Sharpal Dual-Sided Leather Strop Review: Affordable Edge Polishing for Knives and Hatchets

Introduction

Stropping is the step most people skip, and it is often the step that separates a working edge from a genuinely impressive one. The Sharpal Dual-Sided Leather Strop promises to take your sharpening to the next level, and at around twenty dollars it does so without asking much of your wallet. After putting it to work on small hatchets and EDC blades, it earns its place in the kit.

What the Sharpal Dual-Sided Leather Strop Is

This is a double-sided strop: one side smooth leather, the other a suede-style surface, both mounted to a piece of hardwood with a handle. That handle matters more than it might seem. It lets you use the strop above a bench deck, flat on a surface, or even held in place while you move a large tool such as a big axe across the leather instead of moving the strop itself.

Given how expensive raw leather has become lately, getting this much usable stropping surface for about twenty dollars is genuinely good value. Sharpal makes a range of affordable sharpening tools suited to hand-carried EDC gear, hatchets, and axes, and this strop fits that same practical mold.

How Stropping Works

A strop polishes and aligns the metal on a blade at a level beyond what you can feel by hand, down to a microscopic scale. The result is an edge that is both cleanly polished and intensely sharp. There is a long tradition here: it is the same principle as the old barber stropping a razor before a shave.

The critical technique detail is direction. Unlike working on wet stones, you strop away from the cutting edge, not toward it. Go the wrong way and you will simply slice up the leather. Once you get the motion down, the difference is immediate.

Using the Included Polishing Compound

Sharpal includes a few ounces of aluminum oxide and chromium oxide compound, which you rub onto the leather much like a crayon. A little goes a long way, and it is generally better to use too little than too much. If the compound is not coming off because it is too cold, warming it slightly fixes that.

If you are unsure of your angle, the strop includes a sharpening pyramid guide. Because stropping works backwards, it is trickier to use than with stones; you line up the blade, get a feel for the angle, then pull backwards. Performance is similar on both the smooth and suede sides, so either surface works well.

For high-performance blades, adding the green polishing compound really does take the edge to the next level, provided everything upstream is in order. You may want to do your main sharpening on wet stones, diamond stones, steel, or ceramics first, but often a dull blade is simply misaligned metal rather than truly worn. Stropping alone can realign it.

Real-World Performance on a Convex Edge

The strop proved its worth on a small mini hatchet with a convex grind, the slightly bowed edge profile that is almost natural in how we sharpen. Because a convex edge has no fixed bevel angle, you simply vary the angle as you strop, working the compound across the curve until the edge reaches a mirror-polished finish.

The result spoke for itself in a chopping test: the polished edge bit through wood cleanly and aggressively, more than sharp enough for detailed work. This is the kind of edge that handles camp tasks, food prep, and fine cutting with ease, and the strop is what got it there.

It is also worth noting that the technique travels. The same stropping motion can be improvised in the field using branches, but having a proper leather strop at home makes the whole process faster and more consistent.

Buying Advice

If you already own basic sharpening gear, this strop is the natural finishing step, and if you are starting out, Sharpal’s affordable ecosystem of sharpening tools pairs well with it. At around twenty dollars, it is hard to argue against. Just remember the one rule that matters: pull away from the edge, and let the compound do the polishing.

Conclusion

The Sharpal Dual-Sided Leather Strop is an essential tool in our book. It is affordable, well built with both smooth and suede leather on solid hardwood, and it delivers the kind of polished, intensely sharp edge that ordinary stones leave behind. For anyone serious about keeping knives, hatchets, and axes truly sharp, this is one of the easiest upgrades to recommend.