Long time since this video. Still relevant. I've also settled on 0.5um diamond spray for the exact reasons you list. It's fast and leaves a tooth and (surprisingly) also a mirror polish. I got some from the "Chef's Knives to go" website - it came as part of a magnetic stropping kit, It's marked "Richmond" 0.5 Micron and retails for $16.97 for a somewhat smaller bottle (1 oz I believe). I'm relatively new to this, having started woodcarving and picked up the side hobby of sharpening (something I've dabbled in for years, but have now decided to do right) I'm using a Cerax 1000 followed by a Chosera 3000 and tried dozens of strop combinations to finish. Right now, It's the .5 um diamond spray on kangaroo, or hard balsa. It's a close race on the substrate and seems to depend on the blade. If anyone sees this, maybe you can tell me, it this still the hot tip, 7 years later? I really like this stuff, but it IS pricey. I tend to use it maybe a little too liberally. The eraser tip is good, I'll be trying that, I've been cleaning with a cabinet scraper or dull blade. The eraser should work much better on the balsa. Thanks BigBubba!

Great information. Thanks for making this video, Christian!

Thank you for the information, Christian. Great video and thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the video, watched for the first time a couple of years ago. Took your advice and the HandsAmerica .5 micron is great, especially on hard steel like M4 or M390, big improvement over Bark River white. And.. the eraser trick works GREAT! Easiest way I've found to clean the steel particles but leaves some of the diamond spray behind. Wow, two great pieces of advice from one video..

Thanks for this video! I've been looking for a stopping compound to put on one side of my stopp.

BB5037. From the UK. Thank you very much for an excellent all round vid.

Thanks for the tip! Great video.

WOW! I'm sold.

Definitely! I can't see a man of your style skimping on the small stuff like having a quality stropping compound :) Thanks for watching, Bruce! I don't always comment on all of your videos, but rest assured I do watch them all!

Never tried a diamond compound but been using a rubber eraser (and a hand scrubber brush) on normal compounds for quite a while. dried out / metal filled compound flies right off with a mild brushing and the eraser rolls the more oily pieces into piles that just brush right off. looks like diamond compound may be just as easy to maintain, good to know.

Personally, being a leather guy I have had the opportunity to experiment with a variety of different surfaces. Personally, I like to take the smooth side of the leather and buff the surface with a disk sander. What this does is make the surface feel and look almost like the skin on a peach. It makes applying the compound very easy and even, and it makes stropping extremely smooth. I get my best edges from that. I have a video on it somewhere if you are interested.

I'll have to look into that. Sounds like it would be worth a try.

I have some of this too and really like it also! I normally clean mine off with a 3M Scotchbright pad... nice tip using the eraser!

thanks for the eraser tip

I switched to diamond paste (not spray) a few years ago, also 20 bucks. The black residue doesn't need to be cleaned THAT often, it, only slows down the cutting ability of the strop. I can't speak for the differences between diamond spray or pastes but the stuff cuts a nice mirror finish either way.

Actually, I have thought about it. I would definitely be interested in trying it sometime.

Glad it's working for you man! That stiction you were referring to actually gets my edges sharper than without. Somehow the sticking refines the edge more than not. I actually tested this with a new strip vs one that was loaded. For me the sticking strop got the edge sharper. Who knows though! Haha

Cleaning the compound off a strop is easy with a simple pink eraser. The Bark river white and black compound work best for me.

As far as other past like compound what do you prefer? I got just some green, but I really want to get the mirror finish. I'm stropping a lot of CPM 3V knives and stainless knives. Great video and thanks.

Handamerican made nice strops and compounds. They seemed to disappear 9 or 10 years ago. The phone number I have for them no longer works either. I have a 25 year old Handamerican mahogany table strop with smooth leather on top and the roughout side on the base. A brass piano hinge flips the smooth strop open to reveal the roughout strop. Really nice strop. I use Handamerican silicon carbide 2.5 micron powder on the roughout side and nothing on the smooth side. Razor sharp and mirror polished for 25 years!

Thank man!

When you run out. try tedpella. they run about $30 for 250 ml. Just make sure to get the water base. I prefer the poly crystal as it cuts faster, but that's really just preference and what i had lying around my lab.

whoa nice cleaning technique

have you ever tried autosol car polish sold here in uk,it works really well and not too exspensive

what strop do you like best stropman or dlt? and compound is bark river better than stropman compound ?

Does The eraser technique work on regular green and white compound as a way to clean your strop???

Thanks Glenn! Yepp I only use cowhide for my strops. Really paying extra for kangaroo isn't really worth it IMO. Typically some good quality thick(typically has less surface give than thinner leather from my experience) cowhide is just as good as kangaroo for the purpose of stropping. Kangaroo can be nice and thin and maintain a very flat surface tention when stropping, but in all honesty it not a huge difference. And yes, skinside up as it is nice and smooth and the . . .

