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Sharpening Compounds
Sharpening compounds are the abrasive that turns a leather strop from a passive finishing surface into an active cutting tool. DLT Trading stocks stropping compound in every major format, including compound bars, diamond paste, diamond lotion, and CBN emulsions, so you control exactly how aggressively your strop refines the edge and what finish it leaves behind. Our guide on how to strop a knife covers loading and using them.
Stropping Compound Bars
Compound bars are the most common format, solid abrasive in a wax binder that you rub onto leather like a crayon with very light pressure. Black compound runs coarsest at about 3,000 grit and makes a good first stropping pass after a medium stone. Green compound sits in the middle at about 6,000 grit and is the everyday choice for polishing the apex and pulling off the burr. White compound is the finest at about 12,000 grit, for a high polish where a refined edge matters more than bite. Single bars, two bar sets, and three bar sets let you build a full progression across one or more strops.
Diamond Paste and Diamond Lotion
Diamond paste cuts faster and more consistently than wax bars, and it comes in precise micron ratings for a controlled progression toward a mirror finish. The DMT Diamond Paste Compound Kit packs 6, 3, and 1 micron syringes, also sold individually as 6 micron, 3 micron, and 1 micron paste. Wicked Edge Diamond Paste comes in 5 and 3.5 micron or 1 and 0.5 micron pairs. Creely Blades Sharp Condition Diamond Sharpening Lotion suspends diamond in a leather conditioner, in 6, 3, and 1 micron grades, with an eyedropper bottle for precise application.
CBN Emulsion for Super Steels
High carbide steels like S90V, M390, and MagnaCut are packed with carbides that traditional oxide compounds struggle to cut. CBN sharpening compound is built for that job. Our 2oz CBN emulsions run from coarse to very fine in 16, 8, 4, 2, 1, and 0.5 micron grades, each in a dropper tip bottle. The 2 micron grade works out to about 8,000 grit.
Matching Compound to Your Strop and Steel
A single green bar handles most stropping on conventional blade steels. For a multi grit progression, dedicate one strop to each compound to prevent cross contamination. Load a coarser compound on one paddle strop and a finer one on another, then finish on bare leather. A double sided strop like the DLT XL Double Sided Paddle Strop gives you two surfaces on one tool. Match the abrasive to the steel, oxide bars for simpler steels and diamond or CBN for super steels, and see which steels fall where in our knife steel guide. Compound is the last step after your sharpening stones, and the rest of our knife sharpening supplies cover everything before it.