Techniques for consistency while stropping (watching the shadow of my edge)

[JesusisLord]

The technique that works best for me, is watching the shadow of my edge as I strop. I make sure the shadow of the edge of my knife disappears as I glide my knife through the leather strop, which gives me a consistent sharp edge. I never loose toothiness or roll my edge. (Results are consistent every time)

I always do cut test after I strop. I can cut tomatoes thin by just sliding my blade along the tomatoes without pushing or adding pressure. I do thin paper test and I get no snags as well.

For me when I try to focus on the same angle I sharpened at or go little lower/higher than my angle it was sharpened at, the results are always inconsistent for me. It will be sharp, but not effortless thin tomatoes sharp. Only sometimes are my results really good.

But when I watch the shadow of the edge of my blade making sure the shadow disappears as I glide my knife through. My knife seems to be evenly deburred every single time.

I know there's no right way to strop, and certain techniques work best for different people.

What techniques do you guys use to help you be more consistent knocking off burrs and not rolling the edge?

Here's a picture of what I mean. Since the blade is curved you will notice a shadow coming into the curve. In order to keep that curve, make sure the shadow disappears as you slide it through.

 

[kayman67]

I recommend the exact same approach to begin with. Eventually you will just do it by feel alone.

 

[Bear]

 

[Blank Blades.]

I basically use what you described.

Sometimes if i want to save time i go by feel. But realistically. For me, especially with a compressible substrate like leather. I get much better results when i can visually see that im not going too high on the angle. If i go by feel usually i just tend to not get as consistently sharp results off the strop

 

[Seemore]

The technique that works best for me, is watching the shadow of my edge as I strop. I make sure the shadow of the edge of my knife disappears as I glide my knife through the leather strop, which gives me a consistent sharp edge. I never loose toothiness or roll my edge. (Results are consistent every time)

I always do cut test after I strop. I can cut tomatoes thin by just sliding my blade along the tomatoes without pushing or adding pressure. I do thin paper test and I get no snags as well.

For me when I try to focus on the same angle I sharpened at or go little lower/higher than my angle it was sharpened at, the results are always inconsistent for me. It will be sharp, but not effortless thin tomatoes sharp. Only sometimes are my results really good.

But when I watch the shadow of the edge of my blade making sure the shadow disappears as I glide my knife through. My knife seems to be evenly deburred every single time.

I know there's no right way to strop, and certain techniques work best for different people.

What techniques do you guys use to help you be more consistent knocking off burrs and not rolling the edge?

Sorry for being dense here, but I can’t visualize what you mean by “…when I watch the shadow of the edge of my blade making sure the shadow disappears…”. Could you possibly upload even a still picture to show where you mean?

 

[kayman67]

Put the blade flat on your strop.
Now look at the edge.
There is a gap between the apex (edge) and the surface of the strop. That gap is your "shadow".
Slowly raise the blade to narrow that gap/shadow until it will dissappear.

 

[mockit]

@Bear I could watch Ivan videos all day. It's pretty much ASMR lol. New to stropping and having some mixed results as well. It is obvious when you round an edge though! Goes from off the stone and cutting to..... not lol. Sadly I think once you round it you need to put it back on a high grit stone. Even with 1um Gunny Juice I am not able to re-apex.

 

[Bear]

Put the blade flat on your strop.
Now look at the edge.
There is a gap between the apex (edge) and the surface of the strop. That gap is your "shadow".
Slowly raise the blade to narrow that gap/shadow until it will dissappear.

I like to feel it like Ivan does in the above video, I don't think I could ever do it by sight if that's what is meant here.

 

[Bear]

@Bear I could watch Ivan videos all day. It's pretty much ASMR lol. New to stropping and having some mixed results as well. It is obvious when you round an edge though! Goes from off the stone and cutting to..... not lol. Sadly I think once you round it you need to put it back on a high grit stone. Even with 1um Gunny Juice I am not able to re-apex.

I don't know what it is about his sharpening, he's just so methodical, simple but his knife angle never varies.
Eventually they have to go back to the stones.

 

[mockit]

Could not get a new OOTB knife to cut through a paper towel. Figured 10 passes on each side with a 1 micron strop would do the job. I rounded the edge for sure. Did ~15 edge leading strokes on a Shiki Uchi JNAT and it came right back. Paper towel sharp but maybe only just. Still an improvement . A little afraid to put it back on the strop as I don't want to go backward!

