Knife Sharpening Nerd-vana | 20 Stropping Tests Overviewed

Channel changes coming - and I ran out of time to edit SO many stropping videos. Here is my overview of around 20 tests of:
Techniques such as: dual grit stropping, coarse stropping, and ultra-fine stropping...
Abrasives such as: Stroppy Stuff & Gunny Juice Diamond Emulsions (plus Venev), CBN, Chromium Oxide, & Aluminum Oxide (Mother's Mag) and diamond and alimunim 3M lapping film
Stropping mediums / substrates such as: Pine wood, basswood, MDF, leather, kangaroo, denim, micarta, cardstock, cardboard, medical tape, and neoprene.
I have a long way to go in stropping mastery, but I feel it's worth drawing some hypotheses at this point!
Also check out my tutorials on dual grit sharpening.
What's a dual grit edge, you may ask?
Think: high performance aggressive knife edge!!! This method for versatile razor sharp knives is fast, easy, and leads to edge retention increases of up to 50% in some tasks! Watch my tutorials to quickly learn innovative hand sharpening techniques with whetstone, diamond plate, & honing strop.
The dual grit method is a specific method for sharpening one side of the edge coarse and the other fine - an updated tutorial is below:
• CPM MagnaCut Dual Grit...
And the results have been observed by independent testing:
• You Won't Believe How ...
If you're curious about the science behind the edge mechanics, check out this scienceofsharp.com article in which Dr. Todd Simpson analyzes the effect:
scienceofsharp.com/2021/06/15...
Please consider supporting me on Patreon if this helps you,
www.patreon.com/thehomeslice?...
Whether your passion is bushcraft knives, survival blades, hunting & fishing knives, edc knives, or kitchen knives - this method could revolutionize the way you sharpen your knives and make your edge last longer!!!
#thehomeslicesharpening #dualgritedge #dualgrittest

[@wadejensen3301]

Ohhhh....here we go....the rabbit hole just revealed another turn 😂

[@homeslicesharpening]

Haha, Sorry? I think I am fully with you on the journey, discovering things that surprise me all the time.

[@nandayane]

I appreciate your original edge research! I’m looking forward to the new testing!

[@homeslicesharpening]

Thanks so much, I appreciate the support and enthusiasm!

[@latinodeathjazz]

Lots of interesting bits of insight from the front lines there! Looking forward to the new format Gabe.

[@homeslicesharpening]

Thanks mate, all the best!

[@danielbottner7700]

The... effort & cost of refining high HRC knife steels cutting edged goes well beyond what the majority knife users are inclined to do. Large knife makers seem to make most of their knives form lower ~ 53 to 59 HRC steels. Lower HRC steels minimize the cost of knife production for sure, though the end users ability to sharpen these knives may be key to their steel selections. Your research provides knife nerds around the world with a road-map/short cut to the tooling & techniques required to sharpen & appreciate the real benefits of High End Knife steels. This saves me & many others a lot of time, thanks for sharing.

[@homeslicesharpening]

No problem Daniel, always good to hear from you. I'm so glad it was beneficial!

[@mikeobrien4081]

Looking forward to the results of your new testing! Makes sense that stropping would be of limited benefit for dual-grit edges on softer steels, since the "super burr" would get laterally stressed and weakened by a compressible medium buffing the apex.

[@homeslicesharpening]

Yeah, it's something I hope to flesh out and confirm/deny more in the future. Cheers Mike. Have a good day.

[@Bear-nu8xm]

Great video! After using a few types of stropping medium, I’ve landed on basswood with diamond paste applied.

[@CNYKnifeNut]

I've tested just about everything that gets suggested to strop with, and I always go back to diamond paste on basswood too. I'll use hanging denim for intentionally convexed edges, but 99% of my stropping is done on basswood.

[@Bear-nu8xm]

@@CNYKnifeNut nice! Thanks buddy! It’s the best I’ve found too.

