Thread: Leather - leather strops

I found some double leather strops the other day in some local antique shops. No linnen side. One for sharpening the other for finishing. Are these type of stops good? Is it better to get a standard leather/linnen strop?

I wouldn't say "better". It's just a different style. I don't know what kind of an abrasive they have on one of the leathers. Unless they're $10 and under, I wouldn't bother finding out.

Usually these have some sort of red paste, likely red rouge (iron oxide?) on one component, less often I have seen a black paste. They are a very mild abrasive and were probably used less frequently than the plain leather side.


One can use abrasive pastes on a hanging strop but you would need to be much more careful about rounding over the edge if the strop sags at all.

Tony