 

[kayman67]

I like to feel it like Ivan does in the above video, I don't think I could ever do it by sight if that's what is meant here.

Maybe I've seen just too many strops ruined with that "tip first" technique, I don't know. He does it extremely well, not touching. But real life results from most users make it difficult to recommend for someone starting. And since it doesn't add anything to stropping, I avoid unnecessary stress towards the user. It does look really cool.

 

[Seemore]

Put the blade flat on your strop.
Now look at the edge.
There is a gap between the apex (edge) and the surface of the strop. That gap is your "shadow".
Slowly raise the blade to narrow that gap/shadow until it will dissappear.

Thanks! On stones, I use my fingernail, as in the stropping video. Now I’ll try using the shadow on the strop, where I was previously going by eye & feel.

 

[kayman67]

That's just for your reference. You will eventually do it by feel alone. It's a natural process that the brain does by default, just like sharpening. But you need to start somewhere.

 

[1315]

Perhaps we could talk about pressure too. Watch the video above, and observe the VERY light, gliding pressure which is distributed across the whole width of the leather.

Then watch this:

It looks to me that @cotedupy has more pressure (4x?) to begin with, AND it's all focused on a corner, maybe 1/8" of the apex, resulting in a (10x?) more stropping pressure on the apex.

Yes, one is on leather, one on paper (with a hard tabletop under it). Either way works, but it convinced me that a 63+hrc carbon steel blade should handle a lot more pressure than I was applying. Depending on what grit you finished with, why strop with a whisper-touch then plunge into a food product with high density??

Your thoughts?

 

[JesusisLord]

Sorry for being dense here, but I can’t visualize what you mean by “…when I watch the shadow of the edge of my blade making sure the shadow disappears…”. Could you possibly upload even a still picture to show where you mean?

Sorry for being dense here, but I can’t visualize what you mean by “…when I watch the shadow of the edge of my blade making sure the shadow disappears…”. Could you possibly upload even a still picture to show where you mean?

I uploaded a picture in the description. It's best way I can explain it.

 

[Seemore]

I uploaded a picture in the description. It's best way I can explain it.

Thanks very much.

 

[JesusisLord]

I don't understand why some people do 10 on one side, then 10 on the other side, while they work their way down to 1 on one side, then 1 on the other side. Instead of just doing 1 to 1 as many times as you want from the beginning, until you get your knife as sharp as you like.

 

[Choppin]

I don't understand why some people do 10 on one side, then 10 on the other side, while they work their way down to 1 on one side, then 1 on the other side. Instead of just doing 1 to 1 as many times as you want from the beginning, until you get your knife as sharp as you like.

good question. I guess you are initially trying to push any remaining burr all the way to the other side, and then when you strop the other side you are removing it more effectively. instead of flip floping the burr from one side to the other. just a guess.

 

[Bear]

It seems to help me get my initial angle a little easier and maintain it when I do switch every pass.

 

[Kawa]

but but but...

The shadow dissapears when you hit your sharpening angle.
Will the shadow go below zero when your angle gets too high?

I can only see this work for too shallow angles or when the blade isnt flat on the strop (left to right) (like in your first picture)

I happen to strop at a too high angle sometimes. Im a scrubber with sharpening. Doing heel to tip sweeps is out of my comfort zone

 

[JesusisLord]

but but but...

The shadow dissapears when you hit your sharpening angle.
Will the shadow go below zero when your angle gets too high?

I can only see this work for too shallow angles or when the blade isnt flat on the strop (left to right) (like in your first picture)

I happen to strop at a too high angle sometimes. Im a scrubber with sharpening. Doing heel to tip sweeps is out of my comfort zone

If you go too high using the shadow technique, you can feel it digging into the leather too much.

What I honestly found for me. Is making sure you have your angle locked in with your wrist. If it's wobbly while sliding through your results are going to have some snags during cut tests.

There's no right technique it was just something I found useful.

My technique is now like Ivan The Sharpener in the video that someone posted. I put my finger along the edge of the blade and on the leather as I slide it through. The results are great for me.

There's no right way. But, I do feel like making sure you lock in your angle with whatever hand you are holding your knife is very important if you want clean cut tests with no burr. (Keep your knife steady)

 

[Blank Blades.]

Just thought this kinda fits the thread a little. Not really a response to anyone in it.