Strops and Sprays -My Thoughts

Hi,

    For folks who get serious about knife sharpening, during our journey we encounter a lot of different options that become available, besides of course the vast array of water stones out there. One of these "extras" I call them is CBN, Cubic Boron Nitride which is an extremely hard substance, when I say hard, I think Diamond is the only thing harder. This product comes available in a spray, the CBN particles are in suspension so you can use it to laden your leather or nanocloth strop with. The purpose of the CBN is to elevate levels of refinement up to ridiculously high numbers, in the millions.   Now I don't pretend to understand the science behind it but that doesn't mean I, or anyone else can't use it. I don't know how my Apple Watch works but I have it anyway and can manage it.

     As usual, I will place random shots in my Blog to keep it interesting.

 
     Here is an example of some CBN products from Jende industries, you can see the spray bottles and the nanocloth strops, quite a brilliant idea I think, to colour code the strops and sprays.  There are other sprays besides CBN but that's the popular one. I have used them all and have tried many through the years so I will give you my thoughts here.

Strops and Sprays

Shapton Stone Holders, the Field holder on the left and the awesome heavy stone holder on the right. The can of coke is what I brought back from Japan in 1987

     

     One of the things I have always struggled with, well over the last three years anyway is "do we really need all these extras, do we need CBN sprays on exotic leathers to enhance our sharpening?" I have asked myself that many times and I can honestly say that MY answer is a definite "NO"

    I completely understand that people create these products for the purpose of selling and making money from them and yes, they are pretty cool. I can honestly say that the edges of a knife do feel sharper after using them, they "pop".  That however is all I get from it, and I will explain myself and to clarify, I have nothing against these products.

   Novice sharpeners, and as far as I am concerned, we can be novices for years, but I think we need to focus and stay focused on the fundamentals of sharpening knives. Stick with the basics needs:

Three water stones, coarse/medium/fine, a stone flattener and a nice leather strop, even a nice bare leather strop will do, nicely.  Now, let's say that you have all these things and you get your knives sharp all the time, you have developed muscle memory and ready to explore some nifty things that you have been reading about like CBN on your leather or nanocloth or balsa. Go for it, give it a shot and see you how you like it.

    My only problem with it is that for years, I was reading about different refinement levels for different knives, 1k to 2k for European knives, 5k-8k for Japanese (HARD) knives. So why do I need a 64,000 grit edge on any of these knives, ever? I don't. Having said that, they do work and you will definitely see an improvement but is it worth it? 

    For me, no,  but I think that this is something you should explore and see what you think, it is fun to try different things once you have all the fundamentals well in hand.  

    For me, a man who sharpens knives professionally, I have a different mindset:

If I put a 64,000 grit edge on a knife, produced by stropping it on leather laden with the appropriate CBN compound, how long is that extremely refined edge going to last?

    Many of knives I sharpen are under heavy pressure in a professional setting so how long will that edge, or any edge last? I don't think it will last very long, in fact, I think it will vanish rapidly but I have not tested this at length, this is just me picturing that refined edge slicing through food and being stripped away quite quickly.

    So if I were to sharpen a knife and then strop it on series of strops each laden with progressively finer levels of spray, yes I will see/feel the edge of knife become very sharp indeed. A little sharper than if I just stropped it on bare leather. Now, if I give that knife to a professional chef and he feels it and is blown away by that edge, that is nice. HOWEVER, what happens if 50 minutes later that edge is gone, what will he think of me then? ( it will feel like smoke and mirrors)

    Is it not better to place an extremely sharp yet "smart" edge on that knife, one that will retain it's sharpness for as long as possible, and we know by now that there are many factors that influence edge retention besides grits and angles. 

   So the bottom line of for me is that if it is something that if you want to try out, I encourage it and just have fun with it. Don't rely however on a CBN spray to get your knife sharp, it must be sharp before the edge hits the strop. 

   So what you could do is just maintain your edge on that CBN laden strop as necessary to keep it up.  A professional in a kitchen is not going to do that, not a chance in hell, but you could. 

I really like the way Tom Blodgett at JENDE industries has set up his sprays and strops. For folks close to me they are welcome to try them out, I have all of them.

     I think of these products and options, you don't need them but they can be fun and effective and serious sharpeners just like trying things out, there is nothing wrong with it. My personal favourite is a very nice quality leather without anything on it but it has to be good leather. I also have two strops with the green paste, the chromium oxide and I like those as well. I just like keeping things simple, I enjoy trying everything but most of the time I just get back to the basic setup, that works well for me.

    

Now this is a big knife. I sharpened it using freehand and the Edge Pro to finalize the polishing of the bevels. That curve in the blade is hard to reach by freehand but the EP handled it beautifully.

   I don't have lot of experience with other CBN compounds, Tom recognized the opportunity, saw me as an influence to other sharpeners and sent me his products to test so I did that.  I know there are other brands out there, choose whatever works for you,  follow your instincts. 

    Someone else is sending me some leather strops to evaluate as well so I will talk about them.

I will say that the very best strops that I have ever seen, EVER are from Fendrihans, now these are several hundred dollars and are for razor stropping but I will have one, oh yes, I will definitely own one some day. I get most of my Shapton products from there.

   

    To finish off, I picture those men in Japan, many of them elderly men who many recognize as master knife sharpeners. I don't know when one becomes a Master at something like knife sharpening but clearly they are highly skilled artisans. Do you think that they rely on CBN sprays or use them at all? I have a hard time picturing that.  We learn by trying different things, some we keep, some we discard and chalk it up to another lesson. I've learned my lesson and I am glad I tried these products out. If it makes you feel good to use these things, if it builds your confidence then why not, there is certainly no harm in it. 

These are very cool knives belonging to a great chef and great man here is halifax. I had the opportunity to visit him and see his fantastic collection of knives. Dennis Johnston is a master at Pad Thai as well.  He also has some Murray Carter knives which are truly something.


Now.....my feelings above relate to knife sharpening. 
When it comes to honing razors, I am quite positive that the CBN and Poly emulsions are probably quite good, excellent in fact.  If fact this is where these products shine I would say. I think there are only a couple of good spots to purchase them, from Jende or Ken Schwartz, you can't go wrong with either.

Peter