Thread: Made my own Balsa strop!

decided to make my first attempt at a homemade balsa stop last night... all in all I think it went very well...

first step was to pick up a couple of pieces of balsa wood from Michaels.... i can't remember the kind of wood I mounted the balsa to, but I basically just used some wood glue and left it overnight with some weights on it.... I kept the piece it is mounted to longer... as a hand grip

for the next step I just laid some 220 grit sandpaper on the countertop with a little bit of water to help it stick.... and passed the balsa wood over the sand paper until flat and smooth...

next I carved a 1/16 inch groove down the center of the balsa wood to separate it into two distinct sections...

the last step was to follow the instructions given with the poor man's balsa stop I ordered some time ago from Larry at Whipped dog....

I used a little bit of Johnson's baby oil as a pure mineral oil to mix the chromium oxide powder and iron oxide powder.... then I simply painted a couple of X's on the balsa wood with my finger tip....sprinkled a few drops of baby oil on the strop and spread the powder/pate around......

I would say the whole project took about an hour of actual work, at first I think I put too much of the paste on each side of the strop so I went back with paper towels and proceeded to wipe off a lot of the excess... haven't had a chance to try it yet but we'll see how it goes : )

Very nice job! I was wondering where to get balsa from- Michaels. Thanks for the heads up.

thanks! it is a bit pricey at Michaels but i was there with the wife and saw it in with the craft woods and such...they sort of stand it up in a rack...you can only see the tops so it's easy to miss...

i also got the wood for the backing in that same rack...it's a bit thicker and harder than the balsa...almost like a Baltic birch

HI,

I bought some balsa wood in this store: Tower Hobbies - Best Source for Radio Control ( R/C or RC ) Cars, Trucks, Airplanes, Boats and Helicopters.
I'm waiting now to come to the north of Norway. (i hope it comes in perfect conditions)

seems like even an online hobby and craft store would sell only the highest quality balsa...so it will hopefully be in good shape

I've tried balsa and felt both. Tend to like the felt with the powdered paste better. Any other feelings on balsa vs felt???

im still up in the sure on which i prefer, i picked up a modular paddle strop from SRD and a felt pad for it....then got some of their CrOx spray and it worked very well

I was looking at making something similar for use with chrome oxide.
What is the advantage, if any, of using balsa as opposed to a leather strop?

BTW, I too am having difficulty in deciding how much oxide to apply.
I use a cream and mix the co powder with it before applying to my strop.
Will a thick layer of co be a problem?
Looking at some google images of co strop, they seem to be completely green and
covered in the stuff. If I wipe of the excess the leather starts to show and I don't
know what's better, too much or too little

Thanks

I'm not sure if there is a specific advantage or disadvantage to the Balsa Vs Leather....but if you sand the Balsa wood down real nice it strops real smooth like leather.

i kind of went by the poor mans Balsa strop i got from larry at Whipped Dog when i made mine...tried to coat the balsa at about the same level he did....i started by drawing 3 X patterns on the balsa with the CrOx and spread it around....i wore some exam gloves which helped it spread ....

looking back i probably should have painted the X patterns, smoothed them out and not bothered to really coat the surface as I now realize that less is more haha

i have also read that applying too much CrOx or FeOx can dull your razor.

the good thing about Balsa is that you can wipe off all the excess with a towel or paper towel and the wood does not begin to show through like leather.

Using the powdered crox is a pain.
Has anyone tried the Dialux Vert or Dialux Rouge compounds for balsa strops?

Canning Compound | Dialux | Vonax | Carbrax | AA Rouge | Steelcut | Radio Rouge | Hyfin

Seems very cheap.
The red stuff is meant to be .1 micron.