[@homeslicesharpening]

That's pretty much my 2 go-to methods at the moment. Well, I guess I have leather as a sort of in-between. Like: -Crisp V-Edge: Stroppy Stuff 1 Micron to 0.25 Micron both on Basswood -Slightly more difficult steel to fully deburr: Same abrasives above but convex a couple microns using leather -Intentional micro-convex for soft steel, push-cut tasks, and high-impact edges: Hanging strop

[@Bear-nu8xm]

@@homeslicesharpening Nice! I’ll give your other methods a shot. I usually use 1 micron and then a half micron to finish on basswood. I use this for all different edges and steels. Works great on most however, softer steels I may try your method

[@thiago.assumpcao]

Hello Gabe. Maybe the high carbide content and lowe toughness of Vanax makes the dual grit edge more prone to chipping. If I'm right about that you should also see same results with other low toughness steels like ZDP 189 and CPM15V. Todd from Science of Sharp got a 0,1 micron edge with crisp geometry and clean cut carbides using aluminum oxide stones. That's a hair whittling edge. On his tests the problem was with diamond stones because they can rupture carbides. You may have different results because you are finishing on strops and this broken carbides region is being removed. Al ox cut slower and maybe it can produce more metal fatigue because you need more alternating passes. I got no high carbide steel to test these theories. I know you are on another rabbit hole but I did a new experiment you may find interesting I sharpened a cheap 54HRC Santoku at 5 degrees and finished with a double microbevel ( 0,2 mm at 10 degrees and 0,05 mm at 15 degrees). The cutting performance is amazing. The knife can push cut onion Brunoise. I thought this edge would fail but turns out it could withstand moderate impact on a wooden board and cut paper towels afterwards so I don't expect durability issues with normal use. I don't know how this geometry will behave on high carbide steels but it will probably suit very well any clean steel as long as the knife is used like a Japanese knife- No rocking, twisting or touching hard stuff.

[@homeslicesharpening]

This is similar to a test I'm doing now where I reground a Buck knife to zero and then put a 15 degree dual-grit micro-bevel about 4 thousandths of an inch on it. It stropped back to hair-whittling for 2.5 weeks and counting on hanging leather strop with 0.25 micron diamond! Crazy stuff!

[@computeronzin]

Hi Gabe, nowadays I re-sharpen my kitchen knife every two weeks at a total of 27.2 degrees, only with the 1000 grit stone and always the same technique. I experiment a lot with stropping to find the ideal sweet spot for that steel. Every steel got its own feel. Between 85 and 65 BESS is very normal these days. I even got my Mora 57 BESS. Greetings

[@homeslicesharpening]

You're back!!! It's great to hear from you, how have you been my friend? I am not quite there, but BESS in the 80's is pretty normal for me. I think I don't take enough time to get the edge flow right like you do. In to much of a rush sometimes. So glad to hear from you, I hope your health has improved.

[@computeronzin]

@@homeslicesharpening I wasn't away, I'm just trying to find balance in my shrinking bubble. It may be hard to believe from someone you've never met, my validity has been slowly deteriorating for the last 11 years now. My brain and nervous system are irreparably damaged by the Borrelia bacteria, in this stage it is called Neuroborreliosis. For the rest I am healthy and within my bubble I can still do something. I haven't been outside for a while and I hardly have any contact with people anymore. In Japan they would call me an Otaku, someone with no social contacts who watches anime and plays video games all day, which I can do while lying in bed. For the rest, I am working on health at the Next Level. I eat once a day, which is considered fasting and meditate 3X 45 minutes to an hour a day (prayer in silence). I could tell you a lot about the turning point from Glucose to Ketones and Autophagy, but that has nothing to do with the sharpness of the knife. Indirectly it does, let me explain it to you. I once told you that the method I use was copied from my son. He sharpened his first two knives around 85 BESS and at that time I could not get one below 100 BESS. His precision was like that of a small child, then I could no longer use my old method and perfected his method. I'm not asking you to change your method. What you can do is use the kitchen knife you use most often for this experiment. I have 6 videos on my channel ( kzbin.info/door/aINlwQxEgXXxNykBR2Illg ) in which I explain every step of my view, Precision measurements with the Edge On Up PT50A, Making a groove with a chainsaw file, Angle determination and attachment for that one knife, the flow of the knife, the flat part and the curved part of the knife, sharpening and measuring the sharpening stone, precision stropping, the two-finger sharpening method and using an increasingly finer sharpening stone in small steps. Once the knife has been sharpened correctly, you can resharpen it once every two weeks with the 1000 Grit stone, 20-20, 10-10, 3-3, 3-3, 3-3 and then the stropping 4X per part and then you are between 80 and 60 BESS. It really works, but don't forget: “Every steel has its own feel”. What is also important is your own state of consciousness while focusing. Pressure, pressure, pressure, just as quickly doesn't work. It is just like holding your breath, but then you hold your thoughts and keeping your intestinal flora in balance also ensures a calm mind. Greetings

