Thread: Slots in a Paddle Strop

I have so many ideas and don't know how to put them on the computer...

If you want you wood strop to bend the best one I think I can describe quickly would be to steam and bend your oak to the desired arc and then glue the strop to it.

Interesting idea... then one would have the curve to it but still no give and flexibility, or am I misunderstanding?

Originally Posted by ppetresen

Interesting idea... then one would have the curve to it but still no give and flexibility, or am I misunderstanding?

But if I am not misunderstanding the idea of the flex is to give you the proper curve.

Why not build the curve into the strop?

I have been known to think random thoughts out loud.

Originally Posted by ppetresen

In preparation for making my own I've been looking at a few paddle strops and a fair number of them have slots, generally two, cut into the sides which supposedly give it some flex
......
Anyone with some experience or thoughts on this?

Sort of. I play with pasted wood strops from time to time.
I commonly use the thinnest plywood with a balsa or clean birch surface
and they do not flex very much at all.

They are light and easier to handle.

I also have some pasted leather on 8" oak that I use like a bench stone.

My thought is to take two thin 1/16"x3"x18" stropping surfaces and glue a handle and foot to them.
Then mark the grit and paste. 1 micron or less should do it.
CrOX is much more abrasive (and messy) than many give it credit for.

They seem to work for a "shaver" but cannot be lapped flat or rubbed clean under water
like an quality rock so honemasters discount them as finishers.

I made one about three foot long and with CrOx it does give a nice long polishing stroke
but is a pain to store and keep dust free. At three feet it only flexes a little with stropping or honing pressure.

My bias is weight and feel not flex.
Too much fun to not try...


Thin wood cups... I have taken my DMT and sanded some flater.
Solid 1/8" balsa can be sanded flat with a DMT or planed flat a couple times.
Common sand paper sheds grit so avoid it.

Originally Posted by 32t

But if I am not misunderstanding the idea of the flex is to give you the proper curve.

Why not build the curve into the strop?

I have been known to think random thoughts out loud.

It's not so much about the curve as the springiness. A padded strop pushes back as does thin wood. A curved strop would not do that.

Originally Posted by 32t

Oak is a strong wood. If you want your strop to bend why not make the whole strop thinner?

Following this, why not make the wood thinner and the leather thicker?

I think thicker leather would definitely work. In the description to a mini-paddle strop at The Classic Edge it says that "leather thick enough that slots were not needed." Such definitely implies that there are multiple ways to get the desired springiness. In my case, the leather (or fake leather) probably isn't thick enough.

Underlying thinner wood is key in my opinion. Like, really thin...

My father purchased a paddle strop from SRD and it has slots with zero give. Just added cost to the product.

I would go with niftyshaving's construction, two super thin pieces of wood sandwiching a handle and foot. It just seems way to difficult to cut a block thin enough to give the way it should.

Originally Posted by dinnermint

My father purchased a paddle strop from SRD and it has slots with zero give. Just added cost to the product.

I would go with niftyshaving's construction, two super thin pieces of wood sandwiching a handle and foot. It just seems way to difficult to cut a block thin enough to give the way it should.

The more I think about niftyshaving's suggestion the more I like it. Maybe something like milling out the main part of the paddle so I'm left with an area to make a handle, a thin/hollow centre section, and a full sized end, and then glue a very thing piece on top to give it the necessary flex.

With that said, I was experimenting with my tension strop tonight and even with very very little tension and I strop with such little pressure that even that resulted in almost zero give to the leather. Can one strop too lightly? If the leather doesn't flex even with no tension it's hard to imagine getting the wood thin enough that the give would be so noticeable.