What a thread. I am fairly new to sharpening. I have tried keeping up with this thread & believe I'll go back and review other threads so this one can be put to rest.
That's a shame... a small piece of leather, and for so much money, too...
If one of the new knife supply vendors were to start producing a high quality, properly processed strop, the cost would be immaterial to me, and I'd praise that vendor to the rooftops. So far, I haven't seen one. Instead, they are resorting to making fancy wooden handles, 'trick' multi-sided devices, and using exotic leathers to entice buyers into selecting their products over their competitors.
NOTE: Yes, this is obviously one of my pet peeves, and my current soap box rant...
This is why so many people think leather makes a poor substrate for stropping, and gives leather a bad rap. It's too easy to round off an edge with a soft leather strop if just the slightest bit of over-pressure can curl the leather over it. With a large, fixed-blade knife, that over-pressure can be simply the weight of the blade itself! Unfortunately, so many vendors these days are selling what they call 'strops' without taking the time or effort to properly treat the leather first.
If you properly process a piece of veg tanned leather, the surface will be quite hard, not dent easily with pressure from a fingernail, (or knife blade) and the subcutaneous layers supporting it extremely dense. THIS is what makes a good, high quality strop, and why these high quality strops can last from generation to generation. I have my grandfather's razor strop, passed down from my father. I'll pass it on to my son when I'm done with it.
Technically, you can 'strop' on a cotton T-shirt or 'strop' on water buffalo shank hide, gazelle skin, or kangaroo. To 'strop' (the verb) is to move a blade back and forth with intent to sharpen. 'A strop' (the noun) is the thing you strop on. There are lots of ways to use the word strop. Obviously, anything sold with intent to sharpen like this 'can' be called a strop.
But... there really is a difference. And the biggest difference in the animal skins used is NOT the species. It's the processing. A veg tanned cowhide that has been properly processed will be more effective, even used bare, than improperly processed shell cut of horse hide. Both horse hide and kangaroo hide, if both processed the same way, will perform equally well. They are both grass-fed animals so the silicate quantity in the leather will be about the same for both. But cowhide processed this same way will be just about as good. Not quite equal, but close enough to be counted in the running. The devil is in the details, and in the case of strops, the details are found in the process.
For a flat bevel edge, it is imperative that the surface of the strop NOT flex at all during the stropping process. Even the slightest flexing will begin to round the apex. NOT OPTIMAL! On the other hand, if one's goal is to strop a convex edge, a slightly softer substrate might be preferred.
He should get the same results he'd get with unprocessed horsehide. As long as one's pressure doesn't flex the surface, they should work in equal fashion. But if a fingernail can dent the surface, imagine what a knife blade can do!
Again, not a problem if you want convex edges.
Stitchawl
