want a strop? Here you go! coalcrackerbushcraft.com/coll... Like what you see? Want more? Visit us at.. www.coalcrackerbushcraft.com / danwowak / coalcrackerbushcraft and as always.... Stay in the Woods, Dan
As a final bit of advice that no one ever told you. Lower the pressure. Low pressure is not quite as fast, but you still don't need to take a lot of swipes to get the blade sharp. Try gentle strokes and when you test, be careful the knife may have a better edge than you are used to. The physics behind this is simple. The edge is very fine and the leather gives. if you push down, you push it into the leather and start to round the edge. Even with a stone, as you get sharper, get more gentle. The more gentle, the sharper the edge is possible. This is true with stones as well. Gentle is the way to get the final edge consistently sharp. If you learn to back off on the pressure you will find yourself able to sharpen reliably.
Yup. This is definitely not the way to sharpen a knife. This guy does not know what he’s talking about. Low consistent pressure is key. Especially on convex blades.
Word! The higher the grit, the less pressure you wanna use and compound/stropping as almost at the top of grit by then the edge is so thin any too hard pressure my end up A) rolling the edge giving you a bur (if the knife is soft enough [most European knives) or B) Chipping away part of the edge, making you cry (if the knife is hard enough [most Japanese Knives)] Also, this applies double for diamond stones, they remove metal as if it was wood, i grind a point-less knife in 5 strokes back to scary poiny with one of them(400grits), crazy useful, but they eat metal like you couldn't imagine.
I can't believe somebody finally showed how to use your belt I've done this for years and I've never seen anyone show that. thanks for showing people that need this. there is a lot of people getting into Woodcraft now and not being shown this proper way. again I thank you for showing people this. you're so good Dan. keep ye powder dry
@@tankerboysabot I find there's a lot of people with knowledge without cameras and/or camera skills, and a lot of us with good cameras and filming skills, without stuff like this to share.
@@T4nkcommander I get that, but if its a skill it can be learned or outsourced.....sometimes you can find someone who can do a decent job fpr a decent price just to get started.
@@T4nkcommander Christopher Nyerges (School of self-reliance) had a great quote saying, "the people that are the most skilled and most experienced with outdoor skills and bushcraft are people you have probably never heard of."
Thanks for your reply but I don't like the sound of my own voice and I don't even look in the mirror and I ain't going to pay nobody you all got it now so I don't have to worry about it
I always thought I was bad at sharpening until I tried stropping. Then I figured out, if you strop regularly, even obsessively, you don't have to hit the stones as often, and when you do you're just hitting the fine stone for a minute before stropping. I use the strop for all knives and woodworking tools we use to great effect.
Yes honestly if you just make a habit of doing it ever other time you use your knife often you will never have to sharpen it, I've truly never realized what correct stropping can do to your knife. It can turn it from a sharp knife to a scary sharp knife.
I'm sure that I speak for a lot of fellow subscribers when I add that I enjoy watching you pass on skills that have long been a part of my life. I grew up in the Shawangunk Mountains at Lake Minnewaska and was fortunate enough to learn from older men who simply enjoyed sharing their knowledge. There is so much to learn and so little time... Thanks, Dan.
Thanks for the review video for new or slow learners. I know that when I started stropping, I made that same mistake, by tilting the blade too much. Keep up the good, common sense content, it's much appreciated.
Thanks Dan for showing us how to strop a knife the correct way! Like you always say tools for the toolbox !! Great informative video as always Dan!! Take care and stay safe my friend !!!
This is DEFINATELY not the correct way. Less pressure is needed. Only the weight of the knife. This guy doesn’t know how to strop at all. Heat? Give me a break y’all live in fantasy. If you do it this way all it’s going to do is blunt the knife
@@dispmonk If you're gonna criticize the dude, at least learn how to spell before writing anything. "DEFINATELY" is not a word. Shall I spell it for you? Nah.
Some sharpie marker on the bevel helps you see if you're keeping your angle consistent. This works with grinding, honing and stropping. Wherever the sharpie is removed is where you're removing metal and not removed is where you're not removing metal.
