Leather for strop

ac700wildcat

ac700wildcat

Joined
May 24, 2011
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I'm looking at buying some leather to make some strops. The description of what I'm looking at right now said that both sides will be grainy. I prefer my strops to be fairly smooth and not have pieces of the grain sticking all over the place. My question is, can I sand the leather some to smooth it out a bit?
 
I should add that I was going to order the hand american leather from cktg, but the price on the other stuff I'm looking at is quite a bit better. I can four time more leather for less that the one pack of hand american would cost.
 
I dont know for sure what all is entailed, but I know there are people who do it on the straight razor forums (generally after nicking the strop)

i dont know what type of finishing or whatever you would have to do. you might try over at SRP, in their strop subforum
 
Well I have sanded my KSF strop a few times for cleaning and to get a couple spots to take compound. I was just wondering if it would be any different with the grainy leather. I would think I could sand it down so its not grainy anymore.
 
Good point. Its only a $12 oops if it doesn't work out. I'm going to just order it and see how it works.
 
ac700wildcat said:
Good point. Its only a $12 oops if it doesn't work out. I'm going to just order it and see how it works.
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I don't know where you are at in ND but in Minot they have a leather store that sells sides of all different kinds. Their prices are quite reasonable.
 
I'm in Devils Lake. I don't get to Minot very often though. I found out there was a leather place in Grand Forks too and was there this weekend, but they were closed. I ordered the stuff I was looking at, so I guess I'll see how it works. If it doesn't I'll have to see if I can get someone to pick some up for me in Grand Forks or Minot. Thanks for the suggestion!!
 
If you're going to use the leather with compound, sanding it is not a problem. I actually prefer to sand the smooth side of mine with some medium/fine grit sandpaper wrapped around a sanding block, before applying compound. Assuming the leather is decent, it should give the leather a nice, even velvety 'nap', which puts a lot more of the leather's surface area in contact with the blade, and holds compound very well.
 
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ac700wildcat said:
I should add that I was going to order the hand american leather from cktg, but the price on the other stuff I'm looking at is quite a bit better. I can four time more leather for less that the one pack of hand american would cost.
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Old Italian proverb:

"Cheapa U buy, cheapa U get.":p
 
Thanks for the help guys. I'll admit I'm cheap sometimes. I guess paying a bit extra for some leather isn't really much when I consider the $ I have tied up into knives and other sharpening equipment. Oh well, the "cheap" leather is ordered and I'll see how it is when it gets here. :thumbup:
 
ac700wildcat said:
Thanks for the help guys. I'll admit I'm cheap sometimes. I guess paying a bit extra for some leather isn't really much when I consider the $ I have tied up into knives and other sharpening equipment. Oh well, the "cheap" leather is ordered and I'll see how it is when it gets here. :thumbup:
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The cheap leather will work. Just not quite as fast or as well. Good luck!:thumbup:
 
Ben Dover said:
The cheap leather will work. Just not quite as fast or as well. Good luck!:thumbup:
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When covered with compounds, cheap leather will work exactly the same as the finest quality horsehide of the same density.

It's the top surface that does the cutting, be it compound or natural silicates. It's the substrate that controls how much of that top surface comes in contact with the edge at any given time, and how accurately it conforms to the bevel. If you case your veg tanned cowhide before use, you firm it up, resulting in a more accurate edge. This is why horsehide strops are so firm and solid; they want to produce the finest shaving edge for push cutting.

Putting compound on top of a smooth shirt cardboard will give the same result as putting compound on top of a $200 horsehide strop. Using them both bare will result in a very, very different edge.


Stitchawl
 
Cheaper is definitely better, if used with compound. Don't even need leather for that. Cardboard, paper, wood and anything else that will hold the compound and provide suitable firmness will work just as well. Expensive, specially-treated leather would be essentially wasted, when covered in compound.

I've been making my compounded leather strops from a 5.5 square foot section of veg-tanned cowhide, bought at Tandy for about $17. That's essentially a lifetime supply, at the rate I'll use it. The greatest benefit to this is, I can experiment to my heart's content, trying out different compounds on a fresh piece of leather for each, and not worry about the cost of wasting it.
 
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