Kanayama linen break in method.

[life2short1971]

I recently received my 60000 Kanayama strop with a fantastic linen secondary that as I researched requires a good bit of break in to bring it to its peak of efficiency.

I use my DMT's for all kinds of tasks besides flattening stones including refreshing leather and now linen as well.

The linen component is very stiff and unforgiving when new so I wanted to find an easy method to break it in that would keep the starch like stiffness of the strop as hole but make the material more gentle to the edge itself while still keeping the original properties so I laid the strop flat on a clean table and used my DMT8XX(after a thorough cleaning) like an iron moving up and down the linen component releasing little dust bunnies and fuzz balls for a minute or so then using a lint brush I cleaned the linen of all debris before stropping with it.

The linen instantly became my idea of perfect and very effective while the linen component as a whole remained stiff it was was buffing the edge quite nicely as intended and only gets better with each use now. I would definitely recommend this method for linen component break in as long as the DMT being used has been in service a little while so there is little chance of diamonds coming loose and embedding themselves.

I hope this of help to someone. If you try it please post your results for others.

Thanks

 

[global_dev]

What made you choose the coarse instead of a fine?

 

[life2short1971]

Honestly? I never gave the fine a thought. The linen is pretty coarse and I wanted to rough it up good was my thinking at the time. I don't see any reason why a finer DMT would not work Jon, and its gonna wear in eventually anyway.

 

[jpcwon]

Interesting; I never thought to use a DMT to break the Kanayama linen in. I bought the linen component as an add-on to my #3 strop, and I too found that the linen was a bit "unforgiving"...Do you think that a DMT 325 would work for this application?

 

[life2short1971]

Interesting; I never thought to use a DMT to break the Kanayama linen in. I bought the linen component as an add-on to my #3 strop, and I too found that the linen was a bit "unforgiving"...Do you think that a DMT 325 would work for this application?

Absolutely! I used a 220. Clean it thoroughly so you don't contaminate the linen. When you have been raising fuzz balls a little and you can feel a difference,stop.

 

[jpcwon]

Absolutely! I used a 220. Clean it thoroughly so you don't contaminate the linen. When you have been raising fuzz balls a little and you can feel a difference,stop.

Cool, I will give it a try tonight!! Thanks for the tip!

 

[life2short1971]

Cool, I will give it a try tonight!! Thanks for the tip!

My pleasure!

 

[CanonSterVa]

Absolutely! I used a 220. Clean it thoroughly so you don't contaminate the linen. When you have been raising fuzz balls a little and you can feel a difference,stop.

Awesome tip.

 

[professorchaos]

Does this really help its performance? I've been using the linen as is for a couple of years.

 

[Gamma]

I just used mine as is out of the box and it was fine.
It broke in on it's own easily enough.

 

[life2short1971]

I f you have been using it as is for a couple years I don't know how much different yours would be.You could always flip it over and try the backside.

 

[Gamma]

I think I rolled it back/forth in my hands a few times, but nothing more than that.
It just never crossed my mind to 'distress' it. I have a few of them - one unused, I may look into doing some weathering to it.

Barts process to break in the linen in the video is identical to what Mr. Naomi does to the leather at one stage. Interesting.

 

[life2short1971]

Is that using the fabric softener? I have also seen beating it between two rocks and several methods. Do you have a link please?

 

[Gamma]

Unfortunately, all I have is the DVD that Im not allowed to distribute. The Wafushohonke people sent it to me after they filmed here. The footage taped at my house got cut from the final broadcast because one of their announcers passed away and they cut that part out to fit in a memorial/eulogy type of segment. When they sent the disc, they were pretty adamant about it being for my eyes only. I do believe there is a link to the aired version which does show Mr. Naomi working the hide online somewhere, but I don't know where.

 

[life2short1971]

I saw the video but don't remember the linen being worked.

 

[Gamma]

Not the Linen - the hide.
Mr. Naomi was treating the hide the same way Bart was handling the linen.

 

[life2short1971]

Ok i see now I misread your post. My apologies.

 

[Gamma]

No worries - it's all good, and was done in the name of science!

 

[life2short1971]

True!

I wanted a simple method that still left the strop rigid but was less aggressive at the same time. I really like how it is developing.

 

[Gamma]

I love that linen.