Made My First Strop

Trout Hound · Nov 1, 2015

Just a little 4x1.5" travel/whittling strop. Plain leather on one side, green compound on the other. Base is poplar. Special shout outs to Jason and David for very useful info I found in an old thread. I have another piece of 3.5" wide poplar, which will soon be introduced to the rest of the leather I bought.

wtlj · Nov 1, 2015

Nicely done!

aquaman67 · Nov 1, 2015

How did you attach the leather?

I really need to start stropping on something besides cardboard or my jeans.

efaden · Nov 1, 2015

Looks good. Think I need to make one also.

Trout Hound · Nov 1, 2015

Thanks! I attached the leather with rubber cement.

Here's the link to the thread I used for advice: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/640503-Make-a-leather-strop

Trout Hound · Nov 1, 2015

Got to thinking that the compound looked too spotty. I had sanded the leather, but I went back with coarser paper and got a much better result:

TravisH · Nov 1, 2015

Nice work.

You could heat up the strop with a hair dryer to soften up the compound so it spreads easier as you rub it on.

blanex1 · Nov 1, 2015

seems a little small! but its much better them my 1st attempt at making a strop! i ended up with 2x 2 1/2''x 11'' for on my desk-top and handheld,never even thought about making a carry around strop! yours came out nice,your going to need a little larger size for at home/desk top! try holding over stove top burner on low heat,to heat up your strop and then apply compound,makes it smoother/easy to even-coat your strop without wasting or flaking the compound.

Trout Hound · Nov 2, 2015

Yeah, I started small on purpose to get the hang of attaching the leather. It's big enough to keep my whittling knife sharp, and it's easy to carry. I've got a bigger one in the works.

Jamesh Bond · Nov 2, 2015

Noice.

flphotog · Nov 2, 2015

Unless you are really into making your own, check amazon, they really are cheap and most come with stropping compound.

Trout Hound · Nov 2, 2015

flphotog said:
Unless you are really into making your own, check amazon, they really are cheap and most come with stropping compound.

I enjoyed the challenge. Thanks though!

Obsessed with Edges · Nov 2, 2015

The 'prettiest' strops are the inexpensive ones that simply WORK GREAT. When it comes down to it, the blade's edge will never respond to anything but the firmness and compound-holding abilities of the substrate and the aggressiveness of the compound. Everything else is window dressing.

My 'best' strop is nothing but a piece of old denim (repurposed OLD blue jeans; I've long since got my money's worth out of them) applied to a FREE paint-stirring stick from Home Depot. The most expensive 'accessory' for the strop was the stick of white rouge compound (also found at Home Depot), for about $6 or so, IIRC.

A pic of my first homemade effort, which also worked out OK (I also sanded the leather on this one):

David