Do You Strop Chisels/Plane Irons?

[Derek Arita]

Lately I've gotten into using stones for sharpening. Now I'm wondering if I should bother to strop and if so, what to use and how to use it? I've been stropping of a Tormek, so should I strop by hand when using stones?

[chris carter]

I use a strop. It hangs from the end of my bench because it does probably 98% of all sharpening. I just slap in a dog and butt the strop up against it. I really only go back to my diamond stone if something is actually wrong with my blade, like rolling/chipping an edge, which is rare. Why is it so rare? Because having the strop right there in my face, and so fast and easy to use, means I’m constantly sharpening so nothing usually gets dull enough to suffer damage that would need a stone. It just sits there within reach quietly calling me, "use me, use me, use me." My strop is 1/16^th veg-tan leather on a piece of plywood. If you get thick leather and go crazy, then you will slowly round over your bevel. If you get thin leather and are careful to maintain your bevel angle just like you would on a stone, then you won’t have problems rounding over the bevel, at least I don’t. When I do use a diamond stone, it’s the DMT extra-fine. No reason to go finer than that because the strop will take care of the rest.

[Phil Mueller]

Generally, I’ll strop a few times after honing on stones (I use diamond and ceramic), if for no other reason than to ensure the wire edge is gone. Not 30 strokes like Paul Sellers does, just a few swipes on both sides. I use a piece of leather glued down to MDF with the green compound.

[Doug Hepler]

Yes, I strop after the 8000 stone (or 1 micron film) and often between honings. I prefer the green compound from Veritas on leather. Drag lightly once or twice.

Doug

[Jim Koepke]

Sometime a strop is used, sometimes it isn't. My tendency is to stop more after an oilstone than after sharpening on water stones. Then it is usually less than five strokes on each side.

jtk

[Prashun Patel]

I strop after 8000. I can feel the edge sharper (with my thumb) than without stropping.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I strop with a leather strop and green chromium oxide. It has been debated here 1,000 times whether or not green chromium oxide is really the 30k grit claimed by one mfg, but I can tell you it is absolutely finer than my 16k grit Shapton.

In the end, whatever gets it sharp enough is good enough. This is just what I have found to work best for me.

[William Fretwell]

My strops are leather offcuts from hides for Rolls Royce seats from the leather tannery in Canterbury, UK.
It is glued to a block of wood and rubbed with green compound. After my final stone I pull the back of plane blades flat over the leather three times. The first pull you feel the resistance, by the third pull there is none.
The bevel side I pull 5 or 6 times. You can feel the refinement of the edge.

For chisels I use the same method, except Barr timber frame chisels with their rounded bevel require many pulls at different angles for their bevel edge. It is ridiculous how much white oak you can chop with those and they are still sharp.

[ken hatch]

I'm with Jim, when I use oil stones (which is most of the time) I strop on leather with green or pink stuff. Artificial water stones are kinda whatever because the cutter comes off the stone with a smaller scratch pattern than the same cutter off oil stones. From some very un-scientific A&B checks I believe even cutters sharpened on waterstones benefit from light stropping not in original sharpness but very slightly in useable working life.

ken

[Andrew Seemann]

I tend to hit the strop wheel on the Tormek briefly after using a 4000 grit water stone (I do the hollow grind on the Tormek, hone the cutting bevel on a flat water stone and then strop on the leather wheel). It seems to give the blade that last cherry-on-the-top sharpness. Sitting on the wheel too long seems to dull the edge. It could all be in my head though, but the leather wheel seems to help.

[Mark Rainey]

After an 8000 Norton water stone, I strop. I think it gets the blade a little touch sharper. I judge this by two methods. Let the blade gently fall into your finger nail and feel how it sticks into it. Then touch the tip of your blade and see if it catches your skin. Stropping improves both.

[Warren West]

My strops are leather offcuts from hides for Rolls Royce seats from the leather tannery in Canterbury, UK.

So what your saying is it's the ..... "Rolls Royce" of strops.

I think if done right, stropping always improves the edge.

I power strop with a buffing wheel.

[steven c newman]

When doing a lot of chisel work, I tend to "strop" the edges right on the pants leg of my work jeans.....otherwise, it be an old leather work belt ( used to carry my nail bags) with a load of the green stuff....as I only sharpen to 2.5K grit. Then the strop. Plane irons and chisels....both get the same routine....

[Jim Koepke]

Over time one of my experiments has been to see if there is much difference between off the stone vs off the strop for an edge. The subjective measuring was done by shaving arm hair. If the blade off the stone, 8000 grit Norton water stone, cuts perfectly smooth, then it usually isn't stropped or only one pull on each side. If there is a bit of hair catching, then as many as five stokes for each side on the strop seems to be about right for my set up and stropping vigor.

My experience with stopping a very smooth cutting blade more than a stroke or two has resulted in it not cutting arm hair as well as when it came off the stone. With a different strop material and personal technique, YMMV!!!.png

jtk

[Don Dorn]

I use a 220,800 & 1000 stone by hand, then strop pretty hard for about 30 strokes. Receipt paper falls in half which is my test.