Do you let the spray dry at all before using the strops or just spray it on and go to work?


This is the kit I have so far and then what I am waiting on. The sharpener. 100,200,400,600 diamond stones. The leather strops with the 3.5 and 5 micron pastes. And the balsa strops with 1 and .25 micron diamond sprays.

Like everyone else, I am waiting on the 800 and 1000 diamond stones as well as the 1200/1600 ceramics.

When I used the sprays for the first time I wet the strop first, then sprayed the diamonds on. I started using them while they were still damp. I think if you let the strop dry befor using it the diamonds would just be like dust on the surface and fall right off. When the strop is wet it has more give and lets the diamonds embed themselves in the leather. Just my 2 cents.

Mark

Makes sense. Did you use them on balsa or leather?

Any advantage either way ?

I use them on leather. I bought a couple of the blank leather strops from WE and the sprays are from hand america / chefsknivestogo. 1, .5, and .25 micron. I plan on getting some of the balsa strops just to round out the whole set. I'm spoiled, I want ALL the toys!

I want them all as well. Bad, bad addiction!

I have some interest in sprays as well, how many sprays/squirts do you give each paddle? How often do you have to apply the diamonds the the leather paddles?

The balsa and the leather have totally different affects on the metal. The balsa is a great, one step honing tool because it's rigid enough to straighten a rolled edge with ease and allows you to do it with the finest grit spray you have. The leather draws the metal as it works, burnishing as well as abrading the metal. If the edge is not too badly rolled, the leather can also hone. If the edge is badly rolled and the leather won't straighten it again, you have to drop back to the finest stone you possess which may mean that you're going backward in grit and will need to progress through the range of leather strops you have. A good combo would the balsa strops in a coarser grit (5/3.5 or 1/.5) and then leather in finer grits.

I apply enough spray so that the surface of the strop is coated with the color of the spray (after shaking the bottle to distribute the particles evenly.) I tend to let the spray dry but don't find it essential. So far, I'm not reapplying the spray very often, maybe once every 50 knives or so. I need to do more testing to really find out how often to reapply.

t76turbo wrote:

Thanks Clay for the information. This is one of the reasons why I ordered this from you...good information and support. I hope you and your moderators continue to support us sharpening newbies!