old strop in rough shape

[JoberSeven]

so, i'm fairly inexperienced when it comes to stropping. i've been using an old belt glued to a paint s tick as suggested by derekH. i can shave a few arm hairs without much discomfort, but i'm not about to try it on my face.

my dad just gave me an old strop he found in his garage. it's borderline antique. it has some scrapes and cuts and scuffs.

assuming I can eventually strop a blade properly, will these imperfections bugger up all my work? or will the blade skip over them so to speak?

the strop itself is stamped "No40- $1.25 best there is guaranteed" so i'm sure it'll work great, once i practice my technique. though, i don't know who i'd complain to if it doesn't live up to the guarantee.

 

[stitchawl]

Any imperfections that go 'down' into the leather will have no effect on the stropping. If there are 'slices' the cause a small area to flap or lift, just carefully cut them away with a razor blade. Work a small amount (less than half a tea spoon all together) of leather conditioner (Lexol, Leather Balm, ordinary shoe cream (NOT wax shoe polish) into both sides of the strop, rubbing in in with your fingers while bending and flexing the leather. Plan to spend about 20 minutes really working it into the leather. The result will be a strop that, while not necessarily looking beautiful, will work as well as one that does!


Stitchawl

 

[JoberSeven]

great! thanks a bunch!

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Any imperfections that go 'down' into the leather will have no effect on the stropping. If there are 'slices' the cause a small area to flap or lift, just carefully cut them away with a razor blade. Work a small amount (less than half a tea spoon all together) of leather conditioner (Lexol, Leather Balm, ordinary shoe cream (NOT wax shoe polish) into both sides of the strop, rubbing in in with your fingers while bending and flexing the leather. Plan to spend about 20 minutes really working it into the leather. The result will be a strop that, while not necessarily looking beautiful, will work as well as one that does!


Stitchawl

I inadvertently sliced a notch in a leather belt I was using, and used a tiny bit of CA glue (superglue) to close it up (the sliced piece was still hanging on, so I was able to close the 'flap' in the leather). Not pretty, but it smoothed out the bump anyway.


David

 

[stitchawl]

I inadvertently sliced a notch in a leather belt I was using, and used a tiny bit of CA glue (superglue) to close it up (the sliced piece was still hanging on, so I was able to close the 'flap' in the leather). Not pretty, but it smoothed out the bump anyway.

David

David, if you had sliced off the flap, it would really be just about the same as the effect as the low areas of the 'washboard' strop. Defects that go 'down' aren't 'there,' and so don't really impact the stropping unless there are a quite lot of them. We need to be VERY careful when using CA glue on leather, as it tends to burn it, causing it to shrink and harden if used too much. This isn't seen as much on the hair side of the leather as the cell structure is quite dense. But used on sueded leather, or on the flesh side, the shrinkage and hardening 'can be' quite noticeable if too much glue is used. The leather loses its flexibility.


Stitchawl

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

David, if you had sliced off the flap, it would really be just about the same as the effect as the low areas of the 'washboard' strop. Defects that go 'down' aren't 'there,' and so don't really impact the stropping unless there are a quite lot of them. We need to be VERY careful when using CA glue on leather, as it tends to burn it, causing it to shrink and harden if used too much. This isn't seen as much on the hair side of the leather as the cell structure is quite dense. But used on sueded leather, or on the flesh side, the shrinkage and hardening 'can be' quite noticeable if too much glue is used. The leather loses its flexibility.


Stitchawl

Main reason I did it, in that case, is because the belt also was one I often wear. Didn't like the look of the blemish (dark-tanned on the surface, with light leather underneath), so I was mainly concealing the cut. I also wouldn't want to rely on that for fixing all such defects.

I have a 4-sided strop block, which is the first one I 'learned' (ahem) to strop on, and it's got cuts all over it. I just trimmed away the loose remnants hanging on, and continued to use it as such. In sort of an odd but fruitful way, the divots in the leather 'encouraged' me to go light & easy with my strokes (didn't want the tip of my blade getting hung up in them), which turns out to be better technique anyway. Who knew?

These days, I've even been stropping occasionally on a braided leather belt, which obviously isn't flat & perfectly smooth at all. Still works fine.


David

 

[stitchawl]

Main reason I did it, in that case, is because the belt also was one I often wear. Didn't like the look of the blemish (dark-tanned on the surface, with light leather underneath), so I was mainly concealing the cut. I also wouldn't want to rely on that for fixing all such defects.

I have a 4-sided strop block, which is the first one I 'learned' (ahem) to strop on, and it's got cuts all over it. I just trimmed away the loose remnants hanging on, and continued to use it as such. In sort of an odd but fruitful way, the divots in the leather 'encouraged' me to go light & easy with my strokes (didn't want the tip of my blade getting hung up in them), which turns out to be better technique anyway. Who knew?

These days, I've even been stropping occasionally on a braided leather belt, which obviously isn't flat & perfectly smooth at all. Still works fine.


David

+1 :thumbup:


As I've often said, the edge only contacts the surface regardless of the strop's 'smoothness.' Perfectly smooth, dinged up, hair side or rough-out, smooth leather or rough canvas, thin or thick coating of compound... no matter what, the edge is only going to contact the surface.


Stitchawl