The best leather for a strop and GIVEAWAY!
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- In this video I discuss which leather is best to select for a strop.
GIVEAWAY!
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To enter the giveaway subscribe to my channel and leave a comment.
A winner will be selected on 01/04/2023.
I will reply to the winner and you will need to send me an email to stroppystuff@gmail.com with your address and choice of compound.
If you don't reply in 48 hours then I'll select a new winner.
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If you want the best stropping compound and strops available go to stroppystuff.com/ (shipping to EU/US/UK).
You can also get my compounds from
www.gritomatic.com/
www.sharpeningstones.de/
sharpinator.de/
smartstore.naver.com/sharpco/
Good solid information, thank you,, I've seen so many stropping "tutorials" where they recommend kangaroo,, that's saved me buying expensive stuff which isn't much good,!! Thanks again, and all the best,, John.. 👍
Glad I could help
I didn’t even know that there was such a difference between leathers, thanks for explaining
Excellent video - thanks for showing these, learned so much.
Ok, I appreciate your expertise. could do with one of these
Thank you so much for this explanation. You answered several questions that have have been thinking about.
I am pretty much new to stropping, compounds and so on, so currently I try to educate myself as much as possible beforehand to avoid unnecessary purchases and/or buying overprized stuff with great advertisement. So far I recognized the market is full of stuff for knife sharpening.
This video, as well as others on your channel, is gold for me and I learn a lot, f.e. I am surprised that kangaroo leather isn't as good as always claimed and the texture of the leather makes an impact, too. Good to know! I also like that you explain WHY.
So thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience!
Cheers
Very nice vid, don't think I've seen an in-depth into so many types of leather for stropping in one vid before. Good job- I have most of your compounds but would like to check out the 0.5! That bench strop is looking mighty fine, shellac looking sweet!
Keep up the good work. Love your diamond spray gives a mirror polish to my s30 blade with in minutes👍🏻
Thanks for the video. It was quite helpful.
Glad it was helpful :)
Sweet giveaway l! I’ve been needing a good strop my friend thanks for the chance to get one.
Great video thanks. I have always been frustrated having to sand down all the bumps and divots in my fixed system 1x6 roo strops. Wish I could find a US supplier with bovine shoulder and butt as incredible as yours!
Great channel!!
Thanks for the info, these look really good quality and would be perfect for my knives.
Best Alice.
Good luck with the giveaway :)
Great video 😃
Thx for the info.
I love the explanation of various leather cuts and types of leather there is, very informative..keep it coming Max..owh and greeting from Malaysia
Thanks Zul! I'm glad you found the content interesting :)
Fantastic info again! 👌 🤞
Thanks for watching!
Great video mate!
Always with so many details. Very useful and informative videos. Thanks
I'm glad you appreciate the details, it's always difficult for me to know how much to skip over. If I go too deep dive then not many people will watch it.
Did you succeed to pull out ceramic "stone" out of the Work Sharp Field sharpener? :)
@@zzemi99 I don't actually know where I put it after I did the video 😅 I do intend to revisit it though, maybe with a Spyderco UF rod upgrade
wish i could find some cheap leather around me! it seems to be like gold.
I guess you're not in the UK? Have a look for some tanneries in your country, you could phone them up and ask if they've got any off cuts available for cheap.
I think Jende uses kangaroo and Knife Grinders Australia uses it because 'straya . I had no idea it's that soft, soft is eh not good for strops.
Thanks for the informative discussion. Oddly enough, I get my best results using a cow hide strop (no idea what section) that's firm and flat, but that has significant grain structure.
Glad you enjoyed it. Sounds like you are used to that particular strop and have, nothing wrong with preferring something different :)
@@stroppystuff641 Yes, it's really about what works best for each individual, and it doesn't always seem to make theoretical sense -- at least in my case. It helps if the strop is generously sized. 3"x12" in this case.
Thank you for the chance! I am in. Greetings from Austria
Good luck!
I’ve made a couple of strops but not sure what the leather was, just something online that was for a strop & glued that to a nice piece of oak I had. They seem to work well, but I am new to all this. 🇨🇦
Explanation of leather choice is excellent. I’ve used kangaroo leather in the past and agree with all of your comments. Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail. Stropping sounds simple and yet after years of knife collecting and sharpening it’s one area I just can’t seem to get good results. Thanks again for the vids please keep them coming 👍
Thanks for the feedback! Stropping is certainly an area where many people end up doing more harm than good. Even some of the really experienced guys I know sometimes ruin their edges stropping and have to go back to the stones again. Myself included.
