I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of practice, but I've not seemed to be able to clean up my edge very well with an unloaded leather strop. That being said, taking it to a thick stack of newspaper always seems to do the trick for me (though I've not newspaper-stropped any of my harder knives). Has anyone else had this experience? My guess is that I'm just not at the right angle on my strokes on my leather strop, while a stack of newspaper's tendency to compress mitigates the importance of keeping the right angle while stropping. Also - should newspaper stropping theoretically have a positive effect on harder knives, or would it not really have an effect?
Another thing I guess, is steel hardness - Stropping at too high an angle, or only stropping for way too long can roll an edge. But does anyone with a really hard knife (hrc 65+) just strop regularly and experience no rolling?
Another thing I guess, is steel hardness - Stropping at too high an angle, or only stropping for way too long can roll an edge. But does anyone with a really hard knife (hrc 65+) just strop regularly and experience no rolling?