WEPS Stropping 101?

[pacortez]

I think I cross contaminated my strops with different grits how do clean your strops? Or can you clean them after you do something like this?

[Mark76]

Are they leather? Then this will be pretty difficult. The abrasive particles (diamond?) will get embedded in the leather and it will be hard to remove them all. Just one too large abrasive particle can cause a nasty scratch on a blade. I think your best bet is to only use these strops from now on with the most coarse stropping compound you’ve used it with.

I’ve never done it, if I were to try it, I’d probably first use a toothbrush with soap and then a toothbrush with alcohol. Perhaps anyone with more experience on this can chime in.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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pacortez

[pacortez]

Thanks Mark

[Mark76]

Welcome to the forum, by the way:)

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Edwe]

CliffCurry wrote:

5u(micron) paste would be first as its more coarse…. then 3.5u which is more fine. Recommend lowering the angle 2 full degrees to prevent rounding and blunting the apex of edge. If you are going for a mirror polish you will most likely need a few additional steps between the 1000 grit diamonds and the 5u paste…Hope that helps. Aloha

I tried on a Reeve insingo to gett mirror but didnt get there, used 12/1600 stones before the 5u and 3,5u strops
Im thinking of getting some diamond lap films to use inbetween the 1000 and 1200 stones.
It seems a big different when looking at Clays pics in https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/super-blue-steel/page/3/#post-31678

What films should I get do you think?

[cbwx34]

Edwe wrote:

I tried on a Reeve insingo to gett mirror but didnt get there, used 12/1600 stones before the 5u and 3,5u strops Im thinking of getting some diamond lap films to use inbetween the 1000 and 1200 stones. It seems a big different when looking at Clays pics in https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/super-blue-steel/page/3/#post-31678 What films should I get do you think?

Just thought I’d mention… how new are your stones?  As they break-in it will be easier to obtain a mirror like finish.  (Not saying the diamonds films won’t help, just that it helps if your stones are worn in a bit.)

[Mark76]

Edwe wrote:

Curry Custom Cutlery wrote:

5u(micron) paste would be first as its more coarse…. then 3.5u which is more fine. Recommend lowering the angle 2 full degrees to prevent rounding and blunting the apex of edge. If you are going for a mirror polish you will most likely need a few additional steps between the 1000 grit diamonds and the 5u paste…Hope that helps. Aloha

I tried on a Reeve insingo to gett mirror but didnt get there, used 12/1600 stones before the 5u and 3,5u strops Im thinking of getting some diamond lap films to use inbetween the 1000 and 1200 stones. It seems a big different when looking at Clays pics in https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/super-blue-steel/page/3/#post-31678 What films should I get do you think?

That question is exactly under debate in this thread: https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/strops-or-stones/page/3/

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Edwe]

The stones are used for about 15-20 knifes cbwx.
Yes saw that after I posted it Mark, sorry about that.

[cbwx34]

Young pups.  🙂

You can get an idea of how “broke in” the stones are by comparing the very ends of a stone, that doesn’t make much contact with blades, with the rest… you’ll feel a difference as they break in.

[jumpstat]

I have just acquired the 1/0.5 and 5/3.5 leather strops. The ceramics that I have is the 1200/1600 grit. I manage to get a very nice mirror on the full face of the bevel when I drop 1 deg of the WE arms. My observation is that after stropping on the 5/3.5 strops, there is significant dark residue both on the paddles. then I which to the 1/0.5 strops but on this, there seems to be much less residue on the paddles.

Another observation I noticed is that the 5/3.5 strops are much easier to handle as it slides of the bevel nicely and smoothly, whereas with the 1/0.5 strops as it travels bottom-up sometimes there is some resistance (not smooth) why is that? Is it because its new strops? Do these strops require some break-in like the coarser ceramics/diamond stones?

Thanks in advance for any input..

[Willis68]

I have everything for my Gen 3 Wicked edge, all diamonds, all ceramics and the leather strops 3 and 5 micron, I can get the mirror polish but there are still scratches,I have ordered the Glass Pallets with 3 and 6 micron lapping films, will this help get rid of the scratches?

[Frans]

The most important thing, is to make sure that with each finer stone,  you completely remove the scratches of  the previous stone. It will be very difficult to completely remove all scratches but the lapping films will give very nice results and for me personally, the result I get with 1 micron lapping films is good enough especially to the naked eye.

Here are three photos of a Victorinox knife.

The original factory edge under magnification:

The same edge re-profiled and polished with 1 micron lapping film:

The edge as seen by the naked eye:

Frans

 

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[Mark76]

I think Frans made a very good point. If you’re out for a good edge and particularly out for a mirror edge, a good loupe/microscope is almost indispensable.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[wickededge]

jumpstat wrote:

I have just acquired the 1/0.5 and 5/3.5 leather strops. The ceramics that I have is the 1200/1600 grit. I manage to get a very nice mirror on the full face of the bevel when I drop 1 deg of the WE arms. My observation is that after stropping on the 5/3.5 strops, there is significant dark residue both on the paddles. then I which to the 1/0.5 strops but on this, there seems to be much less residue on the paddles. Another observation I noticed is that the 5/3.5 strops are much easier to handle as it slides of the bevel nicely and smoothly, whereas with the 1/0.5 strops as it travels bottom-up sometimes there is some resistance (not smooth) why is that? Is it because its new strops? Do these strops require some break-in like the coarser ceramics/diamond stones? Thanks in advance for any input..

The dark residue on the leather is from abraded metal that is removed during stropping. There is more on your 5/3.5 strops because they have bigger particles and abrade more metal.

-Clay

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