What about using it on the rough side? I've always used compound on the rough side and used the smooth side just bare leather.. I have some 1 micron in the mail tomorrow and a new strop so I'd hate to mess it up

I was waiting for him to show the “mirror polish”....

what kind of strop and where should I get one? for my pockets and fixed blades with 1095 ect?

I've also used many different stopping compounds over the years. my favorite is the Japanese Koyo-1 or K-1.

Awesome man! I may have to try that stuff, looks great! :) Mind if I ask where you get your leather bro?

All I care about is, what did you use to convex your Enzo? That is an awesome job brother!

I totally agree. Especially for that price IMO. Tomato, tomotto, to each his own I guess lol. :)

Any new thoughts on compounds? Also what leather would I buy to make my own strop? And where can I get some?

It will be interesting to see how long the bottle lasts. I dont know if I'm a fan of one that I have to clean the strop every use, even if it provides a small gain.

thats the slick side of the leather?

thanks for the great video and sharing your knowledge. and three questions; should we reload after cleaning the shiny side that is loaded with diamonds? what about cleaning the rough side loaded with bark river compounds using some olive oil? When is the time to clean?

Do you buff the surface of the leather on strops using wax-suspended compounds or do you leave them untreated as well?

nice!

bugger me. that's impressive.

It does great work while slowly ruining your blade. Or at least changing the geometry faster than it should be changed. Sometimes when something seems to be working really well, it's because it's working far too well. I've found this to be the case with diamond sharpener, and with diamond spray for strops.

What side of the leather do you use?

I'm new to stropping and I was wondering whether you use the suade side or the smooth side? Which side do you think is the best side?

What kind of fluid is used as the carrier? You can buy 100 carats/20 grams of .5 micron diamond powder for about USD4 and make your own spray.

just subbed dont let me down ;) and i wont stop liking your videos

Try a polymer eraser “Pentel” - super clean sweep, if they get loaded or greased, erase on a piece of cloth, I’ve been using them for years to take pencil lines out of wood projects

How would u clean a leather belt strop

it looks to me! as if your using the smooth side of the leather,dose the diamond spray work better with this side up,i'm really thinking about trying this stuff,thank you.

I have a hard time getting the compound onto the strop, it just won't "stick." any advice? I', using a strop from KSF and Bark River compound.

cont. . . . spray adheres to the leather great. I think I may do a little separate video on the Enzo since I did make a few changes :)

That looked like it made a tremendous difference. It zipped through that paper.

Have you tried gunny juice?

Is diamond spray or cbn better for higher wear resistant steels like s30v,3v,s90v,3v,elmax? Both are better for wear resistant steels

The green BR is the best I've had so far.

I have a couple of finer grit bottles that i don't use because it dried out my leather really bad, any way around this?

where do you order it from??

Good info and thanks for sharing. So the leather, skin side up, you used is cow hide and not kangaroo? Also awesome friggin folder dude! … LOL

bigbubba5037 of all of green white and red compounds what would you recommend stropping with after a dmt extra extra fine sharpening stone (roughly 8000 micromesh) ? Thank you in advance.

You might be able to water it down.? Really good example

Thing is you can get 1150g of ultra high grade menzerna polish compound for like $10 and it is the same grade as so called "stropping compounds" and sprays that sell for 10 or 20 times more cost.

Where’s the best place to buy this?

A lot of these compounds have alumina mixed in them. If you can get just the chromium oxide itself you can make your own.

Please can you tell me what kind of eraser you used to clean the strop?

I'm just learning how to sharpen. I have purchased supplies, including Strops and DMT DSPRAY5, which like HandAmerican Brand, has .5 Microns Diamond Grit. I sprayed some of the compound on my fingers and wiped it onto a corner of a brand new Strop, smooth Leather side. It simply soaked in and left a "wet" mark. Is it supposed to do that? (I know you said "because that Diamond Spray does soak in...it is still very useful" ) It seems like it would be ineffective. What I mean is, I thought you were supposed to be able to "feel" it. I was going to buy some "Razor Strop Dressing" which is supposed to condition the leather, maybe it seals the leather so the compound won't soak in as much? What did you do to prepare your Strop, if anything, before you applied the Diamond Spray, and how much did you use until you were satisfied that there was enough? By "feel"? Thanks to anyone who replies. Sorry my post is so long...P.S. The eraser, what a cool idea! It works so well, and yet that is something I haven't seen before! :D

hi friend i have green and white compound whats the diff between the two

Of course! I always appreciate you stopping by Shaun! For me, stropping is the number one thing when it comes to maintaining a blade and getting the most life out of it. No need to remove excess steel when you can just hone back to perfection :)

Thanks, buddy!