[@computeronzin]

@@homeslicesharpening I wasn't away, I'm just trying to find balance in my shrinking bubble. It may be hard to believe from someone you've never met, my validity has been slowly deteriorating for the last 11 years now. My brain and nervous system are irreparably damaged by the Borrelia bacteria, in this stage it is called Neuroborreliosis. For the rest I am healthy and within my bubble I can still do something. I haven't been outside for a while and I hardly have any contact with people anymore. In Japan they would call me an Otaku, someone with no social contacts who watches anime and plays video games all day, which I can do while lying in bed. For the rest, I am working on health at the Next Level. I eat once a day, which is considered fasting and meditate 3X 45 minutes to an hour a day (prayer in silence). I could tell you a lot about the turning point from Glucose to Ketones and Autophagy, but that has nothing to do with the sharpness of the knife. Indirectly it does, let me explain it to you. I once told you that the method I use was copied from my son. He sharpened his first two knives around 85 BESS and at that time I could not get one below 100 BESS. His precision was like that of a small child, then I could no longer use my old method and perfected his method. I'm not asking you to change your method. What you can do is use the kitchen knife you use most often for this experiment. I have 6 videos on my channel ( kzbin.info/door/aINlwQxEgXXxNykBR2Illg ) in which I explain every step of my view, Precision measurements with the Edge On Up PT50A, Making a groove with a chainsaw file, Angle determination and attachment for that one knife, the flow of the knife, the flat part and the curved part of the knife, sharpening and measuring the sharpening stone, precision stropping, the two-finger sharpening method and using an increasingly finer sharpening stone in small steps. Once the knife has been sharpened correctly, you can resharpen it once every two weeks with the 1000 Grit stone, 20-20, 10-10, 3-3, 3-3, 3-3 and then the stropping 4X per part and then you are between 80 and 60 BESS. It really works, but don't forget: “Every steel has its own feel”. What is also important is your own state of consciousness while focusing. Pressure, pressure, pressure, just as quickly doesn't work. It is just like holding your breath, but then you hold your thoughts and keeping your intestinal flora in balance also ensures a calm mind. Greetings

[@MattKsomething]

Variables - Type of steel , bevel angle , the Hardness of the steel .. I have found that each knife needs some experimenting to push edge retention . Also not forgetting grit is another variable . I have a cheap old Mystery Steel knife I sharpened 80 Grit and edge retention was amazing ( I-XL ) . You wont know till you try . But by experimenting I have seen edge retention increase up to as much as 400% . ( Yeah , it's crazy ) And dual grit does work ............... Butt ! is it worth the effort ? That's up to each individual to decide . If I was headed deep Bush , yeah ........ I would put in the effort to have the best edge possible !

[@homeslicesharpening]

Thanks for the feedback Matt! I agree, it's not always worth it, but it sure can be fun to optimize edge retention for a steel that otherwise would be pretty "meh". Take care man.

[@taylorhickman84]

Never a dull moment has a great video on various stropping techniques. I've been using .5 micron on nano cloth and am really happy with the results on K390, 15V and M390. S90v though has been difficult for me to get as sharp as the other steels I've mentioned, I'm wondering if it will benefit from your dual grit method.

[@homeslicesharpening]

It's possible, I have some budget S90V I plan to test on a Manly Knives Wasp coming up in the next few months.

[@homeslicesharpening]

Thanks for the feedback as well!