How thick does stropping leather

K

knife_nut73

Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Messages
299
need to be? Does it have to be belt thickness or does it make no different? I have a big of scrap leather I got a leather shop which seems to be a mix of goat skin or lamb skin. Its not all that thick but was wondering if it will makin a different if I glue it to a bit of wood.
 
In the end the leather is just a place to retain your polishing compound. I have a cheap barber's strop from the local barber supply store and it may be a little thicker than a leather belt but not that much.
 
How thick the leather is will (among a couple other factors) the extent to which it compresses/wraps around the knife's edge. If you're dealing with a convex edge, or wish to add a bit of convexness to a flat one, you probably want thicker leather, so it will more closely match the curve. If you have a flat edge, and just wish to use insanely fine-grit abrasives, as mhawg explained, then you want the leather as thin as possible, like nohz2002's set up.
 
I've been sitting here waiting for the Big Brown Truck to bring me a new edged toy so to kill time I cleaned and charged my strop with the green rouge. First, a Hubertus stag switcher got it's first re-profile on the 250 grit and a secondary bevel on the 600 grit side. A few swipes down that strop and a spot as smooth as a baby's butt appeared on my forearm. An ATS-34 Al Mar got the treatment then the new VG-10 Ladybug got a few swipes and finally the ZDP-189 Spydie Jess Horn got a touch up. My arm looks like some strange disease took out random patches here and there! They all shave and slice newspaper effortlessly but that ZDP-189 is some scary stuff. This was all done free hand but that doesn't mean I don't have a crock stick around for a quick tune up every now and then. Gotta go, BBT out front!
 
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