Burninshing on buffing wheel
First off, NO quality strops were harmed during this experiment. Ok, so a while back I had made an impulse purchase on the bay for a two part SEARS & Roebuck strop that appeared to be in save-able condition, turns out it wasn't. So I just saved the hardware that was on it and threw it in a drawer. Fast forward about 6 months, there I was, again, wasting time on that auction site and came across some strips of Horween Horse Butt for a fairly reasonable price (left-overs from someone else's project I assume) remembering I had the hardware, I thought why not, so I bought the strips and a piece of 1950's fire hose flax linen and waited. When the pieces arrived I examined them carefully for any defects that would render them unusable for a strop, there were no major flaws and I was able to get a 2.5x24 inch piece from one of the strips with minimal trimming. I laid out my template and cut the piece out and lightly sanded the surface with 1000 grit w/d paper to remove small bumps and irregularities. It was at this point that a light went off and I wondered how using a buffing wheel on a bench grinder would work to burnish the surface for a smooth and glassy draw. Well the answer to my question was it works pretty dang good! If, like me, you enjoy a highly polished surface with minimal draw that is. At this point it makes strop number 4 and it works to smooth and prep the blade just a well as the other three (StarShaving English bridle, NOS Certifyd Red Imp, Kanayama #3) feel wise I would say it falls between the English bridle and the Kanayama with the Red Imp being the lightest draw.
It was a fun experiment that worked out quit pleasingly, I would be interested to see if anyone else had ever done this or hear any thoughts or opinions about this process. P.S. I used a NEW clean 8'' buffing wheel on a 2000 rpm bench grinder.