@@ReasonAboveEverything It's not perfect, but it does work, and you may have to keep redoing. It's mainly to show you if you're on target or way off, in order to develop feel. It's just a variation on machinist's blue dye.
@@impermanenthuman8427 Oh yeah, good one. And a bunch of other applications, sometimes with chalk instead, such as fitting a dovetail mortise. Thanks for that comment, blessings of success to you and yours.
The method that I use is to look at the blade while rotating it slightly with a light source that is a few feet away, the polished areas are where you are working the blade. Watch for the shine.
My favorite pocket stone is the Falkniven DC4. Its a 4” 2 sided Diamond/Fine Ceramic stone but it comes in a nice leather slip cover that has a slightly rough back which loads up perfectly with polishing compound so you can use it as a 5” strop while the stone is inside it.
Nice and informative about a pretty important thing. Using sharp knives. A lot of my young friends have these beautiful bits of steel with extremely blunt edges! Watched and learnt from my grandfather (and my early childhood barbers as I watched them at work before my turn)about use of a strop when he would do his cut throat razor, almost 60 yrs ago. Like your stuff.
Respect Dan. I've been following your channel for a while. All of your videos are to the point and real world practical. Many thanks for your videos. PA autumn is coming. Enjoy!!
Well done. Straight forward and to the point (no pun intended). I got a couple of nuggets out of this video. I use a strop with and without compound, but I am not sure that I have been using it to its full potential. This video was very informative and I want to thank you for putting it out there. Cheers, Gary
I really appreciate your videos and knowledge. I would like to add to the stropping instructions. The single biggest nugget of knowledge for finding the angle to strop is to lay the blade flat and gradually lift the blade into the strop until it superficially cuts/stops on the leather. Add 2 degrees and go for it. I also do not add as much compound to the strop. I keep it knappy and it looks like a 3rd grader added the compound! LOL
One piece of advice, straight leather will work without compound for older steel but new supersteels that are high in the HRC wil need compound. Aluminum oxide will work (usually green compound) but Diamond compounds will make it much quicker and give better results on supersteels. Thanks for the great vid and keep making sharp things fun and enjoyable
Very, very informative!! When I first started learning to sharpen freehand I developed a bad habit of pronating my wrist in a similar way you showed. Excellent job, new sub 👍🇺🇸🔪👍
My butcher knives are between 50 and 100 years old and sharp but for skinning I use a polish rod like a steel to keep a razor edge that is needed for skinning. I am an old butcher that worked from slaughter to retail counter. My Dad's razor strop was used for his razor and tune ups for me.
First time I saw the belt stropping was by Ray Mears, and people have looked at me funny ever since I mentioned it. Glad somebody else has mentioned it!
Thank you very much for making this video. I just started learning how to sharpen my knives and I keep screwing up the edge everytime I strop. After watching this video I know exactly what I am doing wrong. BTW, I just subscribed! God bless!
You can use a strop to sharpen your knife. You will need several strops with different grits of compound on them. As long as there are no nicks on the blade, you can make a knife from dull to scary sharp in a matter of minutes using only a few strops. I have been doing this for so many years I don't know where my stones are anymore. And you are removing less material off your blade. One other thing is you should not do one side many times and then flip. It should be one side, flip, other side, flip. This way you are getting the same number of strokes on both sides and your blade will strop evenly.
Coalcracker Bushcraft: For a strop on the go, the belt is an excellent idea, and it’s an easy matter to put a little piece of jewellers rouge in your pack. It takes up pretty much no space, weighs pretty much nothing, it’s always easy to find, and is an easy way to make sure that the knife stays razor-sharp, just taking a few minutes here and there to touch it up instead of waiting until it needs honing or sharpening. Of course honing and sharpening are not a big deal, but it’s far better to keep blades ready to use. thanks for taking a few minutes to share this tutorial. It’s surprising how many people really think it necessary to pack a piece of board into the woods in order to strop your blade.
I do find I like the belt more than the strop though. It's just the feel - you can feel and HEAR the sharpness. Great video - this might help more people get a good edge than a lot of videos without stropping will do I bet.
