Conveniently fits over 8" x 2" stones
If you've ever used a sharpening stone and just needed a finer grit, the Strop Topper is for you. This strop fits over your existing 8" x 2" stones. After you've used your finest stone, just place the Strop Topper over stone. The leather strop surface measures 8 3/4" x 2 7/8", and is made of leather bonded a wooden base. The leather accepts honing compounds of various grades. We recommend our Green Honing Compound.
Perfect for Knives and Tools
The leather strop isn’t new to sharpening but it is still confusing to some. Like a razor strop, the Stone Topper strop is used to put a very fine edge on your blade. Barbers have been using leather razor strops for decades to keep an extremely sharp edge on their straight razors. The razor strop is an essential tool for any barber or anyone needing to keep a straight razor sharp enough to shave with. While a razor strop can be used to sharpen a traditional knife, it just isn’t the right tool for the job. For putting the final edge on tools and knives, we recommend our Stone Topper Strop. After sharpening your knife on a bench stone, we recommend finishing it off with a strop for an extremely sharp edge. Just think of this strop as your finest stone (but even finer).
Choose Smooth or Suede Leather
Strops can be made with smooth leather (grain side) or suede side leather (flesh side). When deciding which one to carry we had to consider not only our own preferences but also the preferences of others for woodworking tools, carving tools, and knife sharpening. We even put them to a performance test and in the end, either one worked great. Instead of just carrying one type, we decided to carry both.
Smooth - The smooth leather option is a very firm piece of leather. This leather is selected specifically for the smooth side only. If the leather is too hard, it just doesn't doesn't work well and doesn't accept compound well. If the leather is too soft, it doesn't produce as fine of an edge and won't hold up. This leather is more durable than the suede side.
Suede - The suede side uses the opposite side of the leather than the smooth (it is technically called the flesh side). The leather we use is selected for its flesh side properties. This leather is different leather than our smooth side leather. In our research, the leather that makes a good suede side is different than the leather that makes a good smooth side. Our suede side leather is a little softer than the smooth leather. The softer suede leather accepts compound very readily.
Made with pride in the USA.
Q. Does the leather cover the entire surface of the strop?
A. Yes, the leather comes all the way to the edge. This allows you to use it like you would any other stones. The size of this is deceptively large. The size is more than 50% larger area than the 8" x 2" stone that it covers (really, we did the math twice!).
Q. Do you recommend using a compound on the strop?
A. Yes, we highly recommend a compound. Our Green Honing Compound will quickly put a fine polish on the edge of knives and tools.
Q. Will this work on any 8" x 2" stone?
A. It will work on almost any 8" x 2" stone. We've even tested it on Norton's IM200 sharpening systems and it fits very nicely over them. In fact, the Stone Topper Strop will turn the Norton IM200 or the Norton IM200S into truly complete sharpening systems.
Q. What are the differences between the various strops you offer?
A. To see all our mounted strops side-by-side, check out our article Comparing Mounted Leather Strops.
