ive been using a shavette that you use with de blades snapped in half. ive got some pretty good regular type straight razors. i dont know what kind of stones work best to sharpen them and i cant afford to buy a strop. i do have access to a wide variety of leather through an amish saddle and harness maker. does anybody know what thickness and type of leather that will make a decent strop from? thanks,willy
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making a strop
- Thread starter willy m
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If you're around an amish shop I would try to get horsehide, it makes an awesome strop. I use latigo for all my strops, really like the draw it provides and the fact that its hot loaded with oils and conditioners. The leather I use is usually 5/7oz latigo but pretty much any supple leather will work. I put a D-ring at the ends of mine and a trigger clip on the other end to attach it, and then either tie it to a door handle or towel rack or whatever to get tension to polish your straights. I also like 2.5-3" wide and 17-20" long for my stropping surface...
Anyway, here's a pic of some of mine:
Anyway, here's a pic of some of mine:
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Are your straight razors already honed to be shave ready? You mention not knowing what stones to use. If your razor is not shave ready, a strop wont help much.
i dont know what stones to use or the process. ive seen a few on boob tube. but id rather take suggestions from people i trust. and yes i know a strop wont be much good unless a razor is properly prepared. but that does not mean i cant work on getting this ready so i have it when im ready for it
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Learning how to hone your razors is definitely something that takes time and lots of practice. If you're interested in getting into it I would recommend going with the norton setup a lot of guys start with (22b/1000 and 4000/8000 combo stones) and then maybe the 12000 chinese waterstone a lot of guys use (including myself). However, in the meantime I would send out your razor to get honed up right. Larry Andreassen (whipped dog straights) is one of the cheapest, fastest and accurate razor honemeisters I have dealt with...
what is the white strop shown with the leather? ive got a few s.r. to practice with. right now i use a dovo shavette s.r. it uses replaceable de blades snapped in half longways. ive been using it about 3to5 months now. i really like the shave i get from it. better than any cartridge or plain de ive ever used. it does take a bit of learning to get great shaves day after day but once you firure it out its better than anything else. once i get honing and stropping down ill keep the shavette for days im in a hurry.,,,,,,willy
I have read that latigo from tack is really not a good choice for leather for stoping knives. Having it loaded with oil and wax is good if you are using it as horse tack, but that is so it can resist wet weather and so on. With it loaded with such it cannot hold the fine compounds that are available for the leather stop, or if it is applied, it is not as good as cow hide that has been tanned properly and has good surface. You don't want wrinkles, but smooth leather. Grain is important.
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The white strop is a cotton herringbone fine fabric - it's a secondary strop that will hold compound very well when you little a little more edge refinement than leather will provide.
AKsarben - you're right about not loading latigo, it won't hold compound well at all. However, since it is hot loaded and has all the oils and conditioners already there it requires minimal upkeep and provides for a great draw on your razor. There's a reason that it's likely the most popular choice for all strops currently being made ;-) I would love to do horse or some of the other leather options but for the price you just can't beat latigo... Also, when I buy sides of latigo I go through the whole side meticulously to make sure there is minimal defect. If I was making a strop for a knife (I guess I should say when I make a strop for a knife) I will sometimes use regular veg-tanned leather if compound will be used, sometimes I'll go with a 2-sided strop with veg-tanned on one side and latigo on the other to give more options.
AKsarben - you're right about not loading latigo, it won't hold compound well at all. However, since it is hot loaded and has all the oils and conditioners already there it requires minimal upkeep and provides for a great draw on your razor. There's a reason that it's likely the most popular choice for all strops currently being made ;-) I would love to do horse or some of the other leather options but for the price you just can't beat latigo... Also, when I buy sides of latigo I go through the whole side meticulously to make sure there is minimal defect. If I was making a strop for a knife (I guess I should say when I make a strop for a knife) I will sometimes use regular veg-tanned leather if compound will be used, sometimes I'll go with a 2-sided strop with veg-tanned on one side and latigo on the other to give more options.
amcardon,im sorry if my reply suggested i doubted your reply. it was NOT meant too! at first i got your screen name temporarly confused with AKsarben,and you were giving me two different suggestion. AKsarben: i was not suggesting your reply was uninformed either. i have 2 cowhide strops already. one is a 2 by 72 belt and the other was a 2 by 72 untill i accidentaly cut it making it a hanging strop. i dont have any problems shapening and stropping the knives i make or others,by hand or machine.i have a few sr's already and i have 2 1 bought for the sole purpose of learning to hone and strop. both of my strops have green chrome on them. while it works fine for a knife it seems too coarse for a s.r. so i have verry little experance with a super thin edge. so any more info. you think will help me please feel free to post it. thanks for your recomending srp and the pics.,,,willy
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No worries! I was just giving some background why I use latigo. I know it's rough when you're getting into something and everybody has their particular opinion on everything and you have to sort through it all to find those who's opinions line up with yours. Forums like this are here to allow others to get some input, advice and education; of course there is going to be differences in opinion, that's what makes places like this so great! If we all though alike we'd be a pretty boring species ;-)
well i got a strop made from latigo from the amish. i got a piece 3" by30" and he rivited a latch on one end for me. it cost me less than one tenth of the ones ive seen for sale on line. i apparently misunderstood an earlier post. i thought latigo was made from horsehide. when its actualluly made from cow hide.now all i have to find where i can get the herringbone cotton for the secondary strop. any ideas where i would go to get it?,,,willy