Thanks for replying it’s nice to know I’m not the only one…! I see guys getting amazing results. I’m going back over your videos and have decided to really get to grips with it. I’ve blunted more than I’ve refined. Especially after an hour’s sharpening it is crushing. Definitely a must skill I have to practice. Thanks again for the supportive reply.
@@slane6488 You're welcome! Good luck with your sharpening journey. It can be quite a tricky one. The best piece of advice I could give you would be to just simply strop less. Test your sharpness straight off the stones and then give it a very light strop and test again. When you're happy with the sharpness just stop stropping because it's probably only going to go downhill from there unless you've got a lot of time and experience under your belt
@@stroppystuff641 thank you I’ll definitely follow your advice.
I had no idea the kangaroo wasn’t a good pick. I’ve used it since I got it from kme but I’m going to check out some other variations now. Great video, very informative. Count me in!!!
It really doesn't matter much Damien. Use appropriate pressure relative to substrate compression, load it up with those juicy n delicious diamond particles and it's fine. The substrates only matter so much and in particular ways... I dont understand all the hype around the kangaroo hide either but knife bros love magic and hype. Kinda crazy to seek out exotic and expensive materials to use as strops when you're gonna cover them in oil/water based abrasive solution, and they're gonna get soiled with metal.
@@jeffhicks8428 thanks for the info and you are right they love the magic and hype for sure haha
Can you make a video explaining strops made of bare wood? Would using maple or pine make a good strop, or does it have to be basswood? Thank you for sharing all your knowledge!
Very informative as always. I purchased one of your strops after trying to make my own using, as I know now, sub-standard leather. I can now get a very sharp mirror polished edge with relative ease.
Have you ever tried to polish a whole blade to mirror polish (similar to Rockstead)??
Thanks Paul, I'm glad you like the strop!
Yes I have done some full mirror polishes, in my opinion the best way of doing this is with a mixture of silicon carbide paper and wet polishing with diamond compound.
Progress grits of sandpaper going in alternating directions, only skip to the next grit when you can't see any of the other directional scratches through your current progression.
Once you progress to diamond compound your best bet is to either use a synthetic foam lapping pad or superfinish strop like I sell, or use a felt buffing wheel etc. Leather will load with steel too quickly and burnish. Polishing with liquid compound on the knife or the buffing material is the fastest way.
@@stroppystuff641 Maybe next time you do it you can make a video.
Yo, your compound is so fast man just 4 or 5 passes by side on 1u max! Still learning to not overstrop :)
I have some (now obviously) poor quality leather that I was planning on using for strops……not so much now. Really hoping to grab one of the bench strips when they’re back in stock.
Don't be discouraged man, use the leather you've got and see how well it works for you. I'm heavily nit picking here, even low quality leather is usable
Hey man! You won the giveaway draw - send an email to me (address is in the video description). Send me your name and address and I'll get it shipped out 👍
Very informative video, I was surprised by the shoe sole leather. I’ve heard more than once how good it is due to how stiff it can be, but it makes complete since that it is a lower grade leather. In your experience can a leather ever be too stiff or tightly grained that it won’t hold the strop solutions as it should?
Very interesting. I did not know anything about these different cuts. What do you think about sanding down leather to get a better surface? I've done it multiple times and so far I liked the results.
Sanding down the leather is definitely a viable option, it will give you a nubuck finish which will mean more friction and a heavier draw than unfinished grain side. However, you can make basically any piece of leather usable by sanding it and after applying compound the nubuck will smooth out and become very usable.
I wonder if the age of the leather makes a difference. I sometimes see leather apparel and other items in thrift stores.
The age does make a difference. Calf is finer grain and in the case of bovine it's softer too
F this giveaway.
When will the stops be available to buy on your website?
I want a leather strop and 1 micron blue compound.
Excellent channel and really good info.
Cheers from an Icelander in Sweden 🤞🤞🤞🤞
Thanks for the support! I just sold the last one yesterday and I'm currently waiting on getting some more wood cut and planed. I'll be having a batch of around 20 bench strops and 20 field strops probably before April
@@stroppystuff641 Cool, I guess I’ll postpone stropping till April then 😉
What about kangaroo tail leather? Any thoughts?
