Thread: Linen Substitute....why?

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The material I have weighs 8.5 oz. I looked at my red imp strop and the linen part (which I consider to be premium) is actually built like a sock with a stiffening material in between.

This is true - the old guys were made from tubular webbing (24-oz/yard per side approx = 48 ounces/yard) plus a fill of cardex or whatever they called it back in the day; mylar sheet would probably do the job perfectly. Not sure how mylar thickness in mils equates to ounces/yard but I'd say some creditcard-thick mylar sheet would be perfect.

There are some weavers who make heavy fiberglass, Kevlar, Nomex and Spectra tubular webbing in 3" widths (mostly custom runs) but none to my knowledge use linen. I think you can still have it made in China.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Shoelaces would be synthetic though wouldn't they so burning them melts the fibres together whereas linen is a natural material so I doubt it would work. But it might be worth a go though as I am speculating.

Concur. In the last 35 years I have set afire, charred, dissolved or melted just about every commercial fiber known to man. Oddly enough, flax linen never made to a "TEST TO DESTRUCTION" event in my office or lab. I seriously doubt it would flash like cellulose (it has been used as clothing fabric too long for that outcome) but neither do I think you can fuse the raw edge with heat.

Trouble with raw edges (compared to selvage edges) is the fabric loses stability. Razor-whooping on linen with raw edges would probably open up the weave and allow the warp and fill to wander. No selvage edge or other type of stabilization sounds like a mechanical shortcoming for a strop.

I love textiles.

When (and if) i get some couche i'm thinking of doing Just what has been suggested, that is make a tube. the seem will be in the back so as not to interfere with stropping. the only draw back i can see is it will only be able to be used on the one side.but i can always make another if i want to apply paste or whatever.

If you make a sock with a seam in the back and used nylon webbing in the middle for added stiffness that should work nicely.

I'm thinking this. Take two sections of 24 inch long seat belt webbing and glue them together for rigidity. Spray both sides with 3M adhesive or wipe with rubber cement and wrap tightly with one or two layers of linen, allowing the back side to have a slight overlap or butt. That might make a fine and inexpensive one-sided linen strop.

I made this one from fabric store linen a while back.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/attachm...9&d=1394118781

I later just slipped a strip of poster board paper into the back to add stiffness. It worked great and was PIFed to a newbie who needed a linen. The edges were just left as cut and never did much unraveling.

This is a great thread.
For some time Ive been pondering, fabricating a linen strop for my Lipshaw Microtome strops, of which I have 5 units. Ive made a felt panel, photo below

but really want linen panels. My first obstacle was the material couldn't find the proper weight linen. I like the baker's Couche idea a lot. Just bought a Coche blanket and what I'll try to do is double up the thickness and sew the two ends together turn inside out and crimp the rivets. Will send photos once I get the blanket in and put together.
Once again great thread.

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

There are some weavers who make heavy fiberglass, Kevlar, Nomex and Spectra tubular webbing in 3" widths

I wonder how kevlar would work as a strop material ? I guess if it were worth the effort someone would've tried.

Trouble with raw edges (compared to selvage edges) is the fabric loses stability. Razor-whooping on linen with raw edges would probably open up the weave and allow the warp and fill to wander. No selvage edge or other type of stabilization sounds like a mechanical shortcoming for a strop.

How about gluing the very edge ? A thin layer just to seal the edge ?