Stroppping compund?

[aikon2014]

I have tried a few different stropping compound, all green, mostly from ebay, most of them have been excellent, quick cutting and effective, however, a few of them cut only a little, at least than half the effect of the good ones. I have also tried green Dialux european stuff. I live in Sweden and the market seem to be very small for this kind of thing. I suppose that more or less everything thats green is chromium oxide.

How does it look in the US or other countries? Do you have inexpensive stuff that is good in quality and cut fast?

[kwakster]

What types of knife steels do you need to strop ?

[aikon2014]

What types of knife steels do you need to strop ?

More or less anything from 12c27 to 154cm, s30v and so on. No maxamet or anything crazy like that, but reasonably hard steels.

[kwakster]

Look into diamond and/or CBN compounds or sprays.
Not so much for 12C27 and 154CM steel, but especially on S30V (and anything with more than trace amounts of vanadium carbides in it) diamond and/or CBN will give you way better results than even the best green compounds.
Your edges will become sharper as well as stay sharper longer.
Cheapest would probably be the Chinese diamond pastes from E-Bay, but if you spend a bit more money you will get better grading as well as a higher carat weight elsewhere.

[aikon2014]

I just tried the "bad" ebay green compound, i just put a thick layer and with heat and now it seem to work just fine, it just isnt as aggresive as the "good" green ebay compound. Hmmm... wierd.

The only one I dont get along with is the dialux green, but maybe its because its made for high rpm.

Im gonna check out the diamond stuff as well.

[aikon2014]

Btw, is Bark river green good stuff?

[Smashie]

I use the Tormek honing paste, this has been recommended to me by a British knife makers.

More expensive than the cheap ebay suff, but no complaints from me

[aikon2014]

Tormek is around 3 microns, which is what I use on the red solingen paste before I do the supposedly 0.5 micron chromiux oxide, after that I do raw leather.

Have anyone tried Puma crox compound?

[aikon2014]

Look into diamond and/or CBN compounds or sprays.
Not so much for 12C27 and 154CM steel, but especially on S30V (and anything with more than trace amounts of vanadium carbides in it) diamond and/or CBN will give you way better results than even the best green compounds.
Your edges will become sharper as well as stay sharper longer.
Cheapest would probably be the Chinese diamond pastes from E-Bay, but if you spend a bit more money you will get better grading as well as a higher carat weight elsewhere.

Btw, how long does the diamond paste/spray last? They generally seem to come in small syringes or spraybottles, how long do they last if you strop ALOT?

[Nix]

I've used some of the diamond sprays and pastes. I prefer the spray. And they work well.

But I also use a green and a pink stropping compound. I use a light rubbing on the strop. No need to put a thick layer on. For the straight razor I shave with, I start with green, then pink, then ~1micron diamond, then smooth leather. Seems to work.

I don't refresh the diamond strop very often. (In fact, I'm not sure where my bottle of diamond spray is...... )

[aikon2014]

I've used some of the diamond sprays and pastes. I prefer the spray. And they work well.

But I also use a green and a pink stropping compound. I use a light rubbing on the strop. No need to put a thick layer on. For the straight razor I shave with, I start with green, then pink, then ~1micron diamond, then smooth leather. Seems to work.

I don't refresh the diamond strop very often. (In fact, I'm not sure where my bottle of diamond spray is...... )

How long does one coat of diamond spray last would you say? Short, decently, long, very long, loooooong or obscenely long?

[Nix]

Tough question to answer accurately. It would depend on a number of factors, e.g. strop, use, steels, etc.... I'd say it lasts well. The strop material gets impregnated with the small diamond particles and works well for a long time for me.

Now, I'm using the strop to restore the edge, take out micro-rolls, and remove burrs. So, I'm not looking for a lot of 'cutting' per se. It's more a polish of an already honed edge.

I can only say that it's worth trying and seeing if it works for you. 

[aikon2014]

Tough question to answer accurately. It would depend on a number of factors, e.g. strop, use, steels, etc.... I'd say it lasts well. The strop material gets impregnated with the small diamond particles and works well for a long time for me.

Now, I'm using the strop to restore the edge, take out micro-rolls, and remove burrs. So, I'm not looking for a lot of 'cutting' per se. It's more a polish of an already honed edge.

I can only say that it's worth trying and seeing if it works for you. 

Thanks for the tip!

Sharpening is like inception, riding the layers, aka. you have to ride the grits down to the final clean edge, I am not going to take a dull edge and trying to sharpening it on the strop with diamond paste/spray. I first sharpen it coarse, medium and fine, and then working different coarseness strops.

Anyway, easily worth trying the diamond stuff!

[aikon2014]

I saw a video on youtube of a guy making his own chromium oxide paste, anyone tried that?
Im really curious about making it myself!

[aikon2014]

I tried Puma brand chromium oxide bar from Germany, apparently a classic brand since the 50's or something along those lines. That was effective, however it was more a paste than a bar even though it was bar shaped, and very expensive and a minimal package, just above an inch in bar form. Anyway, it was more like butter than a wax crayon Im more used to.

It gave me an idea, because stropping is a part of maintaining knives and blades, maybe we should have a stropping compound permanent list?

[Old man Chris]

DMT diamond paste , followed by a second strop loaded with Flitz . Mostly all I use nowadays , can even remove small wows and minor chips . Jewelers rouge , green compound don’t work as well for modern premium steels .


Best Regards ,

Chris