Introducing our new hard polymer strops for polishing past the final stone grit. They are significantly firmer than veg tanned cow leather to virtually eliminate convexing of the apex, soft enough to not chip ceramic edges, are very wear resistant, and easy to clean. They are made with the same aluminum mounts as our stones and are the same finished thicknesses. They don’t absorb water or abrasives and are nonabrasive, so you must add your favorite abrasive before use. While not holding the abrasives like leather or wood is somewhat inconvenient, they are very easy to clean if/when they get contaminated and 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, please be careful with what chemicals you use on them and clean them when you are done sharpening, don’t store them with oil or chemicals applied. Soap and water work fine, as well as a paper towel with rubbing 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 diamond and aluminum oxide emulsions. I have used them with both water-based and the mineral oil emulsions I will be offering soon. They work much better wet so while water works fine, mineral oil doesn’t evaporate, making it much more convenient. I have tested using Stroppy Stuff, and it works fine until it dries.
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.
Ray Anthony (verified owner) –
Neat idea that solves a number of problems like cleaning after cross contamination, leather deforming when wet and rounding the apex. I’m pretty happy with the one I’ve tested on and just purchased a few more. Definitely interested in 6×2 or 8×3 variants.