How To: Load a Strop with Compound 

I'm new to stropping, I like the way you take you're time covering things. The video helped me out a lot. I look forward to checking out more of you're videos.

LOL! Whoever dislikes my vids in the first minute, just know I love the shit out of you! You're the only one I know of that watches every single vid I make. Thanks for all of your support!

I'm in the process of putting together a How-to video for how I make one of my own strops. I do an extra step to the leather when I essentially sand the surface with a disk sander to create a really fine, super effective knap of the surface of the leather that creates a surface that gets hair whittling edges, while accepting compounds extremely well. Nothing like a good strop :) Great vid.

Just wanted to say thanks , this video fixed my problems . Both my before & after strop photos would of mirrored yours to a Tee ! Now thanks to you I've went through my knives & I don't have a hair left on my arms . LOL Good thing they'll grow back .

You've helped me with sharpening so much it's honestly ridiculous. You are still my favorite knife channel.

You can also use a bit of honing oil or mineral oils (same thing I suppose) and put it on the strop and then load up the compound - it makes for a runny paste which can then be smoothed into the leather. It's a great way to load up lots of compound and get a nice smooth finish. The downside is waiting for the oil to dry - not a problem out here in AZ, where we have 115 degree days with 14% humidity.

Also had a problem with the green compound. Had an idea, got a clothes iron as hot as it would go. Placed parchment paper on top of the leather and got it good and hot. Too hot to touch the leather. Rubbed the compound evenly all over the suede nap. Put fresh parchment paper on top of the leather and ironed it, frequently checking my progress. After a few slow passes with the iron, I was satisfied. Had an even thin coating all over! I was worried that the heat would harm the properties of the leather but it didn’t take too much contact time to do the job so I think I’m good. Time will tell.

wow u are really pumping these out today... thx for the great info .. this was a great help because i have not been exposed to strops and my stropman should be coming in by the end of this week... cant wait.

Thanks for the video mate! I'm a knife noob and just made my own strop but wasn't sure exactly how to apply compound, so thank you!

The RU-vid algorithm takes ratings into account, but not whether they are positive or negative, just that people ARE rating. Your hater is giving you more than just the views; he's helping push your videos further up lists of search results and spread it via suggested videos lists.

Here in the heart of Original Yankeeland we call them "the burners". I never even considered that there might be any other term for them, LOL. Always learning something new. I tried your heat trick with my cheapo strop board and green compound, because the compound wouldn't spread smoothly, liked to form thick streaks and bumps when I tried to rub it on. When I heated the compound-plastered board, the green compound turned a whiter shade and transformed into a kind of chalky deposit that scrapes off as powder when you scrape it with a knife. So not perfect success, but it did allow me to level the layer down a bit, and it seems to be taking metal off a little. At least it darkens when I run the blade over it.

we call the "eye" of the stove a burner.

Thanks so much for posting this. Heating the strop before applying the compound worked fantastic. Could never figure out why the strop wouldn't take the compound. I found using my heat gun works better, with more control.

The low pressure high speed application might get me better edges than i do now. Great tips.

Cleaning out the old compound is a good idea ever so often, but I only do it like twice a year. Maintaining a strop is a whole other vid. I'll make that one soon. :)

7:40. One can also just use a hair dryer to melt the aggregate into the leather.

Nice video. It would definitely help some one new to stropping. If you are new, don't forget to experiment. With somethings knowing what not to do isn't as important as why not to do it.

just a great job . thank you so much.

Thank you. This video and comments have helped me.

Great video, thank you! I have a Stropman HD compact strop with white and green compound coming today in the mail because of your video. And this video REALLY helped! Because I had no idea how to do this lol.

Great video! Does one need to clean the loaded compound off before applying fresh compound or not? How do I maintain a strop?

0:20 Words of encouragement.

Yeah, don't understand the dislikes... tools. This is a very helpful vid. I just bought the stropman. Did you see his website? He made some comments about you. I think you brought him a lot of business

Thank you so much for passing on your knowledge

We call it a stove, the oven is the lower enclosed portion where we bake or roast in. We don't know what an eye of the oven is but in Maryland (South-Mason Dixon line), we would say the burner on stove. Hope that helps. Great information regarding the grit difference between white and the green. I don't ever recall any manufacturer ever clearly indicating the difference between the two!

Generally a lot of what people buy are just buffing compounds so they are made with enough consistency to achieve a level of polish, they are not actually intended as sharpening agents. The diamond and CBN compounds are different though, they are pretty much what they are labeled. The big wax bars though are just whatever people want to jam in them, there is no real standard for white/black/green/red, etc. . aside from the fact they are white/black/green/red .

I appreciate this video very much -- very helpful for me as I learn to stop my wood carving knives!

I heard that using a paint removal heat gun will work for getting the green to adsorb into the leather better..