The sound of the steel is also important. You see people cutting paper after supposedly having sharpened the knife. I want to hear the ssssssst sound Not the scratchy scrrrrt sound
Well thanks Dan I just recently tried using an old belt for this and was wondering what I was doing wrong. Not enough tension on my belt. When I get home I'll be making a block. As always good information.
I appreciate the lesson! I've heard of the process but dang, I was hoping to see you shave some arm hair or filet some paper to show us how sharp you got it. Thanks for keeping us prepared! People like you make a difference!
yeah I just ordered one online from you I have a sharpening stone that I'm definitely going to enjoy using this new item I've been sharpening my knife off my grandfather's leather belt for the last 40 years but this is a nice new extra thing to know
I WAS one of those guys that would end up with the knife becoming duller after stropping the blade. Thanks to your video, I now know what I was doing wrong. I had given up on stropping my blades. Well that ended today.
I e been stepping on my belt for years and stropping but recently got one and there’s an art to it , the compound is everything imo as it speeds up the process. When i see
I have used a section of one of my old solid leather belts, and a bit of toothpaste for my compound for years, and seems to work just fine ! I have been a woodcarver for over 30 years, and trust me, I depend on extremely sharp tools, and knives ! 😎
I always use my belt for stropping. I use vegetable oil or wd40 or even water for a quick strop compound. Great video though and keep up the great work.
I thought I was the only one that used their belt To strop a blade, oviously I am not! I have a eight inch horizonal ,water cooled sharpening machine that get a blade sharp . It is a necessity in a wood workers/machine shop. I am retired but still have my shop with a full compliment of tools. If I get rid of my tools the sharpening machine stays! I enjoyed your video! You were spot on with your information.
Thanks much for the excellent video. I always enjoy them. And thanks for the Belt strop. I was exposed to using bluejeans in a pinch! Your instruction is the best and most in depth so far. Good shot on going to the woods! Have a great Thanksgiving 2022!
The belt on the “tree” method reminded me of when my dad would take my older brother and I (we were 6 and under) for haircuts at the local small town barbershop. While we waited for our turns there was usually an “old” man in the chair getting a shave with a straight razor. I would watch as the barber would strop the razor on a piece of leather, that looked like a belt, which was attached to the chair. For some reason I was impressed. I have come to have a thing now for sharp edged tools; chisels, knives and axes.
Same experience here. Started @ 6 yr and had the same barber until I left for college. Was always intrigued watching the “old” man get a shave, especially the hot towels and stropping. Always wanted to try it, but now I’m an old man and still never experienced it.
I bought my uncle's land after he passed and acquired his dandy leather belt. It's huge and I use it as a hip belt for holstered hatchet 'n Bowie. I wear 32" pants and the belt is 48". Being so long I can set it up as strop various ways on wood, other. ~ Also can be used to shoulder a load of branches, end of a log vs one arm dragging, or even two arm walking backwards. Kinda like a moving strap.
I've always stropped without compound, and works fine (with compound is off course just as fine ore better) and I can always shave with all and any of my knives, axes and chisels... Point someone else made which I definitely confirm is that the sooner you touch up a used blade, the less work it is... Thanks for the nitty gritty on stropping!
Sharpening is simply an abrasive process. When you talk about polishing, buffing etc. they're also abrasive processes where you procedurally take down the microscopic peaks and valleys created by the previous step. The finer you go the closer those peaks and valleys come to being flat(this is all on a microscopic level mind you). So after stones/sandpaper you go to compound, a finer abrasive. Eventually if you wanted to go crazy with it, you end up buffing with something like a soft cloth, and believe it or not this also has an abrasive action on those peaks and valleys. It's very tiny and gentle, and so the difference is only visible when you've worked your way all the way up through the grits and types of polish. The leather has an abrasive action on its own without compound. If you wanted to go the extra mile, you could strop with compound, clean the blade, then finish by stropping on a clean piece of leather to get an even sharper edge. Stropping while you work(so for instance while woodcarving) helps maintain the edge of the blade by removing the micro-damage that occurs during use, giving you back that clean geometry that helps maximize and concentrate the force you put into the blade into the cutting action. Sorry for the excessive info, I just find this stuff to be interesting and have always felt that understanding the processes we're doing helps us to innovate and improve.
