Spraying strop with alcohol

[DanG]

I have two sets of strops. 5/3.5 diamond paste on cow leather and 2/1 diamond emulsion on roo leather. I have read posts about a benifit from spraying or wetting the strops with alcohol. There are also a couple posts about over time the strops possibly drying out. Has anyone used oil to keep their strops moisturized. Possibly neatsfoot oil or Ballistol? Or is this not a concern? If you do oil the strops, is the efficiency of the paste/emulsion affected?

Thanks for your experience and opinions.

[sksharp]

Hello Dan,

I’ve only been using my WE strops for 7 months so I can’t speak to longevity or the drying out problem I’ve heard of as well. I scrape the surface of the strop with the back of an old butter knife a few times and then spray some alcohol on and wipe off. I don’t spray a lot of alcohol on just enough to cover the surface and then I wipe with a towel immediately. I’ll spray and wipe twice if needed, try not to use more alcohol than I need, I don’t saturate the leather or the balsa when I clean them. Then I reload them immediately.

I’ve seen some videos of people cleaning strops by saturating them with alcohol and having to let them dry overnight and they may be the ones with the drying out troubles but I don’t know that for sure. My hand strops never get alcohol put on them, I just scrape and reload.

I do use a mist of alcohol on the strops with the pastes on them for the first two or three times I use them after reloading them, I spritz them just before putting them to the knife. Keeps more of the paste on the strop by doing this. Tip I got on the forum and works pretty well. The paste drys out and I seemed to loose a lot of it in the first use or two if I don’t mist them the first couple times.

In time I’m sure the leather will degrade but I don’t know how long that will take before replacing the leather becomes necessary.

My concern with oil on the leather and then putting the compound on top is I don’t know how the combination of the oil and compound would react to each other. Not sure about that one.

[Mark76]

I recall that this topic has been discussed in the past. Unfortunately, I cannot find it back. What I do recall is that it was not recommended to treat your strops with alcohol, but I don’t know anymore why. Possible it was because of the dehydration it causes.

I’ve also never treated my strops with Ballistol or oil. I didn’t think it was necessary and I didn’t want to try out whether it has any side-effects.

Sorry I cannot be more specific, but I’d be careful with the strops. I treat mine with paste/emulsion or diamond sprays only and they have lasted fine for a couple of years now.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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[Marc H]

DanG  I started using the newer Polycrystalline Diamond Emulsion (Sprays) in place of the older Micron Diamond Pastes.  The Emulsions apply and spread easier on the leather strops.  It feels smoother when stropping knives.  I don’t find the need to use alcohol with the Polycrystalline Diamond Emulsion whereas with the Micron Diamond Paste I needed alcohol to prevent it from flaking off with use.  The Polycrystalline Emulsions last longer on the leather strops and I’m able to strop more knives before I need to reapply it than the older Micron Diamond Pastes.

I cannot speak about the Micron Diamond Sprays or Micron Polycrystalline Diamond Sprays.  I have no experience with those…I have only used the Polycrystalline Diamond Emulsions.  The difference between the “Diamond Sprays” and the “Diamond Emulsions” is the liquid medium the diamond abrasives are suspended in.  The diamonds seem to stay more uniformly suspended in the emulsion when mixed and don’t settle out like with the non-emulsion Diamond Sprays.  The down side is the emulsions are not available for the smaller sized diamond particles.

I do find it’s very helpful for the longevity of the strop and to keep it clean, to carefully and thoroughly wipe clean the freshly sharpened knife’s edge with rubbing alcohol on a towel of some sort to remove any metal and grit left on the knife.  This prevents it from transferring and imbedding into the strop.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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[FinalEdge]

I talked with Clay at blade show for probably over an hour and a half about tips and tricks. And this was a question that I asked. Clay said to re wet the strops with alcohol and rub them together to get the slurry of the paste going again and start stropping.

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[Organic]

For those of you who have the diamond emulsions on leather: do you also spray your strops prior to each use? My understanding is that the alcohol can reinvigorate the dried diamond paste preventing loss of the diamonds when the dried paste flakes off the strop. I have not observed any flaking from my emulsion treated leather strops and I typically use them dry. Is there reason to believe that wetting the emulsion loaded strops would also be advantageous?

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[wickededge]

I like the way my strops perform when they’re slightly damp. They seem to grab the metal better.