Thanks for the video! Heating the leather up worked GREAT!

I like the videos that allow me to click on different parts so if I’m bored I don’t have to keep watching the boring parts to get to what I want to know.

Note you can get the MSDS sheets on abrasives (or anything else basically) and if you do this on the compounds you will find that most of the chromium oxide buffing compounds only contain enough actual chromium oxide to make them green (its main use is as a pigment). They can be as little as 5-10% chromium oxide and the rest is aluminum oxide (which can be just as fine or finer).

Very informative I’m just getting into the hobby thanks brother

Out west we call the "eye of the stove" the burners. Great tip.

When are you going to make a video on how to strop the rigt way angles presure would be a great help to a lot of people i bought 3 of the strops one hd compact one reg. compact that came with pocket size strop i also got the red green and white found out the compound went on better going from side to side maybe because of the grain.

Who is the guy who takes his time to dislike all your videos he must really like them if he waits for them every day. Nice videos by the way :).

I had a tough time with putting on my compound (both the compound and strop are pretty cheap) but I tried the stove burner trick and it finally worked. Good tip!

I like loading with a bit with a heat gun on first load or after cleaning the strop out. After that I typically just rub some onto it and call it good. Good to know my methods are very similar.

10 years later..... in Australia we call it a hot plate, and that tricked worked perfectly for my new strop. The leather was quite hard and smooth so the heat was the right thing. I figure the hard flat leather to be an advantage for a very fine knife edge so I wanted to avoid anything that might soften it. Anyways, thank you.

I have an old strop and made myself a few but cannot wait to get stropman order here. Have all colored compounds to play with and see what I like

Hey man thanks for this video I've been curious about compounds for a while now and you've cleared things up for me.

Is there any difference between stroping with .5 micron green compound and .5 diamond spray? Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Otherwise I wouldn't even know to ask this question.

Are your strops made with the swede side up or down?

I found putting the stick of compound in hot water for a bit helps softens it so it applies easier.

After reviewing this video I loaded up a strop with chromium oxide and heated it with a heat gun. Think of it as a hair dryer on steroids. Works like a champ. Thanks for all your efforts. Donald

when i use a heat source it sort of recedes and then crusts up and comes off anyway. any tips?

Could you use a hair dryer to heat up the compound?

Great info for someone just learning stropping. Any chance you can post links where you get your strops and compounds? Any other useful links would be helpful

I'm new to hand sharpening and have watched all your videos and wanted to say thank you. This is another great tip. I've also sent you a pm with questions.

Thanks for the video! Learned what the eye of a stove is 😂

you seem like a nice; guy; may you be blessed in all your honourable endeavours. thank you for the good advice.

couldn't you just use a heat gun to heat it instead of your stove? I have a gas stove I'm worried it will just burn haha

Stropping compound and polishing ompound is there a difference?

HeeHee .. I'm from NYC. My Gr.GrandMother _(Virginia)_ & Paternal GrandParents _(S. Carolina)_ always called it *"The Eye."* They called TV's that also. My Mother & Aunts (NYC) called it *The Jet.*

@CliffStamp So pretty much we have no consistency in the compounds we buy? That sucks.

I find it a LOT easier to use a hot-air gun or preferably a rework-station to heat the stop, apply the wax because it melts immediately and soaks in, then while its still warm, tap it upside down to remove the excess. I also do this to my cloth strap on my worksharp, heat up the strap, apply compound, spin at max speed while heating, the excess flings off

The issue with a heavy layer comes into play if you press hard. If the loading layer is thick enough the edge can actually sink down into it and thus you are then grinding the sharpened edge at a perpendicular to the abrasive (i.e. basically the same as if you cut into the strop) as the abrasive actually folds up around the edge. This is why heavy pasted strops will tend to cause "over honing" very easily, but again it is only an issue if you press really hard.

I was born and raised in Eastern N.C , and not once have I ever heard the "burner" of a stove being called the Eye. You must be further South lol.

No link for the preloaded strop??

So I’ve watched quite a few strip videos and no one has really answered this definitively, can you use compound on the smooth leather side or is that only meant to be used bare?

Silicon Oxide, is the green... You are correct with the white being Aluminum Oxide.

I had never really considered heating it, I'll have to try that sometime tomorrow if that really makes much of a difference. It might allow me to get some use out of an old strop that ended up sitting in a dark closet since forever because the other two that I made myself somehow just work better for me. I'll probably do mine by leaving the strop on a central heating radiator for a while first to get the wood reasonably above room temperature (air coming out of the top tends to be 35-40 degrees celcius here). Then I think a gentle treatment with the wide nozzle from the hot air rework station to heat the strop surface and compound up locally would work pretty well since it has a reliable fully controllable temperature. I'm quite amazed how often I end up using the Metcal HCT-900-21 that I picked up second hand for relatively cheap for other things than my electronics hobby. Not sure how leather deals with extreme heat but I suspect careful use of those paint heating devices (don't know the english word, those things to warm it up before scraping it off) could be a good way to locally heat it up if you don't have an oven available. Wood and leather aren't the best heat conductors so you could probably get away with not gently preheating the surface but I guess its another habit from preheating PCBs to a reasonably high temperature before working on them with the hot air rework station.

