Loading a Strop

Re: Loading a Strop

Jack Dover

There should be sufficient quantity of compound for it to cut. Really hard to describe how much to put on, but I just scribble a few wiggles and then just watch my cutting edge. If it's not polished to a bright mirror a few more wiggles are scribbled, if it's polished but there's compound on a bevel - it maybe too much or it's time to clean the strop.

Or in simple words - it doesn't really matter, eventually compound will smear all over the strop and a single wiggle would be all you need.

Re: Loading a Strop

David Weaver

Add a drop or two of non drying oil to the strop when scribbling the crayon and it'll smear more easily.

Re: Loading a Strop

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

I use baby oil to soften and spread the green compound.

Some years ago I compared green compound and diamond paste: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/Stroppingwithgreenrougeversesdiamondpaste.html

The strop looks very loaded in the pics, but really was used quite sparingly. Here it was freshly applied. I learned that a little goes a long way, and seems to get finer over time. The leather (or hardwood , as I now prefer to leather) will become black, and still be cutting.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Would mineral oil work?

Yes

David Weaver

Mineral oil and neatsfoot are both good choices. Dissolves the wax a little a greatly improves the action of the strop. Sometimes, a drop of oil is all that's needed to free up the abrasive in the strop and no more is needed.

Same is true for autosol on wood if it cakes. It's usually in need of liquid rather than more abrasive.

Never had a strop come undone from its paddle from oil yet, either.

Re: Loading a Strop

John K Jordan

I believe the instructions for the Tormek leather stropping wheel says to apply a bit of mineral oil then the compound. They provide a paste compound but the stick compound works as well.

For my leather strops glued to boards, I don't use any oil unless the leather surface is slick. My favorite leather-on-board strop is very thin pigskin.

My favorite strop for some tools such as woodturning skew chisels is not leather but a piece of MDF resawn to expose a rougher surface. I rub compound on the rough surface with no other treatment. This works extremely well.

Re: Loading a Strop

Steve jenkins

What about light weight machine oil like used on pneumatic tools.

Re: Loading a Strop

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Baby oil is mineral oil.

Regards from Perth

Derek

color recommendations

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The green stuff largely is aluminum oxide abrasive which is perfect for edged tools.

Re: Loading a Strop

William Duffield

Do you think it's a good idea to take machine oil internally? USP mineral oil, found in the drug store, on the shelf with the other laxatives, is a much safer choice.

Re: Loading a Strop

William Duffield

Yabbut, I hate the smell of baby oil. It's probably an allergic reaction, maybe to the slightly higher, but still insignificant, price.

not a safer choice......

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

.....because there is no safety issue using any kind of light oil on a strop.

my understanding is...

David Weaver

...those are usually some kind of light petroleum oil with some additives (stabilizers or corrosion inhibitors? who knows - I don't now much about them). You can check the MSDS to see if any of the additives are objectionable.

That aside, I would use less personal caution on my own strops and just use them and check the MSDS only if they were being used on something that goes in mouths without being washed.

The consistency is about right and I'd bet all or almost all of them would mix with the wax in the wax sticks.

Now that bill has spoken..

David Weaver

..he justifies my second paragraph, but even further.

Bill's chemistry-based advice has greatly saved me effort on some things and avoided trouble on others.

My point about just trying it, though, is that unless you have a prized strop (sentimental or something extremely expensive), most things you try won't do any harm and you'll forget you ever considered they would. I've not been that particular about oils on my strops (wouldn't use used motor oil or a drying oil, but other than that) and paralleling what someone else said here - I made 3 paddle strops at one point and have never made another.

I did make a butt strip strop for razors years ago and haven't been picky about what oil I use to clean it, it's also definitely nicer to use now than it was new.

In fact, the only failure of a strop I ever had was expensive horween shell - the surface treatment comes off of it too easily and then what's under it isn't as nice as what's on top. A single razor with pretty spine work ate it and the $175 it cost me to make it.

Petroleum oils on leather

Jack Dover

I'd do additional research on petroleum\motor oils, since motor oils make rubber brittle and crumbly, could do it to leather too. I've asked about mineral oil because it's known to be safe on leather.

Re: Loading a Strop

William Duffield

I use chromium oxide in mineral oil that I apply with a syringe. I look at it this way: If I get it thinner than optimum in places, it works like an unloaded strop in those places, which is still effective, but significantly less so. If I get is thicker than optimum in other places, when I apply an edge to it, it spreads it around until the thicker places are no longer too thick. My strop is now the same shade of green all over. If it stops polishing or slows down, I add a little more.

I don't use mixed abrasives (containing alumina or corundum, zircon, silica, silicon carbide, cubic boron nitride or cubic carbon, etc.) in a wax carrier (green crayon) for two reasons: wax and mineral oil are redundant, and it's easier to overload the leather with wax. The abrasives that are harder and sharper than chrome, and the scratches they leave in the steel, initiate fracturing of the carbide minerals in the steel and thus premature edge failure.

Of course there are some environmental abrasives that the leather picked up while it was still attached to the horse or steer, or from the woodshop and the edge steel itself. That contamination is probably a large part of the reason "bare" leather is still an effective strop. This last point could be proven one way or the other with some unicorn leather, since unicorns are perfect, and do not take dust baths.

I have used 3 In 1 oil for decades

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Anyone fretting over whatever is in oil should add to their concerns the aluminum and chromium in the green stick and the host of elements- chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, manganese, etc- that could be in the metal worn off the blades. Or, decide sharping a chisel only presents a sharp edge hazard.

Re: not a safer choice......

William Duffield

…unless your bench dog chews up your strop.

Re: not a safer choice......

William Duffield

Hmm? I think I would recommend against using cutting oil on a strop, just due to the warnings on the label.

WD40 might also have some disadvantages, just due to its long term volatility.

But there are always exceptions, if you dig deep enough, and ignore what the LD50 numbers tell you.

Re: I have used 3 In 1 oil for decades

Jack Dover

I'm not going to lick my strop any time soon, so the exact oil composition is important only for figuring whether it will destroy a strop in the matter of weeks or not. From my limited experience of working with engines I know that there are materials that would fall apart from very little quantities of motor oils pretty fast. It's nice to know 3 in 1 works though, I have bunch of leftovers kicking around.

unrelated

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Cutting "oil' not chemically related to lubricating oil. Ditto WD 40.

Think old time line shaft factories

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

If oil destroyed leather we would never have gotten out of the stone age.

justify

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Justify this statement with data or a reliable reference. I have never seen this claim before.

initiate fracturing of the carbide minerals in the steel and thus premature edge failure.

I use diamond which would be even worse, were your theory accurate.