I finally got around to making some strops so I thought I would share the project with a couple of pics.
This won't be detailed instructions as they are absurdly simple to make as my pics will more than demonstrate.
Here is the first pic.
It contains everything used for the project albeit some parts are in their finished state at this time. (Plus I forgot to include the piece of leather that I used)
The wood started out as a single 1x3x6ft piece of poplar that I got down at Home Depot. Nothing special, just picked out one that appeared to be ok.
Next move was to cut it into 4 approximately equal pieces.
After that I did a rough sketch of a handle on one end and then used the wood chisel you see in the picture to remove wood until I had the handle shape I wanted. This was repeated with 2 of the remaining 3 pieces of wood.
Once done with that I took the 80 grit sandpaper and sanded it down until there weren't any visible chisel marks after which I used the 120 grit to get it smoother still.
After I was finished sanding the wood down I took a damp paper towel and wiped them down then let them sit for a day.
I then used the strops as guides to cut strips from a 12x12 piece of leather that I got from knifemaking.com.
After cutting the leather strips I used contact cement to attach them to the paddles.
Here is the completed pic.
I've no doubt that a person with real wood working skills could easily do far better than this, but for the time and effort involved and my lack of skills, I would have to say that anyone can do the same thing and save a buck or two over buying strops.
This won't be detailed instructions as they are absurdly simple to make as my pics will more than demonstrate.
Here is the first pic.
It contains everything used for the project albeit some parts are in their finished state at this time. (Plus I forgot to include the piece of leather that I used)
The wood started out as a single 1x3x6ft piece of poplar that I got down at Home Depot. Nothing special, just picked out one that appeared to be ok.
Next move was to cut it into 4 approximately equal pieces.
After that I did a rough sketch of a handle on one end and then used the wood chisel you see in the picture to remove wood until I had the handle shape I wanted. This was repeated with 2 of the remaining 3 pieces of wood.
Once done with that I took the 80 grit sandpaper and sanded it down until there weren't any visible chisel marks after which I used the 120 grit to get it smoother still.
After I was finished sanding the wood down I took a damp paper towel and wiped them down then let them sit for a day.
I then used the strops as guides to cut strips from a 12x12 piece of leather that I got from knifemaking.com.
After cutting the leather strips I used contact cement to attach them to the paddles.
Here is the completed pic.
I've no doubt that a person with real wood working skills could easily do far better than this, but for the time and effort involved and my lack of skills, I would have to say that anyone can do the same thing and save a buck or two over buying strops.
