Hard Polymer Strops

Our hard polymer strops are designed to take over where stones stop working and are able to make use of our finest emulsions. They are significantly firmer than veg tanned cow leather to virtually eliminate convexing of the apex, soft enough not to chip ceramic edges, very wear resistant, and easy to clean, being smooth with no texture. They are made with the same aluminum mounts as our stones and are the same finished thicknesses. They don’t absorb water and are nonabrasive, so you must add an abrasive before use. You can use your favorites, or try the oil-based emulsions we have developed specifically for these strops. Adding oil to the resin strop makes it glide effortlessly over your bevel and allows us to increase the concentration of the abrasives compared to being used dry or with water. Since the oil doesn’t evaporate, it will stay on your strop until you are done with it. They are available in monocrystalline diamonds and soft white aluminum oxide from .5 micron up to an 80 micron diamond emulsion for a broad range of needs.

As easy to clean as they are, and you do need to keep them clean for best performance with such fine abrasives, you can use one strop with many sizes of abrasives.  So far I am using one strop for 5 to 80-micron emulsions and a second strop for 1-micron and smaller emulsions. Please note that the resin used to make these strops is sensitive to oils and chemicals, and will darken if exposed to sunlight. With this in mind, be careful with what chemicals you use on them, clean them when you are done sharpening, and don’t store them with oil or chemicals applied. Soap and water work fine, as well as a paper towel with isopropyl alcohol.

The images above were taken with a microscope to show the finish left after a 5m stone and strops with different diamond sizes. The finish from the 5m stone is a mirror with some haze, and the lighting was not changed between photos. The difference in lighting is how much less light is being reflected as the scratches become finer. 20 edge-trailing passes were used with each stone or strop using a guided sharpener. I added the finish left from a new bare leather strop so you can see the random scratches it leaves. If you enlarge one photo, you can then scroll through them all in the larger format.

I have only tested them with oil, glycerin, and water-based emulsions but have heard they work with bars too. I have tested using Stroppy Stuff, and it works fine, but it slowly dries, so you have to keep adding water.

While I do everything possible to ensure these strops are free of voids or other minor imperfections, I can not guarantee they will be. While they are unsightly, I have never seen them affect how the strops perform.