i read or heard somewhere last week maybe here, but someplace it was mentioned about stropping and what degree they used… :huh: :unsure: :unsure:
i have been using 2 degrees less than sharpened…
now i hear 2 degrees higher…
please clear that up for me.
and when using the ceramic paddles after the diamonds, do u change the degrees…i have not nor do i.
please advise on that as well
thanks
max
Leather strops, the consensus is two degrees less than the bevel. Balsa strops, it’s 0.5 degrees less than the bevel. With diamond film on glass or aluminum platens, stay with the same bevel angle.
Forgive me, I like to understand the theory; Why do you lower the strop angle by 2dps with the leather strops? What does it accomplish?
Good question. The leather is pliable and if you strop at the same angle you’ve sharpened at, the leather can roll over the top of the edge, making it rounder and wider. If you lower the angle for stropping, that doesn’t happen.
thanks for the comments
see ya tomorrow
Aww crap.. I was doing it backwards..I was going “out” by 2 deg..which would be adding 2 deg rather than subtracting 2 deg..Whoopsiedoodle.
Just got my balsa paddles.. Will be fun to try them and see how they “feel” compared to the leather during use. (Will also be neat to see how much better my edges feel after going in the correct direction) makes sense now that I think about it.
That’s a really nice opportunity to use your WEPS again. :cheer:
lol. I guess that is true right there.. Nice thing about having this WEPS is I am not afraid to use my knife for about anything now since it is so quick and easy to get it right back to wicked sharp!
For leather I use 2 dps less . It depends on how much pressure you use. I use a lot, don’t know how to quantify this, other than to say sometime I lift the base up. I check with the sharpie some (not every knife). FYI - if you go too acute and the blade is coated you will take off some coating. I have done this. After sharpening with the WEPS I have a sharp, clean edge where the coating meets the bevel. After stropping I the coated edge is “softer”. If you look close I can see this affect on satin blades too. But definitely worse to roll over the edge than strop a little coating off.
I have also made the same mistake of going 2 dps greater.
I also made another mistake of sharpening a knife at 15 dps and not having enough adjustment later to strop at 13 dps. So now before i start I also check how much travel I have to left to make sure I can strop at 2 dps later.
Maybe you should consider getting the low angle adapter, Geo. It really works to get such acute angles. Nowadays I don’t sharpen my Japanese kitchen knives anymore without this adapter.
Good question. The leather is pliable and if you strop at the same angle you’ve sharpened at, the leather can roll over the top of the edge, making it rounder and wider. If you lower the angle for stropping, that doesn’t happen.[/quote]
Glad to have you back from your trip! I was out for a week or two myself and am just now getting back into the swing of things 
If you have time, I would really love to see you post a thread on this topic with 1600x photos depicting what we are discussing. However, I understand you are very busy… just whenever you have time it would be cool to see IMHO.
[quote quote=“razoredgeknives” post=19109]
Glad to have you back from your trip! I was out for a week or two myself and am just now getting back into the swing of things
If you have time, I would really love to see you post a thread on this topic with 1600x photos depicting what we are discussing. However, I understand you are very busy… just whenever you have time it would be cool to see IMHO.[/quote]
Thanks Josh, it was a great trip. I think we did something on this topic a year or two ago, I’ll see if I can dig up any micro-photos. If not, I’d be happy to do them again; it’s always fun
[quote quote=“wickededge” post=19111][quote quote=“razoredgeknives” post=19109]
Glad to have you back from your trip! I was out for a week or two myself and am just now getting back into the swing of things
If you have time, I would really love to see you post a thread on this topic with 1600x photos depicting what we are discussing. However, I understand you are very busy… just whenever you have time it would be cool to see IMHO.[/quote]
Thanks Josh, it was a great trip. I think we did something on this topic a year or two ago, I’ll see if I can dig up any micro-photos. If not, I’d be happy to do them again; it’s always fun :)[/quote]
Thanks Clay! yeah I remember you doing a light study on it but it was with your old microscope I think and we didn’t go very in depth. I can’t find it either I don’t believe without a ton of digging… i’ve tried =)
I can’t easily find the photos so I’ll do some again. I remember the conversation and that Curtis was involved… Ah well, more to test and study!
It’s another topic, but I think we have a nice business case here for an improved search function on the new forum 
.