Thread: Kangaroo Leather Strop?

Ok so I had an idea earlier when I was thinking about my wallet that I bought on my first deployment in Australia. I got a Kangaroo Leather wallet there and it's still holding up now, the leather hasn't ripped or anything yet though the fabric inside is a little worse for wear. It's about 3 years old now as I got it in the summer of 2005. I'm sure some of you have way older wallets.

Anyhow kangaroo leather is more durable than regular leather and Australia has in the past about 16 years made it legal to kill roo's for their meat and skin.

It's red meat, my friend ordered some when we were there looks similar to steak.
So I thought what would a strop made of the stuff be like?

I did some google searches very briefly for the stuff and found a site that sells it here:
http://www.davidmorgan.com/product_i...oducts_id=1027

I did a little math and it would be more expensive than a regular strop to make one I'm sure. I measured out my TM Latigo strop and came up with roughly 36 square decimeters for the size of it which would cost about $70.20 for the leather alone - that's not including the 10% discount he offers if it were bought in bulk or shipping.

I'm sure there are probably other suppliers out there, I suppose my question at this point is how thick does the leather have to be in order to use it as a strop? It seems the roo leather is pretty thin, the stuff at the site above is the heavy stuff and measures 1 - 1.1mm in thickness. Would that be thick enough for a strop?

I've never made a strop but do people glue leather to some backing in the making of some hanging strops or is the strip entirely leather?

Seems to me 1mm is pretty thin but then measuring my TM strop is about 2mm thick and my dovo russian leather strop is about 3mm thick.

Any interest appreciated as I ponder the idea of putting some of that roo to work in a strop

Just thought I'd throw the idea out there.

Found another site that sells it a bit thicker, he advertises 1.4mm avg thickness...
http://www.montanaleather.com/kangaroo_hides.htm

I know it makes the best bull whips. THats bout all I know about it.

I (being in australia, and knowing leather workers) am currently investigating the option as we speak.. it's just taking time .. that's the only thing

The main issue with leather is getting something of the proper quality that won't wrinkle up after treating it. If you ask me Kangaroo leather would do just fine, provided you can find the quality and quantity you need.

As a side note, I have a 'roo leather hat, and it was around $45 AUD, so I can't imagine the leather is actually all that expensive. Kangaroo's are sort of pests down under anyway.

My supplier has it as well but it is just too thin and soft, at least in the form they supply. Surface quality is the big thing and varies from hide to hide.

Tony

Tony is right about the surface quality, however here in aus you can get kangaroo hide that is at least as thick as his travel strop - I know because I had motorbike gear made of it!, thing is, it is often more "soft" and not as stiff. I imagine you can treat it but I wouldn't know the details of that.