Stropping Compounds
- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 02/20/2019 at 2:26 pm by
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Woody, I really believe the most important aspect is the grit of the stropping compund you’re looking to use. All the different types you mention are strictly a way to apply and distribute the grit particle to your strop medium. I honestly have only used the paste and the diamond emulsion spray. The diamond spray, from what I understand, is just a thinner solution which would allow the grit particles to settle faster and easier. Therefore requiring more shaking before using.
Of the two I’ve used, the diamond emulsion spray when shaken very well applys a muddy looking blob to the leather that spreads across it easily. “Spray” is really just a name because it doesn’t spray very well. I have to squeeze the plunger top with the spray tip almost touching the strop. Then it applies a blob or dollup of emulsion. The sprayers will clog and eventually I end up applying the well shakened spray compound with the spray applicator straw, after unscrewing the spray top. I do like the feel of the spray emulsions and they seem to work well.
The pastes are easy to apply, then spread about, from the syringes. The pastes feel a little more gritty to me and can flake off when used dry. If the strops are sprayed with rubbing alcohol before using them they do feel smoother and are less flakey.
The grit particles work by getting imbedded in the strop medium while rolling along the strop’s surface as they are contacting the knife steel. So even if the strop application vehicle, that is the emulsion or the paste, falls off or flakes off, the grit particles are embedded in the strop and continue working.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)You will notice that the sprays tend to be for very fine particles that are often not available in any other form. The emulsions are my preference over the pastes because I find that they are easier to distribute onto the strop surface in a even fashion.
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