-Clay

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[Marc H]

I haven’t found the need to spray my emulsion loaded strops with alcohol.  I don’t experience any flaking off of the diamond emulsion from dry strops.  After reading Clay’s post, above, I may try to spray them to see if they feel any different and feel as if the damp strops perform any better or more to my liking.  I’m always open to try different things especially if it may enhance the results.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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[Mark76]

After your posts I cleaned my strops (the ones used with diamond paste) for the first time with alcohol. I must say they’re a lot cleaner now and they feel better. I just hope it doesn’t dry out the leather.

By the way, can anyone tell me the difference between the pastes and the emulsions? And which ones do you prefer and why?

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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DanG

[Organic]

The main difference is the medium in which the diamonds are delivered to the surface of the strop. I think the products that are labeled as emulsions would more accurately be described as colloidal suspensions because they contain microscopic particles of insoluble material (the diamonds) in a semi-stable and nearly uniform liquid. I don’t know the chemical makeup of the liquid in which the diamonds are suspended, so it is possible that the liquid itself is an emulsion (a semi-stable and nearly uniform mixture of two or more non-miscible liquids). In terms of what that looks like, it’s a grey gel very similar to the consistency of hand sanitizer that you can dispense onto the strops with a pump. I have been told that this form is more easily applied to the strops when compared to the diamond pastes (although I don’t have experience with the diamond pastes). When the emulsions dry, the diamonds appear to be well-adhered to the leather and the strops can be used effectively without wetting or frequent re-application of the product (in my limited experience).

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[DanG]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Although I’ve had my Wicked Edge for a month and a half, I’m just getting ready to try stropping. I was in too much of a rush to open the package the day it arrived and accidentally threw out my emulsions, luckily only the small bottles. Their replacements have arrived.

I’m closing in on the 10 knife mark. Technique and stones coming along nicely. I have 2 1/2 regrets about my purchase… should’ve bought the pro pack 3 instead of th WE130. Since I have almost bought everything in the pro pack now after a month. Should’ve bought one sooner! And the 1/2 is I purchased the Shapton Glass Stones separate, although they’re great stones, I should’ve held off on them.

The in laws appreciate the Wicked Edge too! Guess where I got a couple of the knives for breaking in the stones from….

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[Marc H]

DanG, don’t have any regrets.  You can sharpen a broader variety of knife styles and types with the WE130 than the Gen 3 Pro.  The Gen 3 Pro is a little more convenient with it’s single lever angle adjustment but that doesn’t work with uneven bevel knives, seen fairly commonly in Japanese Chef’s knives and less common chisel grinds.  I have both and I do use both, for just the reasons I listed.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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[Mark76]

Thanks, Organic. You haven’t used the pastes as you write, but I think your description of the difference between the pastes and the emulsions is quite accurate. The pastes are indeed quite thick and probably slightly more difficult to apply. The reason I never tried the emulsions is that I really like the burnishing effect the pastes have. (I wrote about this on my blog.) But when reading accounts of people using the emulsions, I get the impression they have a similar effect. Time to try them! 🙂

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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Organic, wickededge

[sksharp]

Hey Dan,

This is a general rule of thumb that I use, 600 to 800 diamond edges get stropped with 14/10 paste on leather and/or 5/3.5 paste on leather. I have used and do use at times balsa with the same compound but do prefer leather in most cases for these edges. These compounds will take metal surprisingly quickly and create a convex edge so you can over strop if not careful. I do spray with a little alcohol when applying and the first few times I use the pastes.

The 4/2 emulsion, whether on leather or kangaroo leather, is the best all around choice for your go to strop … in my opinion! If I could only own one set of strops the 4/2 emulsion would be the one’s. The 1/.5 emulsion on kangaroo is a great compliment to the 4/2’s. I “mist” the strop with water and spray on the emulsion and rub together, after that I don’t wet the emulsions at all. I generally don’t have to clean and reload the emulsions as often as with the pastes as well.

The Pro pack 3 and the way you went is the price of the case…and it’s a GREAT case. Honestly though, if your not going to pack up a lot and move around with it the case is not something a lot of us are going to use…so! You didn’t do so bad the way you went.

 

 

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[Mark76]

I’m a bit late with this one, but I just stumbled on this video by Smokeeater. He uses alcohol, too, to clean his strops.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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Stephen, wickededge, Marc H

[Author]

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