Leather Strop Maintenance

[@TehBrizon]

The word you were looking for is "dissolve." Alcohol is a solvent for a lot of materials. This was super helpful. Thanks!

[@bashfulbrother]

I went and did this immediately after watching this video and my gear came out looking almost fresh out of the box. Thanks a lot.

[@WinStunSmith]

Excellent info. Exactly what I’ve been trying to figure out for days. You just saved me from wasting money, as I have been replacing the compound on my strop after about a week of semi-regular use. Definitely sub’d! 👍

[@AussieMark909]

Great tip, thanks Mike. I must say getting a strop was one of the best things I've done to care for my blades.

[@Lifegiver321]

Nice one Mike, much appreciated. I didn't think about using alcohol to dissolve the old compound I would just give it a light scrape and lightly re-apply. But then again my strop, although always used, hasn't seen as much action as yours. And you will need a nice clean strop to sharpen all your lovely new customs ;)

[@Bladereviews]

Thanks brother, great tip with scraping off all the excess gunk - my strop really needed that. Never stopped to actually clean it!

[@ER720]

you must have been reading my mind bc i was looking up "how to clean a strop" vids today and all i could find is stright razor vids .. thanks Gav !!

[@DavidOvercash1]

Thanks for the good advice, just found your site and subscribed!

[@Bakunaga]

This is pretty helpful! I just scrape the compounds off with my spine like you did but now I think I'll try adding that alcohol part in cleaning my strop thanks!

[@tylerbeadle-follis3338]

I just acquired some old strops and will give this a try

[@blanex1]

always learning things with you ! vary helpful tip,i never new you could clean a strop with alcohol,will it dry out the leather!or just bring it back to its origa

[@boggyman10090]

I just bought a strop from stropman this will help me a lot thanks!

[@27dcx]

just cleaned mine with alcohol for the first time (after about 2 years of just scraping to clean), man, did it work great! I can't believe how much crap came out!

[@bigjohn20081983]

This is pretty neat how you did this have you tried denatured alachol disolve the compound and to clean your strop

[@pennfootball71]

YEA Buddy this was awesome on my strop just did it! I had too much compound on it and was thinking about trashing them...but WOW they are good as new!

[@HondoBY]

Very helpful video, but I cannot help to think that using alcohol would dry the leather much faster than using water. Perhaps I am incorrect.

[@Mehrankhan1]

Yes it would dry out the leather, ideally one should apply a thin layer of vegetables oil or shoe cream and leave it for a day or two to restore moisture.

[@michaelvonhaven105]

@@Mehrankhan1, for my leather strop, should I rub in grapeseed oil in my strop? My strip has compound on it, should I apply a little grapeseed oil so that it doesn't dry out and start to harden?

[@pierrelebelle2137]

That knife in the video is awesome. What kind of steel do you typically use when you make your knives? After seeing that zombie one Smokeeater908 got from you and noticing the ones you made in your videos I want one

[@knivesandstuff]

Interesting Factoid I just looked up.. Water definately rots, hardens, ruins and creates mold.. destroys its effectiveness in stropping. Apparently (and I didn't know this 5 minutes ago) Isopropal alchohol can soften leather and actually assist in maintaining the life and durability of leather. mixed with other things it was used to preserve old leather books and such..

[@racerx32]

Excellent tip Gav, but how much alcohol do I need to drink before I clean the strop, Is a shot good enough? lol!! just kidding, I'm saving this vid in favorites for future reference. Good stuff.

[@Laggeros]

Cool strop :) for how long are you using this one??

[@jamesmgordon83]

What kind of knife is that and where do I get one? Handle looks very comfortable

[@artheen4713]

The "metal dust or what do you wish to call it" actually has a name - it's called "swarf". If you look at it with a microscope, you'll see that much of it are tiny curly strips of metal, much like confetti strips. And yes, you want to clean that off. However, you don't need to clean off all the old compound. That is still working. The simplest way I've found to remove the swarf is with packaging tape. Put tape on the surface, and pull it off. The swarf will stick to the tape glue, while the compound will stay. No mess, and packaging tape is much cheaper than honing compound, so you save money by doing that most of the time, and a thorough cleaning only rarely. After cleaning, I also like to roll my strop so it stays flat. I use a glass rod for that, but a rolling pin or dowel will work fine too. Don't use a metal roller, though, or you'll add more swarf.

