I have pretty much cut up my leather strop
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Sam, if your post included a photo it didn’t attach and come through. Try to do it again.
To answer your question there is a replacement available from Wicked Edge.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)I’ve put a few deep slices in my first pair of leather strops and they worked fine for several more years. In fact, I swapped them for an extra paper stone base! I have a new set now, and my improved hand co-ordination has produced no new damage after about twenty knives.
Here’s a photo of the original strops when I offered them for a trade:
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I think he meant “he” cut them up himself! Re-read the title of his thread! Probably best to teach him to only stroke upwards, never downwards with strops (ask me how I know this haha)
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WE sells replacement leather strips for $3 each. Look for them under “All Products,” “Care and Maintenance.” The shipping cost will probably be more than the item, unless you order more than $40 worth of stuff. Time to buy another pair of stones.
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BobW I often strop my blades in stages or portions. I find it more difficult to avoid cutting and gouging the strops when attempting to strop the full length of a blade, all in one stroke. I sharpen mostly kitchen knives with there lengths and clamping positions the tip is often lower then the heel, as clamped, so it’s really difficult for me to carry one continuous edge trailing stroke from heel to tip with the tips curving downward. If I were to try this I am moving the strop too much sideways across the sharp edge, and sometimes downward. So this has led me to strop a blade in several small sections then blend the sections, at the end. This also results in more leather crossing the smaller area of the blade edge to polish it so I believe it’s really works more efficiently.
Marc
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I think that the problem of sliced leather strops is typical for all new users. It’s a matter of discipline and muscle memory. Eventually it becomes natural. For me, it’s an eye-hand coordination issue. Being left-handed and having a neurological deficit as a result of years on Tramadol, I’ve developed my own technique – more as a safety issue than avoiding sliced leather. I work one side at a time and I will move my head closer to the knife and watch the placement of the stones/strops closely from the other side. I am impressed by the videos of guys sharpening away without a clear focus on what their hands are actually doing. I can’t do that.
I’m not anal about mirror bevels, but I still alternate directions with each grit change as a matter of discipline. I strop knives up to about 8 inches in a single up-stroke without problems – either heel-to-tip or tip-to-heel. I just need to pay attention to the motion. In those cases where I have to use multiple strokes, I haven’t found that the differences are visible to the naked eye. Blending multiple strokes together is very easy – just vary the horizontal length of the strokes at the overlap area.
I have a damaged nerve in my lower back which controls my left foot. If I’m walking along and not paying attention to my feet, I can fall on my face. Left to its own devices, my foot may or may not show up as I take the next step on that side. In fact, I have fallen on my face a few times and on two occasions, I fell down a short set of stairs. Now, I never walk down stairs without watching that foot and holding a death grip on the railing. If I watch that foot, it always goes exactly where it’s supposed to. The same thing applies with my hands at the sharpening station. If I watch them, the stones always go exactly where I tell them. There’s something in the brain that closes the feedback loop without effort. Close your eyes for a few seconds and you could spring a leak. Or slice a good strop.
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I have a dozen sets of strops and they all have some “spots” in them. If you think you have damaged your strops then take a butter knife and scrape the surface of the leather. I rough up all my strops to make the compound set into the strop better but it also seems to make the whole surface of the strop more uniform. This is also how I clean my strops as well. You can replace the leather on any platen.
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