Will simple materials make an effective strop?

[jobasha11]

Here is one I made for recurves. Just a poplar dowel with leather from a binder wrapped and glued around it. Works great on my 710!

 

[waltmc]

I've been experimenting with hockey tape (athletic grip tape? for those not in hockey country). It's cheap and readily available at just about any place that sells athletic gear. It's about the same width as a piece of 1/4x2 trim wood (like oak or poplar), so there's not trimming involved. The texture of the cloth gives a little feedback as you're using it, so you can tell if you're getting to aggressive or if your angles are way off. It holds compound reasonably well, and when you use one up, just tear it off and start over. I'm not 100% sold that it beats leather or paper or any of the other options here, but it's been working pretty well. The only catch is that your board has to be flat--since the tape is so thin. If you put a few layers down it has the slightest bit of give. It's still in the testing phase, but seems to work reasonably well.

 

[Cereal_killer]

That sounds like a great idea, you could take the roll of tape and compound with you on hiking/camping trips to save weight and just find a flat piece of wood (like a picnic table) or whittle one when you stop for the night and need to touch up your blade.

 

[luke213]

Something I didn't see suggested is buy a belt blank from a leather supplier it will be raw without a finish or hardware but will be much cheaper and probably better quality than a cheap finished belt for strop material. Also check with anyone who builds leather items they likely have more scrap then they know what to do with that would be perfect for this type of thing.

Luke

 

[willc]

Simple materials do work, thanks to HeavyHanded on here I've come to appreciate stropping with paper :thumbup:

The Washboard plus copy paper and a bit of compound are how I finish off my knives most of the time now.
My edges are sharp and it is a very easy and cost effective system.

I will still use my Butz strop sometimes cause it is what I used for over 20 years and I get the occasional knife steel that just is easier with leather but for the most part I like to do finishing touches on paper now.