leather advice

[williamsld8]

can you take an unfinished leather belt without any stropping compound and polish an edge? Or does it require an abrasive compound? I've seen this done but don't really understand it

 

[MORIMOTOM]

theoretically, i suppose it is possible, but it would take a very long time.

and the grain of the leather would need to be fine enough.

if you're thinking of straight razor sharpening, they are starting with an already very fine edge, so are really just touching up.

 

[Mahoney]

Leather contains natural silica, it is mildly abrasive. As Morimotom states, it does not remove much metal with each pass, and it is more effective on plain high carbon steel, some stainless is too abrasion resistant for plain leather to be an effective strop. Just as an FYI, there's silica in our skin too, the skin on the palm of the hand can be used (carefully) as a strop.

 

[rayban]

I've recently made a strop using horse hide, no compound, and getting excellent results.

 

[stitchawl]

I've recently made a strop using horse hide, no compound, and getting excellent results.

Horsehide has the highest levels of natural silicates of all the species, almost twice that of cowhide. If the leather has been vegetable tanned, it will preserve those silicates. (Chrome tanning and Oil tanning tend to remove them.) Horsehide was the traditional leather used for razor strops but went out of style as the price of horsehide rose to high to make a comfortable retail selling price. You can still find some good horsehide razor strops but be prepared to pay for it!! 'HandAmerian' sells horsehide butt (which is the cut, not the location) leather at a very reasonable price!

Using a leather belt (which may be chrome tanned) to strop with will work with many types of steel, but isn't as effective as stropping on bare veggie tanned cowhide. Of course, if you rub some compound onto the belt you will have yourself a first class strop for all metals except titanium!


Stitchawl

 

[David Martin]

I agree Switch and the compounds or diamond slurry is reasonable cost . DM