 
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