Proper strop usage

[Texasjack]

Generally, you don't use a strop to sharpen a blade. You use it to remove the wire edge. As you sharpen a blade, the edge gets very thin and will form a thin sliver that sticks out. It will make the blade feel sharp, but it folds or breaks easily and reduces the cutting ability. Sharpen the blade with progressively finer grits until you have the level you want. Then you strop the blade, pulling so that the sharp edge is facing away from the direction of movement. A few passes, alternating sides, will get rid of any wire edge and leave the blade sharp. If you wish, you can use an abrasive compound - they are very, very fine and will polish the edge a bit.

 

[jrbfishn]

Do you use a little polishing compound or leather conditioner, or do your stroping on dry leather?

I have 7 different compounds, 5 rouge and 2 diamond paste. A TIGHT grained leather or conditioned leather would be ultra fine. And even if you have gone through the finest rouge, that would take a lot of work for little gain.
I generally sharpen to 1000 or 1200 grit, then strop with a med rouge. When I want a ultra smooth cot, I will go to a fine grit but stroping my Xacto blades a few strokes wit med will keep a blade sharp for weeks instead of hours.

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[jrbfishn]

Generally, you don't use a strop to sharpen a blade. You use it to remove the wire edge. As you sharpen a blade, the edge gets very thin and will form a thin sliver that sticks out. It will make the blade feel sharp, but it folds or breaks easily and reduces the cutting ability. Sharpen the blade with progressively finer grits until you have the level you want. Then you strop the blade, pulling so that the sharp edge is facing away from the direction of movement. A few passes, alternating sides, will get rid of any wire edge and leave the blade sharp. If you wish, you can use an abrasive compound - they are very, very fine and will polish the edge a bit.

Basically, yes. A lot of my personal blades, the cutting edge is polished. Because of injuries to my foot, I don't walk on it quite right and tend to get very thick callouses and 2 very hard corns on it. If the cutting edge isn't polished to a shine, it doesn't want to cut them very easily. Trying to force that cut is not good, trust me on that.
The guy that tought me to use a stone had a very high end straight razor. He used it when he wanted the ultimate shave. He had others the he used for everyday shaves. The high end one was polished to a mirror shine, the others simply sharp enough. The everyday razors would give a barbers shave. The high end one cut like there was nothing there. If you can see sharpening marks on the edge, they will drag and not cut as well.

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