Starting to build my first homemade strop....

[MacTech]

It's funny, i have been searching everywhere for scrap leather to build a strop, and having no luck, the local leather clothes places only sell finished goods, and the piece of leather Mom found for me, though servicable, was a little small....

so today wnen i went to grab lunch, i noticed one of the new businesses in the old mill building was an upolsterer, and he was in...

i stopped in "silly question, how much for a leather scrap, i'm trying to build a strop for my knives?"
"how much leather do you need?"
"about this much (i rough ballparked a small strip of leather about 4" wide, 6" long"

he grabbed a pile of leather (nice green leather) and cut off a chunk of it
"here you go"
"thanks, what do i owe you?"
"no charge, i'd have to trim that part off anyway"
"thanks "

so, i ended up with an "L" shaped scrap of leather about 14" long, and 5" wide, for nothing, not a bad start for stropping

now to find a piece of wood or tile or something to glue it to

 

[TedGamble]

now to find a piece of wood or tile or something to glue it to

Stop by a paint store and ask for their "5 gallon stir sticks". They, too, are usually free and the perfect size.

 

[mycroftt]

How about glue - where can we get some free glue?

Seriously though - the upholstery shop is an excellent suggestion for a piece of leather. I was going to suggest a craft store. They usually sell bags of leather scraps of different shapes and sizes and pawing through them would usually produce some good candidates for a strop.

 

[TedGamble]

GLUE
I use "Gorilla Glue". It comes in a small plastic bottle and sells for around $4. It's available at Home Depot, Lowe's, WalMart, just about anywhere, and it holds just about anything for just about as long as you'd ever want it held.

In other words, it's great stuff.


LEATHER
A Tack Shop (horses and saddles) is a great place for cheap (but high-end) leather. Just go in and ask them if they have a 16" x 2" piece of scrap split cowhide. This is the best stuff to make strops out of. They'll usually give it to you for free.