Thread: stropping question

Hey guys,
I've got a question about stropping.
They're other day I stopped by craft store and bought
3" x 3" x 12" block of balsa. On sale at $4 it seemed good deal.
I was curious so put glass sheet (very flat and smooth) down with 400 grit sand paper, and smoothed one side very well.
Then I used it as strop. Nothing added. Tape left on.
The result was very sharp, perhaps sharper than the blade after my leather strop.
Perhaps I am over looking factors. But the shave was great! Very sharp.
Is there any reason why this would be bad? Have any if you tried bare balsa strop? I assume yes.
Thanks for the input,
MikeT

I haven't heard of anyone doing this.

There are many things that will work, newspaper, old jeans even your skin. Most use the tried and true method that has been around and used for many many years which is a traditional strop. Of course if your method works and you are happy with it then I guess you are ahead of the game. Of course with bare wood one false move and you can do a number on your blade.

This is exactly my experience with balsa. If you look at the bevel before stropping on plain balsa and after, you will see deep and random stria.

Balsa is a soft , with a course open grain that, I believe contains a lot of silica or dirt, which is why so many novice stroppers have issues with balsa strops pasted with Chrome Oxide, which was very popular a few years ago.

The problem is what the abrasive is and what size the grit? Both are unknown and the grit is random sized. If large enough, deep stria on the bevel will terminate in a chip on the edge, and a harsh edge. This is exactly the issue, with pasted Balsa Strops, when too much pressure is applied.

Look at the bevel and edge for deep random stria if you see too much, you may want to stick with more conventional stropping substrates.

A good way to test a substrate is to remove all the stria on a bevel, strop on a piece of cardboard, paper or cloth strop pasted with a good metal polish. It will remove all the stria visible at 400x. Then test your substrate. Metal Polish will also leave a ragged edge, not good for shaving.

Foam core is a great inexpensive, test substrate for paste.

The big question is how was the shave? If it works, strop on…

Originally Posted by Euclid440

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Thanks for this info, actually helped me understand a whole lot better!
The shave was good, but perhaps it was rougher than after the first honing.
I'm still learning to hone. Been improving and created a bevel and honed a W&B old wedge for my first true wedge shave, which i liked a lot and had no cuts. But I've got a rotation of round and French points that I'm used to, full hollow, 3/4, and 1/4. BUT I was unable to get the whole edge (on the wedge W&B) perfect and heel end was not usable so i used half blade.
Anyway I have been having issues with my blades losing sharpness in the middle of a shave and equate this to my error in honing. So I've been sharpening 3 blades for a shave. Ugh! I know, I've got a lot of learning.
Thanks for the info!
I'm going to start reading up more on honing. Maybe find a local mentor to learn from.