Do you guys use metal polish or compound or nothing??? BILL
Nothing. I just use the rougher side to wipe away the burr.
I use an old leather arm guard as a strop, I have treated it with bee's wax over the years for water proffing. That has sealed the pores of the leather and makes it very slick. Unlike Tom, I like to use the smooth side for final finishing, smoother the better. Hair will just pop of my arm with knife or broadheads with the strop. R.W.
I have used jewlers rouge on a strop before. I prefer to just use the rough side to get the burr off and the snap it up with the smooth side.
God Bless,
Nathan
Use black buffing compound on the smooth side for sharpening. Without being charged with some kind of abrasive leather doesn't do anything except staighten the burr, charged it sharpens and polishes your edge.
One of my other favorite things to do is woodcarving. I use the same kind of strop for my broadheads. A piece of pig skin glued to a board (thick leather tends to roll over the edge) loaded with a polishing compound. supplies (http://www.thewoodcraftshop.com/store/c/603-Sharpening-Honing-and-Stropping-Items.html) The stuff they sell is made for steel.
I put some white stuff - looks like a big thing of chalk that I got from Tandy - I think it's rogue as mentioned above - maybe it's called stropping compound, I don't know
Nothing
Guide to honing index (http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/index.html)
Stropping (http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/sharpstropping.html)
Unless you go to diamond paste, the grit size on what you can find is larger (coarser) than my finish stones
Toothpaste
Home Depot or any home improvement store - they sell a green buffing compound in stick form. I use it for all my fine edge buffing. Craving knives if stropped will no longer need sharpening.
HTH,
Martin
i use whitening crest
Jewelers rouge from Tandy,the leather pros use it to keep all their carving tools sharp. Works excellent for broadheads.
I had a pro woodcarver teach me a bit about sharpening.He told me about stones and bevels and such,The one thing that really got my attention was the strop.We took a piece of 3/8" thick maple and cut a paddle shape,glued a piece of thinner latigo leather to it and rub some mineral oil into it and then red jewlers rogue until we had a paste. I worked this paste into the leather and removed the extra. I was amazed at what a few stokes on that strop would do to an already sharp blade. That said,I have not re-treated my strop for years and it still seems to work ok,BUT I will be getting some to rogue with my next order from klingspore woodworking. I think it works great.Good luck
Chuck
This has taken my heads to a new level of SHARPNESS. BILL
Ok I just got done running some heads on the strop with toothpaste on it. Now I have razor sharp and minty fresh broadheads. :laughing: :laughing: But it works!
Toothpaste with whitener is good and also the sharpening compound for the old reel mowers. You can get that at most any garden shop.
sam
I bought a Tormek Sharpening wheel. Don't reccomend it for every one but if you have a freind that has one , take good care of the freindship.
Having said all of that I am not so sure that I have killed them any deader then before.
Is it possible that we obsess about sharp broadheads? I know that I at one time would use a different broad head every time I got one out of the bow quiver and put on the string. The bow quiver obviously dulled the head when I put it back in the quiver.
The enthusiasm of youth.
I use my granfather's leather strop from his shoemaking business that is about 100 years old. He never used anything on it. He applied very few strokes, only enough to remove the feather edge left from the sharpening stone. He was a master at sharpening a blade. In his opinion, you did all the real work on a stone.