Kinda Sorta Home Made Balsa Strops

[Hapslappy]

I bought two pair of WE blank stone handles, 3/4″ double sided tape and, from a local hobby shop, a piece of balsa .125″x .75″x 36″. I’ll see how this works out and post the results.

[tcmeyer]

OK, you got my interest.  I have a few empty handles sitting around.  I’ll try a set with maple, but first I have to order some emulsion and/or paste.

[Alan]

Hey guys.  I’m not certain, but I think those paint stirring paddles you can get for free at Home Depot or Lowes are balsa.  In any case, just an idea, might give them a try.

Alan

[Hapslappy]

I’ll have to look into that. It doesn’t necessarily have to be balsa  either. Every type of wood seems to have it’s adherents.

Ok everyone, what’s your favorite type of stropping wood and why? Curious minds want to know.

[Mark76]

Are you making sure they’re truely flat? That’s necessary. My favorite material is kangaroo leather. But I like balsa too as well, because it has no/very give.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[cbwx34]

Alan wrote:

Hey guys. I’m not certain, but I think those paint stirring paddles you can get for free at Home Depot or Lowes are balsa. In any case, just an idea, might give them a try.

Yup… latest strop…

… paint stick w/ “FlexCut Gold”.  Works great! 🙂

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Alan

[tcmeyer]

Alan wrote:

Hey guys. I’m not certain, but I think those paint stirring paddles you can get for free at Home Depot or Lowes are balsa. In any case, just an idea, might give them a try.

I’m pretty sure the ones I get from the paint supply houses are Beech.  Balsa is more porous, lighter.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Alan, Marc H

[tcmeyer]

tcmeyer wrote:

OK, you got my interest. I have a few empty handles sitting around. I’ll try a set with maple, but first I have to order some emulsion and/or paste.

Well, I made a pair of handles with maple platens attached.  At first, it seemed that loading the platens with paste was going to be a problem, as the maple I have is really hard and the grain is variable, resulting in a blotchy distribution of paste.  After the first two knives, they seem to be working just fine, but I’ve had to deal with an old problem I had forgotten about.  One of the big advantages of film is that it is washable, making the removal of contamination practical.  No so for substrates on which contaminates can be embedded.

The early results show that the maple is producing a polish that is much closer to film-on-glass than paste-on-leather. The polished area seems to be very flat.

I will continue to use them for a while (I’m running 3.0 and 2.5 mu paste on them) and keep you posted.  I will also try to load a set of bare brass platens with paste so I can compare it directly with film of the same grit.

 

3 users thanked author for this post.

Marc H, Alan, Mark76

[Hapslappy]

Hapslappy wrote:

I bought two pair of WE blank stone handles, 3/4″ double sided tape and, from a local hobby shop, a piece of balsa .125″x .75″x 36″. I’ll see how this works out and post the results.

This works just fine. A 1/8″x 3/4″ x 36″ piece of balsa costs about 2$ and a 1/8″x 3″x 36″ piece is about 4$ for an obvious savings. Length of the strips for the handles needs to be 5 7/16″ and can be sanded to fit. Found some 3/4″ wide double sided tape and I was in business. The balsa is the Revell brand and has been very clear and flat.

Denatured alcohol and gun cleaning patches are great for removing the stropping compound and fine sandpaper over a flat surface takes the balsa down to virgin wood when necessary.

It would be very convenient if our favorite knife sharpener company offered the balsa strips along with the tape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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