Staze, you might enjoy reading through this post: A Theory of How the Wicked Edge Pastes Work. It's long but very detailed with some great microscopic images of edges to which I applied a bunch of different compounds and substrates.

Staze wrote:

Clay,

Thanks! I'd read most of it before, but went back trough and red it all now. One thing I'd love to see, that would "prove" much of what jende and others are thinking, would be to try the pastes on a glass substrate. That should give the best results as far as true "sharpening" and no "burnishing", I would think. And likewise, would give a good indication of concentration.

The stiction thing is something I actually experienced last night. I went through the 1000grit stones, then moved to the 5µ strops, and noticed they were really difficult to move, and seemed to leave behind (on the opposite side of the blade), small "shavings" (no better way to describe it, but I'm pretty sure they were extremely thin "sheets" of stropping paste). I THOUGHT I just needed more paste because the 3.5µ side didn't have this issue, and was very smooth. Guess it turns out, stiction is generally a "good" thing.

Biggest issue I've had with stropping is that I always forget to set the angle 1° lower for stropping, and worse, forget to set it back when I go back to the stones. =P

Only other issue I've had is occasionally looking down to see if the thumbscrews have loosened on the angle bars.

Yeah, I have the screws loosen almost constantly unless I really torque them down as tight as I can with finger pressure. I tend to check the screws in between grits or between "sets" of strop strokes. The left side likes to get loosey goosey all the time, the right not so much.

I'm constantly fiddling with the strop angle, and definitely noticed an immediate difference in the feel of the edge. Cuts great either way, but strangely the reduced angle "feels" less sharp despite probably cutting better. Definitely a curious phenomenon, and probably why I'm always fiddling with different settings

I also sometimes use Clay's trick of slightly wetting down the leather. I might try -1 degree and dampening the leather this evening on my carry knife, to compare to the finish it has now.

ApexGS wrote:


Guessing you're right handed. =P Mine, the right side loosens more often, but I'm a lefty, so I'm guessing I am able to tighten the left a bit more than the right.

Kinda wish there was some better method than the thumbscrews.

ApexGS wrote:


I remember seeing something about wetting the leathers but don't remember what solution was used. What is the preferred solution and technique does one use?

TPeters wrote:


I've been using a little rubbing alcohol and it's working very well.