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Home > Resources > Dr Matt's Straight Razor > Balsa Strop 3" x 11"
Balsa Strop 3
Balsa Strop 3

Balsa Strop 3" x 11"

Item #: BalsaStrop11

Average Customer Rating:
(5 out of 5 based on 28 reviews)

Read Reviews | Write a Review
Our Price: $13.50
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This balsa strop pad has a magnetic back and can easily be used with the Richmond hone base. The idea behind balsa wood as a strop medium is that a balsa surface is soft but rigid. When you apply compound you are creating a custom honing surface. The compound particles embed and stay in place while you are working, and it’s easy to sand the surface clean and flat when the compound is spent. This provides a cheap and easy way to experiment with a variety of different honing compounds that you can mix and match with low cost and good results.



Customer Reviews

Reviews

28 review(s) WRITE A REVIEW (Reviews are subject to approval)
  works well with metal base
Posted By: pete filandro - verified customer

works well with crox, cbn, and diamonds

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  Balsa Strop
Posted By: JOHN

I use CBN product no contaminants very excellent compound paste use it on all straight edge Razors to bring it to a fine edge .5 &.25 cubic boron nitrate paste this is an excellent paste,I like cutting balsa wood length in half and stacking them together to make it a little thicker say 2 inches or more it works so good it is very hard Bolsa which is what you want to use on a straight edge Blade no complaints whatsoever fantastic medium to use you can also use on leather & Suede works excellent on that also,I have use many different Paste & I found this to work the best Try the Balsa wood from this Company you will not go wrong.

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  Excellent
Posted By: J adams

The strop is exactly as ordered and has a fantastic finish

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  Magnet backed balsa
Posted By: Gil - verified customer

Made for the CKTG metal holder. Sand lightly, spray/paste, and away you go. I use it for straight razor honing.

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  Balsa should be in every serious sharpeners kit
Posted By: Scott Marshall
1 people found this review helpful

Most impressive especially with diamond spray. Extremely versatile.
The Balsa medium can do a lot of things, from fairly aggressive scratch removal to ultra fine polish, depending on the abrasive used, it's concentration, and it's age. The Balsa takes your palette of abrasives and adds another character to them, just as changing leathers does. Every person who is a sharpening enthusiast or professional should have a few Balsa strops ready to go. After some experience, you'll know when it's time to go to the Balsa to bring the edge in.
I'm a carver and while I like roo with flexcut gold (or some green stuff of unknown origin that I've used for years) for day to day use on my carving knives, Balsa with .5um diamond is quickly becoming my favorite 'touch-up' strop that I keep on the bench while carving. It gets to looking kind of rough after some use, but still does a great job. The Balsa/.5um diamond combo seems to cut a bit faster (especially when fresh), and the edge last a bit longer before needing a touch-up. Balsa excels for gouges, as it will almost completely form itself to match a profile if you dedicate a "slot" to the tool. The only 'downside' is that it's best to dedicate a pair of grooves to a specific tool shape, so you'll want several balsa pieces to cover your favorite profiles. Each piece will usually have room for several tools.


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  great new way to sharpen
Posted By: mike - verified customer

opened my eyes to a new technique and a great company.

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  Best products
Posted By: Bill - verified customer

Very pleased with everything ever purchased from CKTG. Sharp tools AND the stuff you WANT to keep them that way. Thanks Mark!

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  Best products
Posted By: Bill - verified customer

Very pleased with everything ever purchased from CKTG. Sharp tools AND the stuff you WANT to keep them that way. Thanks Mark!

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  Balsa strop
Posted By: Ag - verified customer

Nice enough but instantly pulled from the magnetic base. Some glue fixed it so no worries and the price is right.

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  Solid strop
Posted By: Alex - verified customer

Works great with some compound to take my edge over the top!

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  Great stones
Posted By: Joe blow - verified customer

Love these stones. They work very well and fast with little wear.

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  Great strops
Posted By: Joe blow - verified customer

Great strops

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  Balsa wood strap
Posted By: R Cosner - verified customer

I like the balsa wood strap and emulsion. Seen to work great for finishing my edges. Only complaint I like to keep my straps in the plastic bags, no risks of contaminating when not in use. The supplied bags are almost too tight to get back in the plastic. The base is the same. Use the next size up.

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  Better than expected
Posted By: Chris - verified customer
2 people found this review helpful

This is not your model airplane balsa. It is thicker and seems much tougher. It has a smooth and even surface. I have used it with 2 micron boron carbide with good results.

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  Made to last
Posted By: Ray M - verified customer
1 people found this review helpful

This is a really nice balsa strop. Well made and durable. Use with your favorite paste or spray. I use the CKTG 1 micron paste. Gives a wonderful polish to the edge especially followers by a horse butt strop. The back magnet sticks securely to my diamond plate. Great value.

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  Product Review
Posted By: bobluhrs - verified customer

I use two of them back to back. They stick right together, and I put .5 micron boron nitride and .1 on opposite sides. Just a couple of wipes on each side and knife is razor sharp. No need for support bases with these balsa strips they hold fine to cutting board or other surface if you stick 2 of them together. the minor bits of junk on them don't affect the sharpening effects.

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  Product Review
Posted By: bob luhrs - verified customer

I use a 10k stone followed by balsa wood with .5micron ken schwartz boron nitride, and balsa with .1 micron ks boron. The edge on both white and blue steel comes up to a 2 inch pinch distance paper edge cut with ease. Don't think of balsa like the stuff from your model airplanes, this is hard balsa. Balsa ranges from 2.5 lbs/cu ft to 10 times heavier. This is almost like very soft pine, nothing like the balsa on kids toy airplanes where you can bite through it. Great stuff!

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  Product Review
Posted By: Charles - verified customer

I have been using this pad for about 2 months. What I like about it is that does an effective job and it is not as easy to slice into as other stropping materials I have tried.

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  Product Review
Posted By: Tyler - verified customer

Great product to get that polished edge.

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  Product Review
Posted By: Norman To - verified customer

this product is quite good and needs to work with a diamond spray. I am happy with the results.

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  Product Review
Posted By: Donnie - verified customer
1 people found this review helpful

VERY rigid. This can be good or bad depending on what you're expecting. There is essentially NO give on these. However, as a wood medium, it's excellent and completely free of natural defects. Seems to work well with the .5M chromium oxide paste.

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  Product Review
Posted By: Alex - verified customer

Very nice for final touch

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  Product Review
Posted By: Jackie Teo - verified customer

Nicely done Balsa strop pad, even surface and hard enough yet quite forgiving. Good stropping material to use with paste.

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  Product Review
Posted By: Aaron - verified customer

Very inexpensive form of strop. Works well with diamond spry. Soft to where if you want to try different pasts or such simply sand down and ready to go. And as always awesome service from Mark.

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  Product Review
Posted By: Conroy - verified customer

I have used a few types of strops and still prefer leather but this will still do the trick.

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  Product Review
Posted By: Miles DeCoster - verified customer

I think this is the perfect beginners strop for someone interested in serious knife sharpening. The balsa is stiff enough to prevent edge rounding and the surface can be loaded and reloaded with all sorts of stropping compounds. Fantastic value.

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  Product Review
Posted By: doug johansen - verified customer

Fine. Convenient

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  Product Review
Posted By: Mark - verified customer

I read a lot about the quality of Hand American (HA) products on Bladeforums. I'm so glad I tried them out. I applied 1 micron HA Diamond Spray to the Balsa Magnetic Pads for stropping and was wonderfully surprised with the results. It has clearly taken my stropping and edge refinement to the next level. Perhaps the ultimate level!

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