Thread: Strop Leather

I have lots of carnauba leather cream avilable, anyone tried this on their strops?

Originally Posted by MSkiba

Sorry to butt in. I work with leather and have made myself a strop. I use it on camping knives, axe's, carving knives etc..

Question I have is (sorry new to razor stropping) should I be using the smooth or rough side of the leather? Also is a stropping paste really nessesary or can I just rough it up a little with sandpaper?

syslight has it correct the most desirable side is often the smooth side.

It is not wrong to use the reverse. If you do not have a DMT it is worth finding
a small credit card size DMT and sand the rough side if you want to strop on it.
A DMT does not shed grit like sandpaper or a sanding block might. Anyhow
after the nap has been reduced to a nice fine texture it can be used to strop
with or without paste. If you paste it start fine with submicron grit like a chrome
oxide (good stuff) paste. 0.25 micron diamond is good to start with because
coarser bits are possible but removing coarse grit is almost impossible. Add a little
at a time you can add more later if you wish.

Sand paper works just be cautious. A fine grit is about 25micron while a
finishing hone is a lot finer and going backward is too easy.