Different types of leather as a strop..

jac_solar

jac_solar

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Sep 1, 2013
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I was wondering if this type of leather will work as a strop?

UmVzdGVza2lubi0x0.jpg


T2tzZWh1ZC1mcmFtZGVsLTE1.jpg
 
I meant the brown leather in the first picture. The reason I'm asking is because these types look a lot more shiny and smooth than the leather that came with a strop.
 
It's difficult to tell from just the photo. It's possible that this is vegetable tanned leather, but there are other tanning processes that can mimic it. Try this... cut a small 2" square of the leather, and run it under water for 10-20 seconds. Then set it aside to dry for an hour or two. At that point, if the leather feels almost as soft and malleable as modeling clay, it is veg-tanned leather and will work perfectly for any kind of strop you wish to make. If it's still firm, it 'can' work for a strop that is used with compounds rather than bare.

"Almost" any leather will 'work' as a strop, depending upon what sort of edge you want as a final result. But there are differences to keep in mind.

For a 'flat' bevel, a firm surface is best. The firmer the better. For a 'convex' edge this is not as important.
The 'trick' to have a high quality strop is to properly prepare the leather before use, and this can only be done with vegetable tanned leathers.

When used as the intermediate steps with compounds, the tanning method is not as important. But for a tertiary strop, you will want it to have the maximum amount of silicates still retained by the leather. This requires vegetable tanning (common) or bark tanning (not as commercially common,) as other tanning methods such as chrome tanning (mostly used for garment leather or upholstery leathers,) oil tanning (mostly used for equestrian purposes) or brain tanned which is popular with home-tanned deer hides, tend to remove the natural silicates. These natural silicates are the smallest abrasive you can easily find, and so work best as the last step in your sharpening process. Bare Horsehide has been the choice of professionals as a final strop for hundreds of years... for a reason. It works. But if you are going to cover it up with compounds, almost any firm leather will do just fine. It makes no sense to put a coat of green paint over a bar of gold! When using compounds, the average knife user will never notice any difference between leathers so long as the surface is firm enough for the compounds, and has enough porosity to accept the material.

When it comes to strops, keep the 'Barber strop leather' model in mind. The strop doesn't need to be a hanging model such as barbers use, but that extra firm surface has worked best for hundreds of years. Some people prefer to use the rough surface side of the leather for their strops, and this will work, but the majority of strops will use the harder 'hair side' of the leather. If you have all these leathers available to you, why not make a small strop with each and experiment yourself. A free paint stirring stick from the hardware store with a strip of leather glued down to it with ordinary household glue has worked for woodworkers for a long time. You don't need to spend a lot of money on a fancy wooden base, nor fancy leathers to make a good strop that will last you many years.


Stitchawl
 
Last edited:
stitchawl said:
It's difficult to tell from just the photo. It's possible that this is vegetable tanned leather, but there are other tanning processes that can mimic it. Try this... cut a small 2" square of the leather, and run it under water for 10-20 seconds. Then set it aside to dry for an hour or two. At that point, if the leather feels almost as soft and malleable as modeling clay, it is veg-tanned leather and will work perfectly for any kind of strop you wish to make. If it's still firm, it 'can' work for a strop that is used with compounds rather than bare.

"Almost" any leather will 'work' as a strop, depending upon what sort of edge you want as a final result. But there are differences to keep in mind.

For a 'flat' bevel, a firm surface is best. The firmer the better. For a 'convex' edge this is not as important.
The 'trick' to have a high quality strop is to properly prepare the leather before use, and this can only be done with vegetable tanned leathers.

When used as the intermediate steps with compounds, the tanning method is not as important. But for a tertiary strop, you will want it to have the maximum amount of silicates still retained by the leather. This requires vegetable tanning (common) or bark tanning (not as commercially common,) as other tanning methods such as chrome tanning (mostly used for garment leather or upholstery leathers,) oil tanning (mostly used for equestrian purposes) or brain tanned which is popular with home-tanned deer hides, tend to remove the natural silicates. These natural silicates are the smallest abrasive you can easily find, and so work best as the last step in your sharpening process. Bare Horsehide has been the choice of professionals as a final strop for hundreds of years... for a reason. It works. But if you are going to cover it up with compounds, almost any firm leather will do just fine. It makes no sense to put a coat of green paint over a bar of gold! When using compounds, the average knife user will never notice any difference between leathers so long as the surface is firm enough for the compounds, and has enough porosity to accept the material.

When it comes to strops, keep the 'Barber strop leather' model in mind. The strop doesn't need to be a hanging model such as barbers use, but that extra firm surface has worked best for hundreds of years. Some people prefer to use the rough surface side of the leather for their strops, and this will work, but the majority of strops will use the harder 'hair side' of the leather. If you have all these leathers available to you, why not make a small strop with each and experiment yourself. A free paint stirring stick from the hardware store with a strip of leather glued down to it with ordinary household glue has worked for woodworkers for a long time. You don't need to spend a lot of money on a fancy wooden base, nor fancy leathers to make a good strop that will last you many years.


Stitchawl
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot! They are all supposed to be vegetable tanned leathers, but they are shiny and smooth, like a belt, unlike my storebought strop which is less smooth, and not shiny..

But, regarding leather treatment -- is it ok to use any sort of "leather" treatment for a strop? And what kind of treatment are people talking about when it comes to leather strops? Is it the type you use on leather shoes?
 
lmari55 said:
Ignorance speaking here . . . is that vegetable tanned too? Where do you buy a piece of bare horsehide?
Click to expand...

Veg. tanned seems to always be the preferred choice. You can find horsehide remnants at ebay. Just search horse leather or horsehide leather, etc.
 
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