Thread: 2 goals

Mparker,
I owe you an apology. I expressed myself in an ambiguous manner (not the first time that happens)
First I read this statement of yours:

Originally Posted by mparker762

I don't have a problem with it at all. I've been convinced for some time that stropping is honing, even using just unpasted leather and linen.

Then I wrote:

Originally Posted by Bart

He [Verhoeven] seems to think, as Mparker does, that a leather strop should be abrassive, and dismisses it when he finds no evidence that it is.

The second part of that sentence only refers to Verhoeven's conclusions, and not to yours. I see now how I have given the the impression that you were also dismissing the leather strop.
It was a grammatical issue, but please do accept my apologies.

Originally Posted by mparker762

I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but I don't think the leather strop is abrasive. I think the *linen* strop is abrasive, and both removes the previous day's corrosion and sharpens the edge a bit. I think the leather strop just straightens out the edge.

About the leather, I think we are in agreement. About the linen, I'm not sure. You have stated, in another thread I believe, that you use something like tin oxide to dress your linen. There's no doubt that stuff is abrasive. But clean linen? I really don't know.

Kind regards,
Bart.

Originally Posted by sebell

I'm also interested in hand stropping -- would you be willing
to give it a try Kevin?

- Scott

I have watched ML do his hand work. I was pleased to see that he really works over the entire edge.

I have tried it and found some improvement on just honed edges. I cannot do it very fast. I can't get enough result to replace regular stropping

I thought of making a leather patch with a thumb hole to cover the palm, or simply misting the palm with some .5 diamond

When I started this thread I had only a taste of what stropping can do. When I changed my method I got far better results. Questions like "why try to beat stropping" make much more sense to me now, the reasons for asking far more obvious.

My old man was a Mississippi farm boy who came from a line of blacksmiths. A carpenter by trade, and a good one. He taught me how to hone pocket knives when I was in my early teens and he would strop a pocket knife on his palm and occasionally on the leather of his shoe top.

When I started this thread I had only a taste of what stropping can do. When I changed my method I got far better results. Questions like "why try to beat stropping" make much more sense to me now, the reasons for asking far more obvious.

I'm all for experimentation, so I think it was a neat idea
to embark on this journey! I'm also glad to hear that your
stropping and edges have improved.

- Scott

Originally Posted by Bart

About the leather, I think we are in agreement. About the linen, I'm not sure. You have stated, in another thread I believe, that you use something like tin oxide to dress your linen. There's no doubt that stuff is abrasive. But clean linen? I really don't know.

Like many of the veterans around here I have lots and lots of strops. One of them is dressed in Dovo white paste (which I think is linde based), another with the white crayon from the hardware store (which is also linde based), one with the dovo black paste, and another with chrome oxide, and one is also treated with wood ash. But I also have many untreated canvas strops and they are all also abrasive, they're just not as aggressive as the treated ones. It's a matter of preference whether you opt for the faster action of a treated strop or the slower action (but better feedback) of the untreated strop, but one way or the other you've got to get rid of the corrosion and do a little extra sharpening to boot, or that razor is just slouching towards the stone.