Stropping with Wicked Edge

[@tumbl3r]

I have to say that I'm extremely happy I bought my wicked edge system from you. It showed up today and you service has been fantastic. It shipped free the same day I ordered it and when it was it was delivered I received a very nice followup email from your company making sure everything was OK and pointing me to these videos. Thanks for being a great company and providing such great customer support. I have lots more stops and stones to order and I will be buying them from you!

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

+tumbl3r Thanks for the feedback. So glad to hear it. Shout if you have any questions I can help with

[@theshadypersonify]

dude your warning on keeping the up vector increased compared to the forward vector saved my strops!! thank you:D

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Great to hear! You will find that sometimes you'll still nick into them as you work. That is no problem IMO until they become too bumpy to work with comfortably - or if you cut out a big chunk. No need to replace the full handle set when that point you can just replace the leather strips with hot glue to hold the new ones in

[@ericreed1975]

Excellent presentation. Thank you for all the explanations.

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Eric Reed Thanks - appreciate that feedback!

[@nahson8549]

very informative, thank you

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Great to hear - thanks!

[@jaredbrownfield9077]

Hey could you do a video on sharpening a case trapper using the wicked edge

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Thanks Jared for reaching out. I'll add it to my list!

[@coltsandbows]

Great video!

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Thanks!

[@The_Scriggles]

Do you carry the sharpening system? I'm local to the ABQ area and I would love to find a local retailer.

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

@something to do about nothing - I sure do - oldawan.com.

[@tantofan6481]

I have the WE Pro with only kangaroo so far in 3.5/5. I'm pretty happy so far with the kangaroo, but it doesn't seem to accept the compound very well. Although I'm getting a good polish nonetheless. My question is about "cleaning" the strops. Some guys seem to use alcohol, but that seems like a bad idea on leather. Looking at your video maybe you suggest not bothering the clean them at all? Also, how course can you go with nano? Oh, and I'm wondering about improvised use of abrasive sheet material with WE, if you have any pointers. Maybe some video ideas here?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

+TantoFan Not sure why it wouldn't be accepting the paste well - did you get WEPS's paste and if so is it colored - yellow and green for 5 and 3.5? The reason I ask about color is that they switched to another style for a while that was kind of tan and it seemed some of those syringes didn't work so well spreading or embedding into the strops. As for cleaning - I don't really clean my WEPS strops but I'd use saddle soap if I did as that is what I use on my other strops. I wipe my blades really well between grits and before stropping and don't find the filings that embed into the leather to negatively impact my results. About the time they get really black and stiff with metal I just replace the leather on the handles - and usually I have nicked them up by then too and those cuts get harder and harder to get to smooth back down. Give us a shout at 505-570-2040 and we can try to figure out the paste issue for you if you'd like.

[@tantofan6481]

Yellow/green yes. I bought direct from WEPS, and he sold/built me a current production clamp as a Pro2 pack. I think I'm fine. Mostly the yellow is hard see on the kangaroo, so it's hard to tell how well it's distributed compared to the green. Where do you get the replacement kangaroo material? What glue do you use?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

+TantoFan yeah - I was just talking with someone just the other day about how the yellow just disappears while the other colors stain the strop more - he had the same concern. As long as you are getting it spread out evenly with your finger or the second strop you should be good. So we sell the roo strips mounted onto aluminum that you could use to replace them. You might be able to find some roo at a local leather shop or leather worker, a small piece - most other sources sell in large sheets of material. The roo is thin so it needs to be backed and you can contact cement it to glass or metal then you can use the 3M-VHB tape to attach it down. If you have the cow leather they aren't backed with anything and they use hot glue to put it onto the handles which makes replacing it pretty easy to do.

[@tantofan6481]

+Oldawan Tools to Stay Sharp My 1.4 (brown) ceramic stones were pretty contaminated and nowhere near flat. The .6 micron were pure but also not flat. I have done a lot with a diamond plate and they still look like a topo map. Do you find this is common?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

+TantoFan I've heard of some of our customers having them slightly out of flat or having a rough surface left from the kilning but nothing that little lapping with the diamonds wouldn't fix. If you've done a lot of lapping and they are still not right I'd call WEPS and get them replaced under their warranty

[@brokentelephone]

I don't use my strops very often and I've noticed the get dry / dusty after a while. Are they still good? Do I need to reapply the paste or spray with alcohol? Usually I'll apply the paste, sharpen 4-5 knives over the course of a few months (so there should be plenty of life left in the paste) but when I pick them up to use again after 3-4 months, the paste is dry.

