Leather for a strop

J

jusclaires

Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Messages
37
Just looking at making a quick strop for myself. I've just been hooking an old belt on a desk hook and using that. And it's functional; but I think having it permanently on a board and loaded with a decent compound would work a lot nicer. I've heard a lot of people using a car buffing compound. Would that be functional? And where and what is everybody using for leather. Sorry if this is a dumb question. Just seems this could very easily be made as well as many of them I find for sale online.

Thanks in advance, Justin
 
Over in the maintenance and embellishment forum some of the guys have been working with strips of denim on a paint stick. Apparently, one layer is awesome, two a bit more difficult.

You can use the bare denim, or add the green chromium oxide.
 
I use a strop I got from handamerican.com with 1200 grit SiC compound. Unfortunately they apparently went out of business! Anyway, just look for a piece of leather that's thicker than usual, and pretty smooth. Cut out a piece and either glue it to a board or secure it to something. You can load it up with a fine abrasive compound, or not. It's up to you. I have one with that really fine SiC compound, and one without. I use them both all the time. I also got a glass smooth steel. If you strop regularly and use the steel to align, your edges will last at least twice as long. No kidding! You might try a Tandy leather store if there is one in your area. Any thick smooth leather will work. And hey, I use an old belt strapped to a workbench at work - nothing wrong with that either.
 
OK, I moved this to Maintenance. Good choice, using a strop. Even if you use fancier sharpeners, a strop makes a great final step.
 
Hey thanks for moving the thread. I'm a bit newer to this site. And I didn't realize where about this was being posted. Thank you for all the advice so far guys. I'll have to stop at lowes and get that compound. And their isn't a Tandy store super close. But one that's a mailable trip I'll have to make eventually
 
just some anecdotal info for you - I bought some cheap black and green compounds on Amazon, and they worked ok. Then I got the Bark River black and white compounds, and they made a huge difference to me in feeling how sharp they were. I don't have any microscope or anything to prove it, but I can definitely notice my knives seem sharper after using the BR compound. May be worth checking it.

Also, if you go to Home depot, lowes, etc, and get a few paint stick sticks, you can superglue leather to that to make a cheap strop. Or just rub compound directly into the stick,
 
A good source for leather is Tandy leather if one is close to you. I bought scrap leather there and it is the hardest leather I have ever seen. I also got enough leather in the $10 bag for at least 10 strop sides.

For compound I would suggest going to Sears and getting some black and green compound. You can add more like rev or white in too, but black and green are good enough.
 
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