What is Leather Strop? Our Strops is a premium vegetable tanned hide with abrasive green compound that will put the sharpest edge possible on knives. It should be used as the final step in sharpening. You can use the it to maintain an edge by conducting a few swipes after each use of a blade. What can I Stropping? Woodworking Chisels, Straight Razors, Utility Knives, Hunting Knives, Folding Knives, Fillet Knives, Kitchen Knives, Chef's Knife How does it work? The tool works by realigning the very fine edge of the blade and polishing the blades surface. After use or sharpening the blade will have a slight burr this burr is what catches when you attempt to cut. If the blades edge is aligned the blade passes through with little effort. By stropping the knife the very fine edge of the blade will begin align, while the compound polished the edge. How do I use it? Step 1: Apply the compound by rubbing it on the side, the smoother of the two sides. The simplest way to describe this process is like coloring with a crayon, back and forth with light pressure. Step 2: Cover the entire leather surface with the compound. Condition the leather with a few drops of oil and charge the strop with honing compound.The waxy consistency allows it to adhere well to any substrate without powdering. Step 3: Place the blade on the leather. The cutting edge should be near the edge of the leather. Adjust the angle of the blade by raising the spine (The back of the blade where it isn’t sharp) slightly creating a wedge with an angle of around 15 – 30 degrees. Step 4: With light pressure push the blade up towards the top of the strop. Should I clean the strop? That's really up to you if you feel like the compound has built up too much then you can scrape it off or sand it down. Also if the leather isn't taking the compound or the surface isn't flat you can sand it down using 80 - 120 grit sand paper.