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

I store mine in a plastic bag between uses to help keep them as clean as possible - I put the larger size grits together, finer grit on the outside and wrap them up. No need to reapply the paste IMO if you are still getting the same results. The diamonds embed in the leather and will still be there between uses. Some people do like the strops damp to get more stickiness from the leather so you can spray them if you like the results better. I like mine dry so I don't spray them with any products. If you are polishing you'll need to apply a lot more paste but for general sharpening I don't find I need to apply more very often. I reapply when after my normal 15 or 20 passes the knife isn't a sharp or shiny as I'd normally see. Hope helps

[@spiritwolf8375]

I see you don't always start at the top of the strop, is there reason for this?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

No reason at all. Just where they end up in my stroke.

[@michaelwelch442]

I just completely destroyed my brand new strops. Wish I would’ve watched this video first lol

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

I'm sorry to hear that - its easy to do. I still cut up mine sometimes too!

[@Universal_Craftsman]

Is 14 micron diamond paste more effective than the sharpening steel? I used coarse skerper compound (grey) on leather, but I don't get the edge the steel gives me, what would you recommend to use if the steel isn't doing it besides sharpening on 1k 3k and 6k?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Do you mean what would you use if the steel isn't restoring the edge any longer?

[@Universal_Craftsman]

@@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821 Yes. I currently ordered some Chinese 40 micron diamond paste, I don't know if it's true to grit, but it works kind of, I often heard that the steel isn't the right thing to use, but until now it gave me the best results.

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

In my experience if the steel is no longer restoring the edge then a strop isn't going to help much. You really need to go back to a stone again. Then you can finish that sharpening with that strop. and then you'll be able to touch up again with the steel as it dulls in use. Hope that helps...?

[@Universal_Craftsman]

@@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821 Oh, that's interesting, I thought that the strop is more powerful than the steel. Thanks you!

[@Universal_Craftsman]

Is oak comparable to balsa?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

I haven't ever stropped on oak yet so I'm not really sure. All the wood I have stropped on were softer woods. Be interested to hear your experience...

[@DivineTrueGod]

That looks like an effective and nice knoife sharpener - where can i get one?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

You can get these on my site www.oldawan.com

[@marxusaurelius5195]

Could anyone help me with one question? Can I mirror finish my blade using diamond paste?

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

yes you sure can - it is all a matter of time spent as you need to polish out all the larger diamond scratches. Having addition stones or strops will help make it go a bit faster than just using a strop with diamond paste.

[@phillipowens1493]

As with many you tube videos the audio portion of your presentation is very poor, please pay more attention to the micraphone type and location as well as the volume, it is far easier to reduce the volume than increase it especially when it does not eist originaly. Because of the poor quality of audio I was unable to satisfactorily follow your presentation. Also, you might consider speaking more slowly as it will improve the comprehension of the materiel. I hope my comments will assist you in making vastly better you tube videos. Sincerely, Phil Owens

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Sorry you had that trouble with the video. Thanks for the tips

[@jamesaritchie2]

Jeez, I've never seen anyone put that much compound on a strop. Anyway, strops and other hones? Stropping is not honing, and honing is not stropping.

[@oldawantoolstostaysharp3821]

Like I said many different opinions. One thing about sharpening is you get three people in a room and your likely to get at least 2 different sets of opinions and definitions and frequently, like politics lately, there is no flexibility. For that reason I generally try to avoid the word hone or honing as it has such different meanings to people and clearly I wasn't very careful when making this video. When discussing sharpening edges it really seems to depend upon how you were taught - for example for some people plated diamond "stones" are not a hone and do not hone the metal no matter how fine the grit might be. They argue that to be the case since plated diamonds are not friable (grit or bonding) and honing for them requires the stone to be able to acquire the shape of the surface it is working so they could never be called a hone - but a sintered diamond "stone" could be, and a fine waterstone is a hone, but not a medium grit etc.... As for the amount of compound - again different opinions. Wicked Edge recommends more than twice the amount I use here and a slightly different application method - apply a zigzag pattern along the full length of both strops, spray with rubbing alcohol and then rub the two strops together - and you recommend less. The important thing IMO is to make sure that you use enough to get the compound spread over the entire surface. As for whether stropping and honing are different processes we can get together sometime over some beer and argue that 'til the sun comes up.

[@gregboonie1557]

JAMES plz tell us your definitions of horning and stropping .