Cool Idea – Strop Handles

[Steven N. Bolin]

I really like this idea. I think the ability to cycle through the strops using only one set of handles would be beneficial for a few reasons. Chances are if you also like this idea, we probably have the same things in mind.

Cheers.

[tcmeyer]

Not exact the right thread, but the closest thing to it. Forgive me knifeknerd, for twisting your thread.

Just to stimulate a little discussion: Yesterday, I was on the John reading my Oct 2014 issue of Fine Woodworking when I came upon a few photos (page 40-41) that were striking. They loaded plain wooden blocks with diamond paste as though they were strops and treated them like they were a natural progression in the polishing process.

For instance, when sharpening the curved inside of a gouge, they loaded a large dowel with diamond paste.

Think of the possibilities. Soft woods. Hard woods. Maybe a complete handle made out of maple? Poplar? Cheap? Disposable?

What’s next? Balsa?? 😛

[Steven N. Bolin]

No apologies necessary!

Fan your flame!

B)

[Josh]

Not exact the right thread, but the closest thing to it. Forgive me knifeknerd, for twisting your thread.

Just to stimulate a little discussion: Yesterday, I was on the John reading my Oct 2014 issue of Fine Woodworking when I came upon a few photos (page 40-41) that were striking. They loaded plain wooden blocks with diamond paste as though they were strops and treated them like they were a natural progression in the polishing process.

For instance, when sharpening the curved inside of a gouge, they loaded a large dowel with diamond paste.

Think of the possibilities. Soft woods. Hard woods. Maybe a complete handle made out of maple? Poplar? Cheap? Disposable?

What’s next? Balsa?? 😛

Speaking of which… I got a crazy idea the other day when I was at Lowes: I saw one of those wooden yard sticks. It’s perfectly straight, and about as thick as the chosera stones. I bought one for around $1 and I’m going to cut it up and use it for strops and see how it does. I Don’t really like the current balsa that’s out as it’s too soft and dishes in my experience, although I have heard there is a harder grade out there.

[Zamfir]

My side business is design and manufacture of RC airplane kits. I do both foam kits and balsa kits. You can get balsa in all kinds of different “hardness” but they term it as density. I have some balsa sheets that are almost like pine and others that will dent and crush by looking at them funny. Very very hard to fins suppliers when you are ordering thousands of dollars of balsa at a pop to have consistency in it without paying a lot of money for it. I pick different density balsa for different part of the airplane designs depending on what part I will cut. In Airplanes light weight and strength are paramount and having the right density of Balsa in the right spots can make or break a plane…litterly..lol.

The strops I have from WE seem to be a medium light density which is right above contest grade balsa. Balsa loads up the paste great and I love the feedback of it. If Clay is interested I could send him a couple of different density balsa strops to play with to see the difference in how they work. I have super hard..like a yardstick..or super soft.

[Josh]

Nice!!! So have you played around w/ the different densities? Which is your favorite?

My side business is design and manufacture of RC airplane kits. I do both foam kits and balsa kits. You can get balsa in all kinds of different “hardness” but they term it as density. I have some balsa sheets that are almost like pine and others that will dent and crush by looking at them funny. Very very hard to fins suppliers when you are ordering thousands of dollars of balsa at a pop to have consistency in it without paying a lot of money for it. I pick different density balsa for different part of the airplane designs depending on what part I will cut. In Airplanes light weight and strength are paramount and having the right density of Balsa in the right spots can make or break a plane…litterly..lol.

The strops I have from WE seem to be a medium light density which is right above contest grade balsa. Balsa loads up the paste great and I love the feedback of it. If Clay is interested I could send him a couple of different density balsa strops to play with to see the difference in how they work. I have super hard..like a yardstick..or super soft.

[wickededge]

The strops I have from WE seem to be a medium light density which is right above contest grade balsa. Balsa loads up the paste great and I love the feedback of it. If Clay is interested I could send him a couple of different density balsa strops to play with to see the difference in how they work. I have super hard..like a yardstick..or super soft.

I’m definitely interested! 🙂

-Clay

[Zamfir]

The strops I have from WE seem to be a medium light density which is right above contest grade balsa. Balsa loads up the paste great and I love the feedback of it. If Clay is interested I could send him a couple of different density balsa strops to play with to see the difference in how they work. I have super hard..like a yardstick..or super soft.

I’m definitely interested! :)[/quote]

Ok, I will be cutting some more kits here in the next couple weeks. I will be sure to get you 3 or 4 different density sets of balsa cut to the right size and thickness as compared to what I have from you. That way you just need to stick them on some handles and go.

Do you want duplicates of the sets to play with different strop pastes or just leave that variable to a single paste?

I have not personally done any testing with the different hardness since I do not have any of the cool equipment or consistant technique that clay has. Hopefully we can get some microscope images out of this :woohoo: as an add on to the strops thread where Clay dis that awesome work on. 😉

[wickededge]

Do you want duplicates of the sets to play with different strop pastes or just leave that variable to a single paste?

I think that in order to keep it simple, just one pair of each density and I’ll use the same paste with all. Then I’ll post pictures 🙂

-Clay

[tcmeyer]

When I pop in with any of these oddball items, I am really delighted to see it start the progression of ideas. Think about it. How many forums could you pose the same question on and have someone pop up who has a supply of different balsa densities. Wow!

Clay, any chance you could include a hardwood in your comparison tests? I’m thinking something with open grain, like oak, and something with very tight grain, like hard maple? Both of which, incidentally, I can provide.

[Zamfir]

I was thinking the same thing!
I was going to send one set of paddles made of Basswood. Basswood Just seems really consistent from my experiences. And is what I would equate to the hardness of the yard stick..maybe a little harder. I have that. I do not have oak or hard maple.

No doubt. Thread hijacks can lead to some interesting things!

I like the idea of the swap able handles. As I watched the video I thought for sure you were gonna throw in some rare earth magnets to hold it in place. Your idea is very clever how it snaps in. A feller could have a set of tweaked out custom grip handles and slap on a bunch of different stuff to them. Sorry about the hijack Knife Nerd..

[SHVentus]

Zamfir,

Which RC kits do you produce?

[Daniel maloon]

I made some from basswood along time ago because I didn’t like how soft the balsa was. I eventually abandoned that because I didn’t care for the feel while stropping. It being wood also added a few annoyances.

[Zamfir]

ok, I have 4 densities of balsa on order.

light, medium, heavy, extra heavy.

My guess is the light will be too soft so I did not bother to order the extra light or contest grade balsa.

I should be able to cut them out this weekend and get them in the mail next week!

I make very specialized RC kits. basically stuff I like and want to fly. They are all “Profile style airplanes” made for “3D” type flying. I hover them around and do stuff normal airplanes can not do. I usually have a 2 to 1 power to weight ration on the planes. I do some foam but lately mostly balsa. It is a side business and hobby. Not the kind of planes most people are used to. Rather specialized. I do Kit “runs” and do not keep a large stock so it is what it appears many knife manufacturers do also..sprint run! Get in on it before they are gone. Kind of what I have to do because I take pre-order money then make 20 or so. Otherwise it is not worth my time to make them one by one..and I do not have the coin around to have a large stock. It pays for my hobby and some tools. 🙂 Here is someone in California flying my last kit which was the Stix 60″ wingspan.

Ok..Back to sharpening!

[SHVentus]

Wing planform resembles a Ringmaster. Are you on RCG?

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