Reply To: 4/2 flaking… what am I doing wrong???

First thing…only strop a well cleaned knife edge.

To apply the Diamond Spray Emulsion, I shake the emulsions sprays very very well before using.  You can spritz the dry leather with alcohol before applying the emulsion spray.  It seems to help spread the emulsion across the leather.  The so called Diamond Spray emulsions, for me, comes out like a dollop.  I hold the nozzle almost right against the leather strop and apply about 4 or 5 dollops evenly spaced down the length of the leather right in the center.  Then I blend it in with the opposite strop of the grit pair.  I repeat with the dollops to the second strop which has already received some diamond emulsion when I used it to spread the first strop platen.  Again I use the opposite leather strop of the pair to spread the applied dollops.  Rubbing the two leather strops together seems to spread the dollops of emulsion across the full length of the leather pretty completely.  Of course, coverage will improve each time you apply more dollops.

I mist each strop grit with a spritz of rubbing alcohol as I use them.  If the alcohol dries completely I re-spritz as needed.  The strops do make that finishing step that really enhances the knife’s cutting ability.  I always clean the stropped knife edge thoroughly with a rubbing alcohol wipe between each strop grit in the progression.  The strops easily get dirty with metal debris and can easily become cross contaminated with different emulsion grits if care is taken to only strop a thoroughly cleaned knife edge.

Also, with cow leather strops I strop a 2º lower angle than the rod guide angle I sharpened the knife at.

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