@@nikitavolchik I fully agree! In field maintenance on the other hand, I usually have leather on hand, if only just a belt or the inside of a pouch. Compound not so much in the field... But you're absolutely right and RU-vid has more than enough videos that show this, microscopic view and all.. Kind regards...
If you can afford it get the Tormek T8. Easy to get knives, axes, lawnmower blades, even chainsaw blades razor sharp and it’s fast! Finally broke down and bought one and LOVE it.
My father was a millwright and blacksmith. He made knives of all sorts and also made strops. He also shaved with a straight razor that he stripped regularly. And he was also a barber.
Your entire video just described methods of sharpening and stropping that I have used for years especially overseas where sharpening stones and other conveniences were nonexistent. I’ve used sand paper, belts, small strips of leather, I’ve even sharpened a butter knife sharp enough to shave with with nothing more than sandpaper and my belt. It amazes me how many grown men can’t sharpen a knife by hand.
That "finding the angle" you talk about is why a straight razor has that aggressively hollow grind -- so that when either stoning (rarely needed -- I did it *once* in the ten years I shaved with a straight razor) or stropping (every shave), you just lay the edge and back on the strop and get the perfect angle automatically. Generally, a knife for more general use needs a less fine edge angle than a razor, however, so the hollow grind won't run all the way to the back of the blade. With a razor, what I learned by watching barbers (live and on film) was to hold the strop taut, slide the razor away from the edge as you say, then roll it over the back and once more slide it away from the edge. Half a dozen strokes like this before each shave will keep a razor sharp enough to cut hair below the skin surface, producing a shave that will stay smooth for many hours. Obviously, you don't need a knife you'll be using even for skinning quite *that* sharp (it's said that a well stropped razor has an edge only a few atoms thick) -- you want an edge that will stand up to a reasonable amount of use before it needs sharpening again -- but well done stropping can make the difference between "it cuts" and "Wow!" I've even stropped a pocket knife on my arm (be careful here, "don't slice into the strop" goes double when it's got veins underneath).
I've been at straight razor honing and stropping for 7 years. I've been honing knives since I was 8. You're correct about how fine the edge is, if the steel is up to it. I have a few straights that are trash, their steel is too course grained or trash steel that cannot take an edge fine enough. The edge begins to break off when getting that fine. Makes for a terrible shave. They are just sitting around for looks. Most are average steel that gives an ok shave. My best is from the early 1800's, probably around 1820. It is a no name blade with only a crude Sheffield stamp on it so likely made by an apprentice. But it will take an edge that even my modern German blades cannot. Silky smooth. It just wipes the stubble off. Problem is, it's a true wedge so laying on the spine isn't viable. I use thick Gorilla tape to give a slight repeatable advantage. I never place a true comfortable shaving edge on my general tools especially my folders, if you screw up and it springs down on the tip of your finger, that fingertip is gone. Few have experienced a true shaving edge, my friends constantly ask me to put that sort of edge on their folders and I refuse. A quick strop is all they get after a 1k stone. They're impressed and have no idea. If you know what a true shaving edge can do, the thought of it on a folder that snaps down when closed is ass puckering. An interesting note about a comfortable razor burn free edge, it doesn't feel sharp. It feels like running the rounded back of a butter knife over oiled skin as it snips the stubble and wipes it away. It's deceptive. If it feels "sharp" it isn't. That is a ragged edge breaking skin cells open and will leave razor burn.
And for myself I've always used the palm of my hand always left a wicked scary edge oh and it always kept one palm feeling baby soft it wears all the callus away lol. Take care and thanks for the vid
Convex grind, soft strop, scandi etc, wood backed strop. But I have good luck with a quality leather belt no compound. Depending on grind, hold it out, or lay it on a surface. Good burr removal, no dulling.
