Before and after stropping a blade

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I bought this folded steel 'razor sharp' wakizashi on Ebay for about $30. A real cheapy. As you can see it didn't cut well initially ( my technique sucks too, so that didn't help).
After about an hour giving the blade a polish with my stropping jig, the waki cut much better. I will probably spend about another hour on it (sitting in front of the TV some night) getting the edge a bit better.
A higher quality blade responds much better to this technique, but even a cheap blade like this can benefit from it.
Check out my stropping/polishing video for a complete 'how to'.
NOTE: The blade already has to be fairly sharp. this is a finishing technique.

Music: Bob Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere performed by Jeeperrandy

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• strop
• katana
• wakizashi
• sharpen
• polish
• blade
• tameshigiri
• UBC
• united
• backyard
• cutters

[Kh501pr]

I bought a jewelers rouge that is 6-10 microns but I also saw others that were 1-3 microns and 2-5 microns. Since mine has more microns is it better for stropping?

[Jeeperrandy]

@Kh501pr I'm sorry I can't really help you there. I don't know the micron count of the JR I use. It comes in white , green and brown, with white being the finest. I have not used the others.

[nextgendragon]

How thick do you put the jewelers rouge on the strop? and how much pressure do you apply when doing the actual strop motion?

I have a bad feeling I just dulled my Wakizashi. I won't know until I go and buy more cutting targets but I'm not confident that I did a good job :(

[Jeeperrandy]

@nextgendragon Watch my video Sword polishing/sharpening: Stropping technique for more details on the technique.

[nextgendragon]

@Jeeperrandy I had actually watched that post first. It was what had initially given me the idea to do it in the first place. I still am not 100% clear on how much pressure you were applying to the blade during the strop. And because the leather was already darkened from use I could not really tell how thick to apply my rouge. ( I also used red rouge, not white, should I only be using white?

Sorry to hassle you, but this looks like a great technique and I want to get it right.

[Jeeperrandy]

@nextgendragon The red rouge is a courser grit I believe. The white I use can be bought on ebay ( Tandy leathercraft white jewelers rouge). It is quite hard substance and it rubs off on the leather. as long as there is a coating on the leather it really doesn't matter how thick it is, as you are only working the surface. You can apply as much or as little pressure on the blade as you wish, I use a fairly firm pressure but not enough to cause stress to myself or the blade. Good luck

[kenshinbattousai374]

@Jeeperrandy anything smaller than 5 or 4 is pretty much unnecessary. You should be fine with that.

[nsw1535]

@Kh501pr The higher the micron, the lower the grit. Example- 10 microns=600 grit 1 micron= 7000 grit. I don't know if those are exact values, but it goes like that.

[Ianflaer]

I supose that's a good reason but I like to have a blade shaving hair before I strop it. would be cool to compare our techniques side by side sometime.

[Jeeperrandy]

My katanas already have a good base edge. I have never felt the need to use sandpaper.