[@Kevinthewiseone]

I used to do it with rubbing alcohol as well, but i noticed that it dried out leather and no longer performed the way it used to. I know scrape it like you did then i use a some 150 sandpaper in order to re expose the grain of the leather and i have found that this works much better than this system in my opinion.

[@gregmccormack5709]

This is the Vid I needed. Thanks Man.

[@jp66koz]

There is some chance for confusion here. The stuff Gavko Knives used was isorpopanol a.k.a. "rubbing alcohol". Usually what "alcohol" stands for is ethyl alcohol or ethanol. This is the alcohol most people know.Both are alcohols that is they both belong to the same "family" of chemical compounds, however isopropanol is better at dissolving grease, wax e.t.c. Now, most polishing compounds are actullaly an abrasive powder (usually aluminum oxide) dispersed in hard parafin wax. So, using isopropanol does make sense. isopropanol dissolves or at least softens the was and makes easier to scrape off the gunk. However , using plain alcohol will not work as well, or even not at all.

[@oldhairpin]

Sandpaper is a good option, plus it roughs up the leather again.

[@Harrison527]

thanks man ive really been needing this help!

[@Kevinthewiseone]

@knivesandstuff I am not saying you are wrong but all my experience that i have had using Ispropal Alcohol on my leather strops has been that it dried it out,

[@Daninja42]

Great video man. Off to clean my strop !

[@sae1095hc]

I suggest you replace the oils that you remove with the alcohol. Lexol or neatsfoot oil would do the trick.

[@hankharris4518]

Very helpful, thanks

[@denvercolorado999]

Man I got to get me one of those... Wish I didn't live in northern Canada shipping costs are crazy.

[@motorbikesrule125]

Great video

[@Lookinformemarbles]

Great Tips!

[@Kevinthewiseone]

I should also note that you can use Ispropal Alcohol on leather as long as it is finished then its okay but if its not finished it will dry the leather out such as on a strop.

[@SezMan716]

very good video!!

[@07roadking43]

Use a pink eraser it removes all the metal and leaves most of your compound intact ive been doing it for the last 35 years and its alot less messy !!! Just given ya another option.....

[@darkinertia2]

@denvercolorado999 literally all you need to do is get a leather belt from a thrift store, piece of wood, glue and compound(i got mine from home depot in the buffing wheel section) and you have one

[@juicypbc1998]

I used a toothbrush and it still worked i just dint feel confortable using a blade to scrape it off

[@56acecorey]

what compound do you use

[@latag1993]

how do you mix compounds? like white and green compound?

[@gavkoo]

@oogiesmuncher how could you ruin your strop this way?

[@BernhardOelreich]

@denvercolorado999 I bought one from Stropman. Shipping was on par with what I usually pay from the US. I thought it was very fair. Crazy is the USD 80-100 that some online stores charge for a small knife…

[@Kevinthewiseone]

@gavkoo i really haven't hand any issue with it wearing out the leather to fast then i again i do really lite strokes to get the compound off.

[@staticx2552]

yea i havent cleaned mines ....and i reput on the compound recently though

[@EXERtheGamer]

i use alcohol but i dont use my knife i use a old tooth brush instend of paper towels

[@Daninja42]

I just made a strop!

[@smackbitches123]

Will 50 percent Alcohol work? Thanks.

[@RoscoPColetraneIII]

I'd avoid it. 50% alcohol is still 50% water.

[@andrewbailey4177]

Ha. I must be a pro. I put compounds about 5 years ago.and never cleaned it once

[@Daninja42]

2:25 breaks it down?

[@denvercolorado999]

@gavkoo Ya, I actually made one the other day…looks like shit but it gets the job done

[@Wood_Slice]

Alcohol is a solvent. It is peobably the cheapest and most universal solvent

[@hrned]

No. Water is a cheaper and more "universal" solvent

[@TylerLL2112]

@SkylarrL Me too i thought it was just me.

[@oogiesmuncher]

yeah... I ruined my strop doing this... shit

[@knivesandstuff]

Alchohol as a prepper? Pyromaniac? lol