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The latest installment on my DIY, improvised, inexpensive (redneck) shaving gear: the strop. For those of you just joining us, I have already done soap, aftershave, badger brush, and scuttle. Now the only thing left is the razor itself :eek:
The following pix were taken in a rush, so I apologize for the bad photography in advance. Most of the parts were purchased from a hardware store, the d-rings and leather is from Tandy. (I live near Ft. Worth)
the tools (except the headset), the finished strop
detail of d-ring, macro shot of leather grain
Conclusions:
1. you might notice there are a few sets of hole in the end of this thing. :shrug: apparently leather this thick is not very flexible, took some trial and error to find the right spacing.
2. notice the rougher grain of the leather. I took this into account, some mink oil is soaking in it right now, then I'm going to go after it with a pumice stone to see if that smooths it up a bit.
3. those d-rings are !@#$%^ heavy... next time find a better attachment. seriously, they feel like they weigh a pound and a half EACH.
4. final dimensions are 3" wide by almost 3' long... HUGE. won't have to do such a steep x-pattern anymore. (my old strop is 1.5" wide, some crappy thing that came with my col. conk set)
5. holes were made with a 3/16" drill. no hole punches would even dent this thing.
6. total cost per strop was about 25-30 bucks, not including tools. (I made 2)
7. as always, questions, comments and suggestions greatly appreciated!
You need a hammer driven punch set, tandy sells them for less than ten bucks, I'm betting you have th epliers type. The hammer driven ones are lots easier to use when punching saddle leather.
I also like pure Neatsfoot oil (tandy brand) for dressing the raw leather on a hanging or loom strop.
Good work!! :tu
yeah, I tried the plier ones at the Tandy shop and they didn't do squat, I'll look into one you hammer. thanksQuote:
Originally Posted by Wildtim
Tandy? I was told they stopped doing business years ago. After reading your post, I looked them up online and lo and behold, they're all over the place! Thank you for mentioning them!
yeah, they're still around, but after the customer service experience I had with them, I'll never be doing business with them again. I can't recommend it.Quote:
Originally Posted by leadduck
I've never ordered through their website so I can't comment on that.
Their stores are fairly loosely franchised so your experience will vary depending upon the owner of the store you go to and their intrests. The one nearest me is heavily into figural carving and making som incredible art there they are truely experts. Ask them about the more practicle things like holster or saddle construction and you are on your own.
yeah, the one south of ft. worth that i went to had some kind of leather carving museum attached to it, pretty amazing stuff, indeed. still can't recommend it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildtim
You know what ? I realy like you cuz you keep searching and exploring for new stuff.I bought my lantigo few weeks ago,im going to do my strop too...nothing wrong with that.
Keep searching and posting any new "redneck" invention..:tu
RPR.
should go to a dive shop in the area. most of them carry d-rings that us divers used to attach to our gear to attach MORE gear via clips. they are like ~3 bucks each for a big dee ring and pretty light and SS
D Rings???!!! I thought they were replaced by safety release buckles long before I stopped diving (25+years ago.) I guess like straight razors, some things never die.
Nice work. I've been thinking about that too. I don't know anything about these guys but they have pretty low-priced leather straps:
http://www.eleatherworks.com/product...cat=648&page=1
I just went to make a purchase at eleatherworks.com - but changed my mind; they charge $13 shipping which almost doubles the price. Guess I'll look for a local Tandy store.Quote:
Originally Posted by clrobert60
on a side note, after several cycles of sanding with a pumice stone and then applying mink oil, the leather is very supple, but not 100% "flat" on the top surface...
does anybody know a method or treatment that remedies this?
Great post Jockeys! Somehow, the final product looks EXACTLY (I even have the same cheap-but-huge D-rings!) like my redneck strops I made from Tandy Leather supplies and brought to the last Texas Get-Together.....I smell a rat.... :) Nah, very cool to post for the community. I've been using one of these strops with paste and one with raw leather for a year now and they work great. I went to the same store as you did and had pretty good service, too, so maybe you just got stuck with the guy they meant to fire the day before you arrived. Oh well. I found that I prefered to use little to no oil on mine as the draw gets pretty sticky and firm with (mink) oil on it. Also, I like using the rough side of the leather, too. Works for paste or plain, too. Great job!
BTW if you're really goin' redneck, you twist yer damn pocket knife in the leather to make yer holes - like I did :w