Hi everyone
Been using the WE system for around a year and i love it.
When it comes to the strops though I see other people using them and talking about cleaning them when they get black etc.
My strops look like the day I got them out of the box, I apply a small amount of paste which seems to be wiped off on the knife very quickly. I get no black marks on the strops at all. Does the leather need prepping in any way before use? Mine seem very smooth on the surface so the paste just seems to wipe off rather than soak into the leather (which is what I assume should happen?)
It sounds like you’ve applied far too much stropping compound to your strops (assuming it’s the WE pastes). You really only need a tiny drop (pea-size) just to cover an entire strop.
Then after a while (say, 10-20 knives) you’ll notice that the strops will sort of start to stick to the edge when moving them. This is the fun part for me, because now they will be quite sticky and have a big polishing effect on the edges.
If this diagnosis is correct, just scrape off the excess compound from your strops with a knife, don’t add any new compound, and try 10 new knives. I’m pretty certain your strops will work very differently from the way they work now.
Thanks for the welcome, It is the the WE paste I’m using.
I shall try your suggestion although i really only put the smallest amount on the strops. It just seems to sit there on the surface and come straight off on the knife.
This picture
shows the state of the strop, the pastes are still the original tubes and they have been used on maybe 50-60 knives
I had the same problem at first. Then I got some isopropyl alcohol and put it in a spray bottle. I put 3 super tiny dots of the compound on each strop. divide that pea by 3… Then, making sure I had freshly washed hands, I soaked the paddles with the alcohol..then used my finger to distribute the paste evenly rubbing a little as I went..Then the paste about disappears as the alcohol dries. Then use them a bit.
Or, some people will lightly scuff the leather with some fine grit sandpaper and then do the same thing. It really helped mine out.
Now that your strops are loaded with paste I dampen them with rubbing alcohol each time I use them. I just pat them with a paper towel soaked with alcohol. Clay uses a spray bottle to do the same thing. This makes them really stick to the steel.
I you have any paste coming off on the steel it means you still have too much paste. Just keep stropping and cleaning the blade until the execs paste is gone then try some alcohol.