Wow!
I never knew that strop leather was so variable and complicated!
Does this only matter if your sharpening is really good?
I'm guessing that it won't rectify a mediocre edge
Absolutely correct, It won't affect the majority of people, especially those who don't consider themselves to be more sharpener than they are knife enthusiast. Realistically, you can use any piece of leather. This advice is really for those who want to have the best they can get and the most enjoyable experience. I'm not trying to gatekeep here. I am just trying to help people make informed choices 👍
Thanks for the reply
I'm just a user really, old carbon steel blades, sharpened on a ceramic stone, stopped with an old strop.and metal polish as compound
@@grahamblackall6305 yeah in that case you can really use pretty much anything, even cardboard taped flat to some wood. I personally use basswood rather than leather 90% of the time.
I have also seen a technique of rolling your leather wet to compress it, making it harder. Any thoughts? Just found your channel. Cheers jas from New Zealand. Oh what are your thoughts on shell Cordovan horse butt leather?
i think kangaroo leather is famous because of knife grinders channel they are talking about the kangaroo tail specifically
i tried kangaroo leather from gritomatic and i can't see any advantages
I believe Roo is the strongest and lightest of the leathers but these properties don't really help in stropping 🤷♂️ I'm a bit confused as to why it's popular
cow leather has raised polyps and the kangaroo has divots. The divots on the kangaroo leather do not interfere with the stropping action of the rest of the surface of the strop, meaning you get more consistent contact with the strop when stropping. When the kangaroo is loaded with an abrasive, the contact between the blade and the strop is much more constant as well since the abrasive fills in the gaps.
It can and should be much thinner, and can be shaved down thinner than what you have. This thinness allows the backing material to be the support and the leather won't be too pliable. Because of its very high strength, kangaroo can be fairly thin.
There's also different parts of the kangaroo just like cow. Like kangaroo tail which science of sharp have used on his blog in some of his articles.
I'm not sure you did much justice to researching kangaroo leather ;)
Ive used all sorts of leather from cheap to expensive.
Ultimately if a distributed portion of the surface is higher than the rest it doesn't matter if it's high due to bumps or high due to the rest being cavities, the knife will run along the high spots regardless. It's interesting hearing your thoughts though, I've had multiple full roo hides and they've all been crap. I might have to revisit and see if I can get anything worth using out of it but I highly doubt it. Kangaroo is often tanned with the intention of being used for small items where it needs to be supple for tight bends. Also the tensile strength doesn't correlate to stiffness or compressibility .
@@stroppystuff641 I don't know where, well established roo strop makers source there leather from.
@@tacticalcenter8658 I don't think they're any better tbh. The fixed system roo strops I've had were bad. I've never had a commercial leather strop which was even decent
What's so good about leather anyway? I find tons of other things even synthetic leathers work better than leather. Its just another area of hype and myth in the hype and myth laden knife bro world. I prefer woods like birch myself for stropping substrates... But there are tons of synthetic options as well.
Yes leather sucks, but people insist on using it so we might as well provide the best version possible. This video is about leather not the best alternatives 👍
@@stroppystuff641 I love me some nice leather, but I prefer it on my wallet, phone case, belt and watch band, my furniture, my shoes. All kinds of leathers. I find it odd seeking out exotic and pricey materials to use as substrates for applying filthy abrasive compounds/solutions and soiling them with filthy metal dust. Its kinda absurd. I assume it's more marketable to consumers and in the higher price you can squeeze in perhaps higher margins. I don't know.
@@jeffhicks8428 I agree. I exclusively use basswood and I suggest all my customers do also, but they insist on requesting leather strops. I've also used many polishing pad materials designed to hold diamond abrasives, they cost me 10x the price of leather and people still prefer the leather. If they ask for it, I'll make it.
@@stroppystuff641 For sure. Those synthetic substrates work better than any leather I've tried. That said, I generally also use wood. Balsa is okay, Bass is better esp for knives, I've settled on Birch. I've generally settled on high concentration of a distribution with mean particle size of ~2 um (0.1 to 3 um), in a light oil based solution. This works very for me on everything from simple carbon steels right up to 10v class steels for all my general use.