Thread: Best place to buy balsa strop...

Hi,

Bought a balsa strop off ebay and its not quite flat... Can anyone point me in the right direction for a well made balsa strop?

TIA - john

I bought mine from whippeddog.com; Larry sells one in his "poor man's strop kit" that comes with chromium oxide on one side and iron oxide on the other and he includes extra powder to reapply later. If you do a search at the top of the page, I think there are some threads about making your own balsa strop too. Good luck!

Originally Posted by MBR1965

I bought mine from whippeddog.com; Larry sells one in his "poor man's strop kit" that comes with chromium oxide on one side and iron oxide on the other and he includes extra powder to reapply later. If you do a search at the top of the page, I think there are some threads about making your own balsa strop too. Good luck!

Thanks!

I'm looking for just a well made paddle strop with balsa affixed - not into making one myself...

-john

My local hobby shop had 3/4" thick 3" wide balsa in 36" lentghs so I got one and cut it into three pieces. I simply lapped it flat on sandpaper glued to glass. Then I applied 1u, .5u, and .1u diamond paste. I didn't have to really make anything.

And the secret BTW is less is more on the paste. It's got to be rubbed in to the balsa, not coat the balsa. If there is a coating then it is too much. In this case too much of a good thing is a bad thing because it is like having a really thick and gooey slurry so the sharpness is limited by the slurry effect. It can get sharp but not nearly as sharp as doing it right. The particles need to be embedded in the balsa and not rolling around on top of it. Anyway that is how I was taught and I haven't had time to experiment with doing it the "wrong" way to find out for myself, so take it with a gram of salt.

Whipped Dog. Comes loaded with 0.5 micron chrom-ox on one side and 0.1 micron iron-ox on the other. Plus extra -ox of each.

So... stupid question - if you hone with tape on the spine do you also strop on the balsa with tape?

-john

Originally Posted by ocelot27

So... stupid question - if you hone with tape on the spine do you also strop on the balsa with tape?

-john

Vague answer: It really depends on how the strop is built, if it is a solid piece of wood that has no flex then I would leave the tape on, if it is built with available flex then I would take the tape off..


You have to understand that Balsa strops are a carry over from Woodworking / Leatherworking tool sharpening.. They made their debut here about 2009 with a recommendation to use Balsa as a test platform before committing a Good Leather strop to permanent use of pastes.. They tend to be quite harsh when compared to the same paste on Leather or Felt, so take their use with a huge grain of Salt..
Please do not take my word for this, simply roll yourself back into the archives here on SRP and read about it, you can find some really well written stuff on their use from some very smart people...

Originally Posted by ocelot27

So... stupid question - if you hone with tape on the spine do you also strop on the balsa with tape?

-john

Not stupid.

Yes with hard backed leather or balsa; hone and strop with the same tape you
honed on your rock hones with. So if you set the bevel with tape hone and strop all the
way with tape.

Now to address an exception. If you have a thin wood
sprung balsa strop the flex of the thin back may
be enough to undo the lift of tape. However if you are flexing
thin balsa you are using more pressure than I would recommend.

The flex of a hanging strop lets you ignore tape.

A loom strop -- much depends on how tightly it is set.
I want one to tinker with... but not a small one.

Originally Posted by TulaneBoy

And the secret BTW is less is more on the paste. It's got to be rubbed in to the balsa, not coat the balsa. If there is a coating then it is too much. In this case too much of a good thing is a bad thing because it is like having a really thick and gooey slurry so the sharpness is limited by the slurry effect. It can get sharp but not nearly as sharp as doing it right. The particles need to be embedded in the balsa and not rolling around on top of it. Anyway that is how I was taught and I haven't had time to experiment with doing it the "wrong" way to find out for myself, so take it with a gram of salt.

I definitely agree with that, as I started off doing it wrong - with far too much CrOx paste on the balsa. I wiped a lot of it off it worked OK. But as I've carried on using it and it's getting more firmly impacted into the balsa, it really is working better.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Vague answer: It really depends on how the strop is built, if it is a solid piece of wood that has no flex then I would leave the tape on, if it is built with available flex then I would take the tape off..


You have to understand that Balsa strops are a carry over from Woodworking / Leatherworking tool sharpening.. They made their debut here about 2009 with a recommendation to use Balsa as a test platform before committing a Good Leather strop to permanent use of pastes.. They tend to be quite harsh when compared to the same paste on Leather or Felt, so take their use with a huge grain of Salt..
Please do not take my word for this, simply roll yourself back into the archives here on SRP and read about it, you can find some really well written stuff on their use from some very smart people...

Thanks for all the replies!

I've been experimenting with 0.25 and 0.5 micron diamond on hard-backed felt as well as CrO on hard-backed felt. The CrO seems to be more forgiving - and seems to improve a used edge well. The diamond has wrecked a few edges on me - back to the hones... At least I've got honing down to a science now. I have one blade that's a total bitch to get right but I finally figured it out. I've honed my TI razors using rolling strokes and they're sharp as hell. My Dovo Best stainless is tricky to nail but I got it today. I'm loving my shaptons! Just looking for another way to maximize my edges - suggestions welcome!

-john