Great tip! Everyone is so quick to grab a papertowel these days. Save a tree, and cloth towels work better, and cheaper too (re-usable).

Ah, the under appreciated leather engineers of the world.

Alcohol is not good for leather, drys out and weakness it

As an engineer, you're a narcissist who thinks they're smarter than what they are? Got it. Go design a car where you have to remove the transmission to get to an engine oil filter. 😅

What color crayons do you use when doing your designs? Do you have a little elmo table and paw patrol notebook when designing your super leathers?

I prefer black, I guess your handle sumums you up.

I prefer to disinfect it with bleach

Just an info note - I'm about a year into learning to sharpen knives, and broke down and bought a cheapo $5.00 dollar knife to practice on, test stones, etc.. I got it sharper than an HRC 63 knife (I did strop both). I think the harder steel requires more time because it wears less. The consistency is important; the cheapo knife has some tiny occlusions along the edge. My point (if any) is that high HRC doesn't equate to higher sharpness, just less frequent sharpening.

@@davesmith5656 I think he's aware, that's why he said he's using higher grade leather.

@@maximusdesimus1943 ----- Provided there are not even very tiny chips, is a stone necessary? It occurs to me that a strop will eventually (after a few hundred strokes) leave a perfectly smooth edge. I've improved a bit over the past year. One major thing I discovered while repairing (it is "repair" of chips and dings) friends knives, is a belt sander. Not very romantic, but it saves hours on an 80 grit diamond plate! Even a 1000 grit 3x18 common wood sander belt will eliminate chips in just five minutes, and will easily whet down bolsters, but don't let the blade get hot. After that, it's mostly just removing the burr before moving on to the fun part of a Green Brick of Joy, Arashiyama 6k, a good 10k, and stropping. I think thin, hard, leather is probably best. There's also 3M "lapping paper" up to around 60k, designed for use on a glass backing. I have not tried that yet, but it's edge-trailing only.

@@davesmith5656 Sounds good.

kangaroo leather isn’t any better than steerhide/cowhide or horse leather. It is also much thinner. Thick high quality vegetable tanned leather from the bend/but is the densest and cleanest. I don’t know where you people get your information from but you don’t need kangaroo leather to sharpen knives in the range of t2-65 HRC. Lol

Well, I have saddles and harnesses that I've inherited that are 4 generations old that have been conditioned with olive oil and there's nothing wrong with them. Other than those, I've been using olive oil to condition saddles and various tack of all kinds (crosby's, possoas, thornhills, hdr, harry dabbs, countyand beval) and I've never had a problem with odor or mildew regardless of the temp or humidity, and I live in *florida*. I mean, you'd think that if there was any environment that was going to cause something to decay and give off a rancid smell and promote mildew growth, it'd be the year round (except the maybe one weak in December, if it feels like it) hot and humid weather of florida. lol

Simon ---- Cntaminants are indeed an issue with stuff measured in microns. A vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment might work to remove them, strop held upside down. Must be dry, of course. A can of compressed air might do it, too. On stones, I just use a higher grit stone to lap - and I have two of the highest grit, also useful in raising a slurry. ... Kill two stones with one bird! (Ha, ha! Get it?? I'm so funny!!)

I'm not sure if Olive oil is a good choice but I somewhat have to agree with the abrasives leftover in the leather by using sand paper.

N ST yeah right! Dumb ass video

Right?

😂 it’s simple just lay the blade flat and slowly raise the spine till it catches on the strop, that’s your stropping angle 🥳

Mine was hard as a rock when I bought it. It’s always bothered me but I kept using it but isn’t it supposed to be a little supple? I have convex edges and idk what to do. I’m thinking about Ballistol and a clean rag because a wire brush does almost nothing to it because it’s so hard.

