Does anyone use a Strop to hone their edges anymore?

[sailcaptain]

I have used a Strop for years on all my knives. Cooking, prep knives, hunting etc.
The other day a friend stop by, we were cooking on the grill (charcoal of course) and I went to simply lightly hone the edge of my knife before cutting the beef. I took my strop and ran the edge a couple of times. He was watching like a hawk.
He never saw one, didn’t even know what I was doing or why. Then started the questions…What is that, Why, How long have you done that for?
I just thought everyone did this…do they anymore? Do you? If not, what do you do to hold the edge on your knives?

[racepres]

LOL
Called a Leather Belt!!!

[M-Tecs]

I use an actual double-sided barber's strop.

[kfd518]

Don’t use it hone but I use it to finish after honing. You learn pretty quick when a straight razor is no longer sharp lol

[OS OK]

Yes...a Barbers Leather & Nylon Strop pair. They will keep a keen edge on the blade longer but eventually I have to go back to the stones but even then finish with the strop. I have a steel that keeps the edge keen longer too but the strop is always the last step.

[pworley1]

I used my dads until I left home in the 70's. He left it to me when he passed in 07. It still works just as well.

[HWooldridge]

I use a leather barber’s strop with a little Tripoli compound rubbed on the rough side. I also use a diamond ez-lap to dress up edges.

[sailcaptain]

Thank you all for verifying I am not crazy. I just knew I couldn’t be the only one out there. It just works and I for one will stick to the tried and true methods.

[M-Tecs]

Thank you all for verifying I am not crazy. I just knew I couldn’t be the only one out there. It just works and I for one will stick to the tried and true methods.

None of this verifies you are not crazy. This does verify you have company......................................

[BLAHUT]

I use honing compound on a 1/2" thick by 2" by 36" felt strip and then a leather belt to strop.

[GhostHawk]

I have a cheap double strop I bought from BudK for under 25$.

Knives that I care about get polished on it after touching up with a steel.

It is actually two strops on a single hanger.
One is plastic and has ridges. I coated it with some metal polish I bought from Amazon.

The other is leather and got treated with some polish made for sharpening and polishing stainless steel.

Still does a good job on high carbon, just makes stainless a bit less painful.

[gloob]

A strop was the only way I could get a razor edge, at first. Now, it's like training wheels.

I use my razor right off the stone, but I use a strop to refresh/realign the edge between sharpenings. That's nearly the only thing I do with a strop, anymore, besides for buffing and polishing things that aren't edges.

[Nobade]

I need to make one. When I worked in the rifle shop I'd use the buffing wheel we had for stropping but now that I don't have that it's time to have a real strop.

[country gent]

I have a couple I use both treated and untreated.

I also have a piece of hard maple with the 2 end grain sides finished flat one side is treated with sinichrome and the other yellow diamond. The end grain is a very good surface and holds compounds very good. In a pinch jewelers rouge can be rubbed in. This is a great intermediate between stones and the strops

[ascast]

yes I use one for razor only, on rare occasions I use that to shave. My kitchen etc knives dont need to be that sharp.

[gloob]

My kitchen knives are sharp enough to shave without stropping. Just not smooth enough I'd want to do it every day. The particular arkansas stone and technique I use for my razor leaves it sharp and smooth enough to shave. I sometimes strop it a few times against the edge of my hand, after. But most of the time I just shave right off the stone! It's a forgotten art, how to do that. I use only the arkansas stone to do all the sharpening, not just to finish after using something else.

[scattershot]

Leather belt, and Ihave a piece of leather on my workbench that I use flat on a piece of marble, charged with Flitz metal polish.

[firebyprolong]

I still use them, have a couple factory made ones and a bunch of homemade, they keep my knives, wood chisels, head knives, gravers sharp and smooth. I actually strop my round knife before every use. those need to be sharper than sharp to use for all the neat leather working tricks you can use them for. All my kitchen/butcher/sheath/pocket knives get stoned and kept with a steel, I’ll hit the sheath and pocket knives just to smooth them up or if I just want it just a bit better than it was. So you are definitely not alone, but in a VERY small group. Most people don’t know how to sharpen a knife, fewer can use a steel, even fewer can correctly use a steel or keep a sharpening stone square. I’ve had to train lots of new staff to keep a knife and usually have to start from absolute scratch, it’s sad, if cheap serrated knives disappeared I fear they might starve to death.

[Bazoo]

I use strops as a final finish after using a stone on my knives. I use traditional arkansas and diamond stones, all freehand. I then strop. Depending on the desired end result, I use either a plain strop or a treated strop. I also will use my palm as a strop for a quick touch up during whittling.

[Frank V]

A bit late, but last year I made my own strop out of a piece of latigo strap. Wow, it really puts a finish on a blade.