Leather Sharpening Strops

harronek

harronek

Joined
Nov 29, 2013
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2,493
It's time to replace the beat up piece of old leather that I've occasionally use to strop and touch up the odd knife with .

Any suggestions on how to make a proper Strop .

Size , Leather type , backing material , anything else that would be helpful .
Maybe some pics of your strops would be cool to see and inspire some creative juices in me .

Ken
 
A piece of thick, pliable leather (like a belt) glued to a soft pine board works just fine. You can also buy strops from any number of sources. I have a double-sided strop, one side I treated with chromium dioxide (green) and the other I left natural.
 
I made mine from a heavy piece of scrap leather, glued rough-side out using Shoe Goo, on a piece of scrap wood from an abandoned election sign I found in the street. It's about 2" x 8". Rubbed the leather with white polishing compound. And it works fantastic. :thumbup:
 
A friend of mine glued his leather strops to a pain stir stick from the Home Depot. Free backing and scrap leather, win/win

:D
 
If ya can get horsehide its better cause its denser. But ain't that big a dfference to buy just horsehide for. Just for you Ken, I prefer the compound on the roughout side. No really.
 
just made this up today quickly out of an off-cut of hardwood and some dense European leather , added some of my polishing compound and the rest is history .



Ken
 
I've taken to using a strip of canvas that is about an inch wide and two feet long using thumbtacks to keep it on there and then on the other side a smoother type of canvas, not as long and I rub on some buffing compound on both.

G2
 
Time to bring this thread back to the top! I have a couple of pieces of horsehide (7-8 oz) and it is high time I make myself a strop.
1. Do you use the finished side or the rough (flesh side)?
2. Which compound should I get/use?
 
Rough side. When it becomes totally loaded with metal you can easily step over to your sander and remove the offending deposits and start over. You'll benefit most if you use three different strops. The first one uses the heaviest compound stick you can find. (different companies use different colors, so it's sometimes hard to tell recommend by color) Typically, a Red stick is course, Green is medium and White is fine. Personally I use the Green compound from Tormek as my medium. Don't remember who makes the Red stick I've been using for years as course. I use a White stick as fine. But I go one step further and use Aluminum Oxide (powder) as my finest for finishing. (I teach wood carving and our knives have to be surgically sharp..........and leather benefits from the same sharpness) You can purchase leather strops that actually have three surfaces. I recommend this one to my students. https://mountainwoodcarvers.com/collections/sharpening/products/pro-strop It has a front and back for the first two grits, and then that beveled area shown in the picture is great for the third grit. Then I take a wooden paint stir stick and make a final one for my Aluminum Oxide. Just cut and glue a strip of leather to the stick. Works great.
 
If you have two pieces, then glue a piece to both sides of a thin piece of wood. You could do both flesh side exposed and dedicate a fine and course finishing compound on each. Or you could have one side as flesh side exposed, and the other as smooth side out for very fine finishing.

I simply lay my leather on a counter and strop away, then I turn over for fine finishing.
 
logem said:
If you have two pieces, then glue a piece to both sides of a thin piece of wood. You could do both flesh side exposed and dedicate a fine and course finishing compound on each. Or you could have one side as flesh side exposed, and the other as smooth side out for very fine finishing.

I simply lay my leather on a counter and strop away, then I turn over for fine finishing.
Click to expand...

It so happens that I have a few pieces so I was planning on making a four sided strop kinda contraption. I already ordered the aluminum oxide powder but after reading another thread on BF I might make a paste with it (mix it in bee's wax with a bit of neatsfoot oil). I guess everybody has a preference but color alone is not a good guide so I'm trying to find out the grit size - and it is not as easy as one might think, some companies are reluctant to disclose details. Green compound for example, some companies have it at 5 microns, others at 0.5 microns. Just to murky up things, some have Aluminum oxide mixed in, some don't. I am hoping you folks could could direct me to where you buy your compounds.
 
brewbear said:
It so happens that I have a few pieces so I was planning on making a four sided strop kinda contraption. I already ordered the aluminum oxide powder but after reading another thread on BF I might make a paste with it (mix it in bee's wax with a bit of neatsfoot oil). I guess everybody has a preference but color alone is not a good guide so I'm trying to find out the grit size - and it is not as easy as one might think, some companies are reluctant to disclose details. Green compound for example, some companies have it at 5 microns, others at 0.5 microns. Just to murky up things, some have Aluminum oxide mixed in, some don't. I am hoping you folks could could direct me to where you buy your compounds.
Click to expand...

Might want to go to Strop Brothers (https://stropbros.com/) for compunds. They sell a variety in small sizes and explain what each of there colors is good for.
 
Wyo Coyote said:
Might want to go to Strop Brothers (https://stropbros.com/) for compunds. They sell a variety in small sizes and explain what each of there colors is good for.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the link, I just placed the order. It very much falls in line with what the other folks recommended but I like the fact that these guys actually give you a down to earth description of what each bar does and the order in which to use them. I don't need a strop since I'm making my own but I like to support small business' so I ordered a Billy strop, it will make a nice stocking stuffer for a good friend of mine.
 
brewbear said:
Thank you very much for the link, I just placed the order. It very much falls in line with what the other folks recommended but I like the fact that these guys actually give you a down to earth description of what each bar does and the order in which to use them. I don't need a strop since I'm making my own but I like to support small business' so I ordered a Billy strop, it will make a nice stocking stuffer for a good friend of mine.
Click to expand...

I like supporting small businesses also and they are stand-up guys. I make my own strops also but like there compounds. With some of the knives I give away I make a strop with a paint mixing stick and send it along with a couple of their compounds and some basic instructions. People seem to appreciate it.
 
You can use all kinds of things for strops. I use a piece of 8-9oz veg tanned leather on a scrap piece of 3/4" birch plywood approx 4" X 8" rubbed with green buffing compound. Then I put little adhesive rubber feet on the bottom to keep it from scooting. It gives me a nice wide surface to work on. If I ever need a mobile version, it's easy enough to make a scaled down copy. Sometimes I use a piece of cardboard box I have in the kitchen for quick touch ups if I don't want to go down to the shop.

When I go to my mother's house she doesn't have a strop but usually asks me to sharpen her knives. So I do. Then I find any legal pad she has lying around and use the cardboard back on which to strop.

You can use leathers, balsa wood, cardboard, the bottom of a ceramic coffee mug, the frosted edge of auto glass, your pant leg, the palm of your hand and lots of other things. I think technique is more important than which material you choose. Stropping should be done lightly and with some care and control. You have taken the time to put the right bevel angle on your blade to get it sharp. If you press too hard into the strop material you will actually dull the edge. Instead of the edge gliding over the surface, dragging off the burr, the edge sinks into the material and rounds off the edge. Use trailing strokes and a light touch.
 
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Seen it done on a chap leg too, in a branding pen.

If you're contemplating making your own I've found veg horsehide to be a great leather for this. Much denser than veg cowhide so less prone to the rolling that Marc talks about. I also used a grey water buffalo when I made one for a customer. The grey is much denser and firmer than the brown water buffalo we use for lots of projects:

eQY5P7j.jpg


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Here are a couple of photos of the strops that I made. One is the top and the other is the bottom side. I was bored so I painted the wood block and added rubber feet so it doesn’t slide around. I used Barge brand of glue to attaché the leather strips. They are approximately 6”x3”.
image.jpg
 
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