I make all of my strops :) I appreciate you watching

if you have a chance check out the KZfaq videos of the "Shark Tooth" sharpening compound for a strop

Valve grinding compound (from any auto supply) followed by Mothers mag polish is the best. The diamond compounds never get as mirror-like as those, just saying'.

so? what is your real favorite stropping compounds?

I'll have to pay closer attention to that once it gets loaded up again. Thinking about it I think you are right. Thanks so much for showing this stuff on your channel! Definitely worth the cost.

YELLOW FLEXCUT COMPOUND THE BEST TRY IT

Beef Stroppin off!!!!!

I don't actually make full strops for sale. Every once in a while I will sell the leather for the customer to make their own though.

Thank YOU for all the support, Hillary!

diamonds are a boys best friend!!!!wink wink!!LOL!! lets stropp off tonight!!!!

I would expect stones like that to be mostly used by people who sharpen straight razors for shaving. The only thing I could think of that would NEED the highest level of sharpenss possible would pretty much just be something that shaves. Other than that, I can't really imagine another real world application for an object needing to be be honed on something so fine. Worth it? . . It depends on who you ask. Me, no, as I have no use for it.

You'd be rich enough to do something extravagant like use diamond powder to sharpen those knives you buy.

Thanks! I used to purchase leather from Tandy Leather Factory which has stores all over the US, however, it isn't necessarily the best stuff in terms of blemishes and appearance. I now use the Tandy leather( I use 6-7oz Vegetable Tanned Single shoulder) for my strops and a premium leather from Wickett & Craig for all of my sheaths. Let me know if you ever have any questions about anything.

I love the bite that the diamond spray gives to edges. As of late, I have been using the .5 micron diamond spray strop followed by a strop loaded with Stropman Green compound(If I had to guess it would probably be chromium oxide), and I get very smooth push-cutting edges that still retain that "bite" of the diamonds. By the way, thanks for the sub!

Well, you technically don't have to clean it. jdavis chimed in somewhere below and added that he thinks the extra little friction caused by the buildup actually helps. . . which now that I have tested it myself seems to be true. So i guess the only real gain to cleaning it is that there is no longer that sticky friction you sometimes get when stropping.Really there is not much difference in the way the cleaned strop vs the loaded strop actually perform their function from what I currently see.

Using the wax-suspended compounds I always buff the skin side surface. It makes the compounds adhere to the surface extraordinarily well and it also creates a VERY smooth stropping surface. You can actually feel how smooth the surface is as you glide the edge of your knives over it. I wouldn't recommend buffing the surface of strops loaded with spray though.

Ken Schwartz here on youtube has some cbn emulsion that is 160,000 grit. That's right 160k !!! I will be right back with link.......

i have every color of enkay now! which micron sizes would you get in diamond spray im thinking of just getting the .5 micron what do ya think?

What amazes me is there's 10 Carat of diamond in that bottle for only $20. Can you imagine if you could melt all those micro diamonds together, you'd be a billionaire.

Hi can some one please tell me if the spray removes much metal?

haha Just think of all the knives I could buy if I was a billionaire! I'd probably buy all the equipment to make my own if I was. lol

Thanks. Can you tell me where you go to get your leather?

The problem is most likely due the the surface texture of the leather. If the leather has a fine, but visible "nap" then it should grab ahold of the compound extremely well. If it is just the smooth skin surface of the leather odds are it wont take normal stick compounds very well.

Of course! Thanks for watching, Keelen!

i use a nice paper towel and alot of friction to clean my strops

Why does the thickness of the leather matter?

Try Trizact 3000 sand paper.

I highly doubt that this guy if given five exact knives sharpened to the same degree of sharpness could tell which knife was sharpened with what stropping compound if he took those knives and used a knife for what a knife does. Cut several pieces of leather, cut a few hanks of 1 inch rope, baton a knife, cut up a piece of cardboard.

Are you sell strops. I like one already made. Do not have time to make on.. like your vids.

0.5 micron is about 30 000 grit right? 1 micron is about 16 000 grit. That 0.5 micron is extremely fine and I would say good for the last touch.

If you like a 0.5 micron monocrystaline diamond edge, you can go a good bit finer. Until recently my finest compounds were 0.025 microns - 620,000 grit (20x finer), but now I have added a new 0.005 micron product - 3.2 million grit :) Contact me if you are interested in further exploring high grit finishes. My finest grit CBN is 0.1 micron or 160,000 grit, but I will be coming out with a finer CBN formulation as well.

With good .5 micron compound, the edge should have no bite at all. The problem with diamonds of any kind is that the polish by cutting, rather than by buffing, which means you don't want to use diamonds very often or you'll shorten the life of the knife by years. Yes, your knife will still push cut, which is a test of absolutely nothing.