Jack Tansin no problem. Thanks for checking out the video

He must’ve forgotten, what I do (and most people in the know) is I lay the blade flat on the strop and slide it across while slowly lifting the spine until the edge catches the leather (as if it was going to start slicing into it). I then lower it a tiny tiny bit & that’s your stropping angle 👍

@@richroc7 I returned to this video to see if I missed the tip on finding the right angle. I didn't find it. I use the "blade catch" method, but I had the impression that that video would show another method. I'm somewhat disappointed, having watched a whole lot of spraying, rubbing, sanding, and I continued waiting for the secret angle finding method. As far as I can tell, It didn't happen!

But nothing like as enjoyable as listening to someone that loves the sound of his own voice lol

Same method I use.

Depends on how often you use it but you’ll know when because it’ll have a lot of metal flakes on it and it won’t work as well as it should.

Mineral oil also works

I don’t even see what the leather actually does once it’s really loaded 🤷‍♂️ I get razor sharp edges though

Buy? Just make one. You can get hard leather from craft store, stick to wood and ur set!

You can buy leather from hobby lobby. I don’t know if any other craft stores but hobby lobby has off-cuts for like $10 for about 3 lbs of leather. Some will be better than others but it should be relatively good. You can also buy tooling leather which works just as well.

A sharp edge is surprisingly fragile. People do indeed over-do sharpening. With care and careful use of a knife, sharpening is just a brush up on a 6K (or thereabouts) and stropping. Not hard at all, but learning is like learning to ride a bicycle. When a knife is misused and chipped or bent, that isn't "sharpening", it is "repair", and time for a belt sander with a 1K belt.

I’ve seen people use that on the flesh side of the leather but not the skin side.

Yes

You should get months of use before you need to clean it like this.

I use mineral oil as well.

I use extra virgin mineral oil from the nunnery.

@@usernamemykel add couple drops of holy water for good measure, can't hurt

William Sleight yes Sr. Any wax compounds use petroleum jelly. You don't need it for diamond sprays

Correct he did inadvertently neglect to mention that but most people know who use strops know that 👊

Have you tried heating the leather w/ a hot-air gun, and then rubbing the compound on?

I'll give it a try Dave. Thanks for the help.

My stops first WD40, is it clean than alcohol. And at last sanding. .greets lex ( Netherlands ) 👍

Just because he did it that way doesn't make it the "best" way. For example, while olive oil isn't the ideal option, whichever chemical you use (WD40, mineral oils, etc), you shouldn't put it directly onto the strop. It's like dusting....put the spray on the cloth, then wipe/scrub. Shop/work towels (the thicker blue ones) are much better than regular paper towels. Terry cloth would also work better than a paper towel. The leather should also be reconditioned before adding more compound. Research on anything should extend past the first half assed youtube video you see.

He wasn't originally going to refinish the surface as much. After his first pass with 2k he decided he wanted to take more material off.

Well, I have saddles and harnesses that I've inherited that are 4 generations old that have been conditioned with olive oil and there's nothing wrong with them. Other than those, I've been using olive oil to condition saddles and various tack of all kinds (crosby's, possoas, thornhills, hdr, harry dabbs, countyand beval) and I've never had a problem with odor or mildew regardless of the temp or humidity, and I live in *florida*. I mean, you'd think that if there was any environment that was going to cause something to decay and give off a rancid smell and promote mildew growth, it'd be the year round (except the maybe one weak in December, if it feels like it) hot and humid weather of florida. lol

@@Kurokubi That's good to hear! I was told by one of my chefs that he bad experienced it when he used olive oil on his cutting boards! I'll stick to linseed or wax type just to be on the safe side! Maybe it's the weather here in Oz!

@@namelesswarrior4760 There's a reason they make specific oils for cutting boards. I'd question your friend's intelligence as a chef if he put olive oil on a cutting board. Wow.

"Vaseline" is a brand name for petroleum jelly. The WalMart "Great Value/Equate" brand is the same thing, just less expensive. Not all bandages are "Band-Aids", and not all tissues are "Kleenex". If you're an adult, you should know this.

@@matthewerulkar3164 Delighted that you your read my comment, and responded to same. You made my day, thank you.

@@KamalaBiden Thank you, daddy.