Silly question: Next time you want to use it, do you clean the previous green compound or just add a fresh layer on top? Thanks! :)

Is the green compound supposed to feel waxy and have some resistance when stropping the knife after you have loaded it

You can buy pure chromium (III) oxide as a powder with a 0.1 micron mesh size (all particles are smaller than that). Normally buffing compounds are not that fine because it is more expensive to produce finer particles sizes and if you go very fine you lose buffing ability unless you use an intermediate. As the regular grade (which is well above 0.5 micron usually) produces a mirror finish easily - there is no real demand (on a large scale).

the eye is a stove and a oven is often combined with a stove on top lol things are so different in the south lol love the vids bro

which brand of compounds and color should i use i am thinking of buying the enkay pack of every color!! i really want a mirror finish on my edge i already have green and red which gets it pretty good but i am a perfectionist what do you suggest i try?

Part of question answered (on replenishment) but how often to strop with compound vs. Non compound strop?

thought this was an excellent video and very informative .I've got a Tandy Leather store down the road, been wanting to try stropping my knives I'm sure I'll be impressed

I have some good organic tanned leather to make a strop out of. But, should I glue it to the wod batten with the raw side of the leather facing out or the smooth (fur side) out? I've heard people saying very contradictory things about this. What's your take?

Good informative video! My question, being a noobie, is regarding the leather. I have a strop that has a smooth side as well as a rough side. Can you provide which side is best and the purpose of using the smooth versus the rough side. Thanks in advance

Being from Canada I've never heard it being called the eye. We would call the eye the stove and the under part that you bake in, the oven. It's cool to see different words in different parts of the world.

I just got mine in! Great video 😃

Sorry I am new to this but I have got a new strop and have used it without compound.. first time trying to sharpen a knife.. it came out ok but is compound a must..?

Thanks for the video, just got a stropping block, very helpful!

You will have to apply a little bit of pressure, like you would with a crayon. But, the faster your strokes are when rubbing it on, the less pressure you will need. :)

What does the compound do? How does it sharpen metal? Also I've seen guys just use old belts, how does leather sharpen metal? I'm new to this.

In Missouri we call it an element, But that's nice to know.

Thank you for the information, awesome video 📸

Doing it now, thanks

You don't have to clean any of that rubbed off metal off the strop? Just rub and don't worry about it?

@NBKnives Doesn't work nearly as well. The low heat from the hair dryer is mostly overcome by the breeze is makes.

Does using mineral oil help or is it more of a preference? Also can i use like a hair dryer to heat up the surface of the strop to help with the application of the compound?

Let's say I sharpen a knife on the edge pro apex to get a mirror polish. Do I strop it with the white compound then with the green, or skip the white and just go straight into the green.?

I suppose you could use a heat gun or hair dryer instead of a stove burner when melting your compound into the strop.

Great vid. Question: how often do you recommend stroping with Crom OX with every strop? How often do you replenish the application of chrom ox on the strop? Thanks

Thanks for this. My strop problem is that the leather is so rough it seems to flake when I try to crayon or butter the compound in. Can't recall where I got the strop but it is probably 30 yrs old.

A burner on a range is referred to as an "eye"? Now I know where the expression "four eyes" comes from! I'm in the deepest south there is, south Florida, and I've never heard that expression before. I'll have to remember that, like a rock is an "Alabama hammer".

My strop on the smooth side I applied green compound by mistake, Is their a way to fix it? sand paper it off? what can i do? Or abandon it, and get a paper wheel?

if your strop has a a smooth side, and a rough side, which color (white or green) would you apply to which side?

What is the white good for

hi , please witch one are good for gränsfors axes ?? THANKS

Is the green compound that comes with the stropman the same compound as the strop block from knives plus?

I just got my cheap $25 Amazon strop with 2 types of compound, white a green. My strop has a course and fine side. Which color goes on smooth a course side. Any help be appreciated.

How do you remove the heavy black from the strop on the white side.

Huge help! Thanks

What if im out of white? Can i use the green on the same leather?

Hi. In my country there is no Compund, what can I use instead of Compund?

Thank you for your wisdom. What brand of compounds do you use?

Apply the compound in diagonal stripes about two inches apart down the length of the strop. That is all you need.

@CliffStamp That makes a lot of sense. Just another reason not to use tons of pressure.