Will simple materials make an effective strop?

Strigamort said:
SwampDude, if you like, send me an email with your address and I'll send you a bit of the leather I use for my strops. Aside from the qualities I mentioned, it's also extremely thin. It truly is excellent strop leather.

You can kind of see how thin it is in the pic.

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The only thing I wish is that it wasn't black, but I haven't found it again at Tandy, let alone in another color.
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Thanks for your great offer.

How do you attach the thin leather to the wood paddle?

Is Tandy a good source of leather?
 
SwampDude said:
Nice assortment. Where did you find the paddles used in your home-made strops? I'd like to make several that are wider than my paint stir stick, if I can find leather to fit them.
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Strigamort said:
SwampDude- keep in mind that, for the majority of uses, aside from carving knives and straight razors which you keep extremely sharp as maintenance, the strop is useful for edge refinement only. You'll find that they work best on an edge that is already sharp. The sharper, before you strop, the better.

I've yet to get a dull-ish blade sharp with only a strop and compound.
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I used a piece of 1"x3" pine I found lying around the garage for one. On another, I cutout a couple pieces of hardboard and laminated them together, sanded, glued leather, stained. Simple, and no one way is the best. Got the leather from a couple of construction work belts I had from my earlier days.

Strigamort, great words of truth about the usefulness of strops. Keeps a sharp knife sharp. Might as well spit in the wind if trying to get a dull knife sharp.
 
SwampDude said:
I bought one of these recently to keep in a small kit in my truck. If I've got a little time to kill away from home, working on an edge is a good way to do it.

I bought my flexcut strop at the local Rockler woodworking store. It's well made, so I'm thinking it should work fine. The gold compound that came with it is something I have no experience with; in fact, I didn't know the gold stuff existed.
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I think i might have to pick one up seems like a great price and you can never have to many strops:p. The flexcut gold compound is very good stuff I prefer it to green chromium oxide compound
 
I attach my leather using Elmers wood glue. Works really well. I buy poplar from Lowes, it's flat and strong. I grind down a handle at one end but it's not necessary.

What I do-

Cut wood to length

Lay wood on top of hide

Cut along the border of the wood with a utility knife

Put a thin layer of glue on wood

Lay the leather nap down on a piece of saran wrap

Carefully place the wood down on the hair (glue) side of the leather

Flip over and check for placement and glue contamination

Using a new piece of plastic wrap place the strop face down and set a heavy weight on it

24 hours later I apply whatever compound I'm going to be using usually with some heat from a hair dryer

Spread compound evenly and sparingly

IMAG1199_zps448e792f.jpg


IMAG1304_zps1827877f.jpg


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I have other pics, but I can't find them at the moment. :)
 
Strigamort said:
I attach my leather using Elmers wood glue. Works really well. I buy poplar from Lowes, it's flat and strong. I grind down a handle at one end but it's not necessary.

What I do-

Cut wood to length

Lay wood on top of hide

Cut along the border of the wood with a utility knife

Put a thin layer of glue on wood

Lay the leather nap down on a piece of saran wrap

Carefully place the wood down on the hair (glue) side of the leather

Flip over and check for placement and glue contamination

Using a new piece of plastic wrap place the strop face down and set a heavy weight on it

24 hours later I apply whatever compound I'm going to be using usually with some heat from a hair dryer

Spread compound evenly and sparingly

IMAG1199_zps448e792f.jpg


IMAG1304_zps1827877f.jpg


IMAG1305_zps83b0198e.jpg


I have other pics, but I can't find them at the moment. :)
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Thanks. I can do that...providing I can find the leather.

Do you always use compound? I used my new home-made strop today without compound, and I swear it improved the edge on my pocket knife.

I'm trying not to treat sharpening like rocket science, but I want to understand the right way of creating and maintaining a consistently good edge on knives and axes.
 
I'm sure it did refine the edge some. You can go with, or without.

One way to check your strop. Apply some green compound to a section of your strop. Now take the edge of a tarnished penny a see which gets the edge to shine better/faster. All leathers are different.

Tandy sells a better selection of leather than anywhere else that I know of. I'm sure their prices could be beat online, but it's nice to feel and see your hides in person.
 
I couldn't find any suitable leather at any of the local craft stores in my areas so I actually ended up getting a piece of leather from a little old school shoe repair shop in my town. If you are unable to find a suitable piece of leather another even cheaper/easier option is the balsa wood strop. All you need to do is buy a block of balsa wood, sand one side to make sure its flat, apply compound, and strop away. Doesn't get much easier then that;)
 
SwampDude said:
I bought one of these recently to keep in a small kit in my truck. If I've got a little time to kill away from home, working on an edge is a good way to do it.

I bought my flexcut strop at the local Rockler woodworking store. It's well made, so I'm thinking it should work fine. The gold compound that came with it is something I have no experience with; in fact, I didn't know the gold stuff existed.
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Is the leather on these strops flesh side up or smooth side up?
 
Thanks:) here's a pic of one of my home made strops. I used a peice of phenolic board scavenged from my old job and used double sided tape of the same width to attach the leather.
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I have had good luck with the cover on the phone book. It works fine without compound or I've added Mothers wheel polish.
 
jeffbear22 said:
I have used denim from old jeans some brands are finer than others and its free !
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I have a strop I built using a chunk of denim loaded with MAAS metal polish; it is stretched over a cut piece of maple hardwood flooring... :thumbup:

Strigamort said:
I use denem for stropping my 5 blade disposable razor heads. Makes them last 3-4 times as long.
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:eek: I gotta try this! :thumbup::thumbup:
 
10 swipes down my leg, 10 up.

I was actually recording how long a razor head lasted with stropping versus a baseline and the results were ridiculous. I'd *really* like to know which steel they use, and what hardness. I've been thinking about making a little device that has a belt that runs on batteries, but I'm terrible with that kind of thing. :(
 
One very cheap material for a strop is denim. The strop below is about 4 inches x 7 inches. One side is just denim and the other side has 0.5u stropping compound rubbed into it. Seems to work quite nicely for finishing the edge or maintaining a good edge. I actually like it better than my leather strops. One reason is that it is wider and it seems to work well with the compound. In any case, very easy to do and most people have old jeans lying around so not much of cost either.

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I use a strop I made, 2-sided (one side loaded with green, the other side white compounds) leather, I cut a piece of 1/2"MDF into a strip the width of the belt, 1 long). The only other difference is that I went and found a old worn out leather belt and used the "soft" (but very compressed with age/use) side of it. I started with a 1x1 fence rail that I carved a nice handle into but it was too heavy so I found the MDF and its a good combo of thickness/weight (but not to heavy) and can be cut to whatever width the belt is.

I tried one on a stir stick but I need the weight behind it or is doesn't feel right to me.

Stand Straight said:
except one I made for recurved blades. IMG]
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Man I'd love to see that one.
 
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