Thread: Best leather type for bench strop?

Hello Gents,

I'm thinking of making a 8"/10" x 3" leather bench strop with a 1" MDF base. Contemplating 2 separate strops or maybe a combo with 1.0m and 0.5m diamond pastes.

So I'm looking for some info as to what type of leather I should get.

From what I gather from reading previous posts, I should be looking for hide cut from the neck or rump (cow or horse) that is vegetable tanned. Does this sound correct.

As for leather thickness I have no clue. Any suggestions?

Does anyone know where I could pick-up some suitable leather online? and what sort of price I should be looking at?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

tony used to make these. i have one and its fantastic. i have honeybrown/honeybrown leather both sides for 1.0 and 0.5 pastes. now i don't know if he uses honeybrown anymore. he has his latigo and smooth tan's.

call him on the phone and talk to him about what you are looking for. if you look on his site (http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.com/) you'll see his paddle strops. down towards the bottom you'll see the bigger 10x 3 1/4 ones. thats the one im talking about. he has since put handles on them, mine does not have a handle which probably kept the cost down a bit. he has them listed at 42$ i think i paid 24 back around xmas but it was just the main body without the added fancy hardware and i pasted mine myself as i had the amplex.

and he can paste them for you also. the first pasting of a paddle takes the most amount of diamond/chromium compound as the leather really sucks it in. so having him paste it for ya might be a good way to go.

to sum it up, call tony and talk with him. i know sometimes poeple think its weird calling vendors but pick up the fone and do it. he's great to talk with and will work with ya to make what you want. i've always thought paying an extra few buck for what you want instead of spending hours upon hours making it was OK. unless its a labour of love, my time is more valuable then a few bucks. but thats me.

~J

If you are going to make one for applying pastes to a natural, vegtable tanned leather is best. Types with painted on coatings or sealers would let it absorb the pastes and they will quickly wear off the surface. On a bench hone or paddle thickness is not an issue as the wod or MDF provides the stiffness and the leather is just there as a holder for the paste. For this application sides or rump areas are fine. The neck area is usually filled with wrinkles and is discarded in my shop or becomes the $5 practice strops. Maybe a local saddle shop could provide a few scraps for you.

JScott is describing my MDF Bench Strops I used to make. These were MDF and very basic, really just a workshop tool, hence the low $20 something prices. The $40 soemthing paddles are from finished hardwoods with handles and have a lot more labor in them.

The bench strops may be back in a more refined form shortly but probably not in MDF because of the health risks associated with cutting and sanding this material, not to mention the pure mess it makes in the shop <g>

Tony

Tony