Straight Strop for Kitchen Knives ?

Martell told me you could use these in place of a ceramic rod,... Does anyone actually do this ?, Im looking at my B&B friends on this one lol. How well does it work ?, should i forget the Idea and get a rod thingy ? (it has a proper name other then thingy im sure feel free to add some intelligence to the thread as well) what does everyone use to keep things straight between stones

 

A strop sounds like a good idea, would be well worth trying.

I do use a steel on my knifes at the moment.

 

wonder if the felt side would be a good or bad idea

 

Felt is fine. If you use the felt you might not need the leather. All depends on how sharp you need to go...

Bench strops are a bit easier to use on a knife.

 

I use a paddle strop loaded with chrom. Oxide and it works great. My issue with the rod is being able to maintain a consistent angle. I feel the strop helps me keep the angle better.

If the edge is beyond what the strop is capable of "bringing back" I will use a few edge trailing strokes on a 5k stone and call it good.

 

guessing my 12k naniwa super stone wouldnt be much good for a knife

 

I take for granted having a knife in my hand for hours everyday and the ability to steel or rod a knife back to life.

Taking your time at first and focusing on your angle gets it into muscle memory.

Depends on the person, what you're using the blade for and and and and a lot of YMMV.

I stop at 8k on m Shapton GS's. If I'm sharpening for someone else I tend to stop at 1k or 4k if I don't think they can handle a keener edge.

If I pull out my old Mercer from culinary school and line knife I used for years I stop at 1k. Higher than that it doesn't help, it just dulls quicker. Too soft of steel.

The aogami super blade you'll be getting is much harder and can retain an edge, the 12k may just be what you love to finish with.

 

I like something like this, James. I have the 9" Kyocera version. Just don't drop it.

-Andy

 

I prefer to use a bench strop over a ceramic rod. But there are times it is really handy to have a ceramic rod on hand too.

 

To each his own. I have enough strops to be curator of the Tony Miller Museum, but I never use them on knives. My beloved crappy steel cleavers will occasionally get a swipe or two on a steel between sharpenings, but the better knives do just fine on stones.

If I think they need a quick touch up, I have some really fast, one minute routines for that.

 

I never use a ceramic rod on my kitchen knives, but I can see how they are practical in a pro kitchen environment. But for me stones then strop is my way. Or just touch up on the strop.
My go to strop is simply a piece of Mdf with very thin veg tan leather, course side up, it is very thin mind, about 1mm, this takes compound really well. I use a blue polishing compound, which is cast a bit softer called starky blue.
I also like balsa and chromium oxide for knives and razors. And on very fine grained steel that will take it for Kiks sometimes I finish on my hanging razor strop, which leaves a very fine edge, but it don't last too long like that on a kitchen knife, so usually, 5k chosera, and course strop with compound does it for me.

 

You can strop on your finest stone. I got some leather strips, 2" wide, a few feet long. I lay them on the counter and strop on them. Roughleather side for the deburring steps, smooth side if I want to polish an edge more. Sometimes I rub some buffing compounds into the leather, but bare leather works for me most times. Woodcraft sells little hand paddle type strops for like $15, one side smooth, 1 side rough. The handles loosen up, but it gives the strop a hard back to it so it keeps the bevels w/o rounding the edge or bevel as much as a loose strop would do. One of the strop paddles has some green chrome stuff on it, the other is completely bare.

I have an Idahone and rarely use it, works good on bread knives for a quick touch up if needed though.

 

I really don't have any high dollar kitchen knives. My most expensive one costing about $70, so my method might be up to the high zoot cutlery. I use my Lansky on them about once or twice a year. Occasionally I will give them a light trailing edge stroke on a steel to touch them up. I pretty much use the steel as a strop to straighten the edge more than sharpening it. Considering the extremely small contact patch, a very light touch is appropriate. Works for me.

 

I've been stropping my knives as a final step in my honing progression, but really just to see how sharp I can get them. I'm still learning in regards to freehand sharpening, but so far my usual progression is BBW with coticule slurry- BBW just water- Coticule just water- CrOx on balsa- Kangaroo strop. I know it is probably overkill, but as I am still teaching myself I'm interested to see what different steels, and my own skills are capable of.