Loading Wicked Edge Strops – Crash Course

[Steven N. Bolin]

This is mainly for those who are relatively new to the Wicked Edge and wanting to find additional information on how to load strops with diamond compound etc.

Hope this brief video is somewhat helpful.

Loading Strops – Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener: http://youtu.be/V1pgcX6E8Ks

[CliffCurry]

Great tutorial man, very clear directions. Two thumbs up!

[tcmeyer]

I still don’t have balsa strops, so it may be apples and oranges, but I use probably less than 1/3 as much of the paste on my leather strops. Generally, I lay on about a quarter inch of paste on one strop, then spread it around using the other strop. I don’t think you need the same amount of paste out near the ends, as you almost never make contact with the edge out there.

[Zamfir]

Awesome video man! I predict you are going to love the feel and results of the balsa. 👿 It loads up great and seems to keep more on it.

One tip I tried and loved was put some ispropol alchol in a small spray bottle (like for a travel eyeglass cleaner kit) and spray down the strop after applying your dollops. I bet you could half again how much you used on the second strop and get very even coverage. Because as you said, a lot of it will be coming off in the first use of the strop. That alchol dispurses and suspends the compound even more and you can put it on thin! Love the finger condom idea! purfect!

I hope more people try balsa.

From you video I think the reason I am having more trouble with my leather is the fact that I did not rough it up at all before applying the paste. What you said is spot on. I am going to clean, and rough up my leather and see how it works. Thanks Man! Very helpful video. Cudos!

[Steven N. Bolin]

Tom,

Think you’d be willing to make a video showing your personal technique for loading compound and how the bulk of it that’s applied needs to mainly be on the center 1/3 of the handle, since you don’t use the ends of the strops?

Reason I ask is because I’ve been playing around with your theory of keeping the pressure point under the shoulder, which has been extremely helpful! To my own surprise, I find myself lower on the paddles than I’ve ever been before. On shorter blades, I find my first 2 fingers in the bottom 2 grooves with my 3rd finger on the flat area right before the very bottom of the handles. This has forced me to utilize nearly the entire bit of surface real estate there is to offer as I concentrate on maintaining a pressure point below the shoulder…

[JS]

I just wash my hands really good, put on about 4 equally spaced little “dots” of paste, then rub in with my pinky finger. I can’t quantify it, but each dot is definitely smaller than say an English pea. It really doesn’t take much paste for these things, folks.

[Marc H]

Is there a drying time I should allow after applying stropping compound and before I use the strops?

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[Steven N. Bolin]

Is there a drying time I should allow after applying stropping compound and before I use the strops?

Good question.
Nope, no drying time to speak of.

[Author]

Posts