Stropping vs sharpening rod.. material removal.

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HappyamateurDK

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Hi.

I recently got a leather strop ( mounted on a board ). And I’m getting pretty good results using it to maintain the edge like you would normally do with a ceramic rod. I use it with a green paste 0,3 microns/ 60.000 grits. And mostly with hard steel knives.

do people have any idea how much material stropping removes from the edge compared to a fine grit ceramic rod.. I would like to continue using the strop. But don’t wanna wear the knives unnecessary fast.

have a nice day 😊
 
We'll, my ceramic Hand American rod is 1200 grit. My usual diamond charged strop is ~5000 grit.

So, I would say it depends on your compound. But usually significantly less material would be removed with a strop.
 
applepieforbreakfast said:
We'll, my ceramic Hand American rod is 1200 grit. My usual diamond charged strop is ~5000 grit.

So, I would say it depends on your compound. But usually significantly less material would be removed with a strop.
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thanks for your reply.

the paste I use is 60.000 grit, so I assume it will wear very little. 😊
 
It will not be removing much material (well, you can check because the compound will turn grey) but the issue with 60,000/0.3micon paste is that you might find that your edge is too refined, especially if it's a kitchen knife and you intend to chop onions and tomatoes etc.
 
ref said:
It will not be removing much material (well, you can check because the compound will turn grey) but the issue with 60,000/0.3micon paste is that you might find that your edge is too refined, especially if it's a kitchen knife and you intend to chop onions and tomatoes etc.
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i did notice the edge was almost to clean/fine to cut trough tomatoskin. Other then that, I haven’t experienced problems. Onions is no problem either
 
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HappyamateurDK said:
I will try that. But will it be enough ? 🤔
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For kitchen knives, yes imo. For any strop with compound/abrasive on (paste, chromium or aluminum oxide), you will want a maximum of 2 or maybe 3 passes each side. I would not do any more. You can be a bit more aggressive on a harder surface like balsa, but if you have paste on leather, you do really risk over-polishing and over-convexing the edge (and this is coming from me; a big fan of stropping). There are some brilliant articles on Science of sharp.*

(also, remember to clean the knife well before use, because you don't wanna eat any diamonds!)

*also, according to SoS, his findings show that most of the useful work re:stropping on compound is done within the first few strops. that may have only been for chromium oxide though, not diamond paste
 
ref said:
For kitchen knives, yes imo. For any strop with compound/abrasive on (paste, chromium or aluminum oxide), you will want a maximum of 2 or maybe 3 passes each side. I would not do any more. You can be a bit more aggressive on a harder surface like balsa, but if you have paste on leather, you do really risk over-polishing and over-convexing the edge (and this is coming from me; a big fan of stropping). There are some brilliant articles on Science of sharp.*

(also, remember to clean the knife well before use, because you don't wanna eat any diamonds!)

*also, according to SoS, his findings show that most of the useful work re:stropping on compound is done within the first few strops. that may have only been for chromium oxide though, not diamond paste
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thanks..i will try to limit it to a few stroke, and see how it works.

will over-convexing be an issue when the strop is mounted on a board, or is it mostly when stropping on a loose belt ? The paste I use is a chromium oxide paste. And only 60.000 grit.
 
Chiming in with a slightly random comment- the little tidbits like this stuff on this forum are why I tune in...
 
Speaking of stropping with abrasive compounds, do you strop once more on plain leather after stropping on a compound-laced strop? To give a final fine polish to the edge?
 
ref said:
(also, remember to clean the knife well before use, because you don't wanna eat any diamonds!)
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What would be against eating diamonds? There isn't any nutritional value, but I was just wondering (and perhaps skeptical) about a potential negative effect.
 
The diamonds per se, at that size are innocuous (unless you eat a LOT). There would be more issues with the base paste they use to make the compound.
 
riba said:
What would be against eating diamonds? There isn't any nutritional value, but I was just wondering (and perhaps skeptical) about a potential negative effect.
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The diamond trafficking industry is ruthless, and if you actually consume the diamonds then it turns in to human trafficking.



But I'm not actually sure, it's just what I've read. It might be the mystery paste holding it together. It's not something I'd want to try.
 
Though I tend to wash my knife after stropping, I never saw any residue on it. Hard to imagine enough intake to cause any effects
 
riba said:
Though I tend to wash my knife after stropping, I never saw any residue on it. Hard to imagine enough intake to cause any effects
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There are some oil based compounds which are very very sticky and oily and are a PIA to clean afterwards, especially if you have just put some on. I wouldn't be using this stuff for kitchen knives anyway though.
 
LUWerner said:
Speaking of stropping with abrasive compounds, do you strop once more on plain leather after stropping on a compound-laced strop? To give a final fine polish to the edge?
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If you want to finish stropping with plain leather then you want to use a light touch and “ride the edge” I.e raise the spine until you can just hear it. You’re not going to turn the edge and this method will give you a very refined edge.
 
Since the topic came up, where do y'all prefer to get your compounds from? Most of the vendors are... problematic
 
spaceconvoy said:
Since the topic came up, where do y'all prefer to get your compounds from? Most of the vendors are... problematic
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I get dialux (paraffin wax + chromium oxide + a bit of aluminum oxide I think) from knivesandtools, but a lot of it I bought in bulk so I got a discount. I assume it's very similar/identical to the dialux you can get on aliexpress.

I get diamond paste from thk.
 
My major concern with use of a ceramic rod would certainly be the thickening behind the edge that occurs, and more in general the loss of the blade's geometry.
 

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Benuser said:
My major concern with use of a ceramic rod would certainly be the thickening behind the edge that occurs, and more in general the loss of the blade's geometry.
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What would be the difference compared to sharpening without thinning? The amount of metal removed by my rod seems to be miniscule, I've never noticed it at all.
 
My limited experience with a Mac Black ceramic rod is that even with the lightest touch it is just too easy to damage the edge on japanese knives.
So the material loss comes not from the rod, but from having to sharpen afterwards...
 
True. And other ceramic rods do remove steel — it's their function to remove fatigued steel, after all. As for polished or almost polished steel rods like the Dickoron Micro, they don't abrade but rather burnish. In the end they will fatigue steel that will have to got abraded in some way or another.
 
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