Thread: Leather weight & Thickness questions

I'm know very little about leather. I know 8-9 oz Veg Tanned cowhide would be thicker naturally than 6-7oz. I'm pretty sure the red latigo Tony uses is 7-8oz which is thicker than a horsehide strop I have from Kenrup but..... Here's my question:...

Why aren't recently manufactured strops even heavier and thicker than that? Is it lack of availability? Recently one of my town barbers showed me his barber school 1955 issue hanging strop. Shell. That beauty I'm telling you is 1/4" thick.

Is mammoth thick veg tanned leather available anywhere? I'd like a strop, even if I had to make it that would last me 50 years and go CLUNK if I dropped it on the ground.

Man does that barber have a beautiful strop.

Chris L

Heavier leather is typically less pliable. You can buy Latigo up to 10-11oz or so today but the tannery will send it rolled and in never wants to lay flat again. I have also found any small surface imperfectiong tend to flatten out under the pressure of stropping with thinner leather, not so much with heavier, resulting in less contact area.

I'll use a slightly heavier grade on Apprentice Strops as having no canvas or linen behind them the extra thickness of the leather helps stiffen them a bit.

There is quite a bit ov variation too depending where you buy. Some 6-7 or 8-9 will come in a full ounce heavier or lighter depending on the supplier.

I've made 10oz strops before but never liked how they lay.

Tony

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience, Tony. I appreciate it! It makes sense. And, that dreamy 50+ year old shell strop from the old barber in my town had decades to become as supple as the strops I have that are half the thickness.

Chris L

Chrisl,
Back "in the day" the maker of your strop probably had his leather specially tanned to a nice supple feel. Or the ages and use have done a wealth of breaking in to chieve the nice feel you have now.

It is quite possible with a lot of breaking in work the newer leather could become just as supple. I find though the more supple latigo hide also have the softest surface and may not always hold up over time. I discard a lot of leather like that or make my $6.50 practice strops from it.

Tony

Tony,

Have two of your beautiful strops and they really are a really nice product. Bet no one does it better than you and if they did we probably couldn't stand it.

I have a Double Duck model 50 Horsehide strop marked extra heavy and it is one of those really thick strops. It is really something to behold. Its probably from the 1950s or before and when I got it was in really clean shape. Its a real pleasure to use.

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Chrisl,
Back "in the day" the maker of your strop probably had his leather specially tanned to a nice supple feel. Or the ages and use have done a wealth of breaking in to chieve the nice feel you have now.

It is quite possible with a lot of breaking in work the newer leather could become just as supple. I find though the more supple latigo hide also have the softest surface and may not always hold up over time. I discard a lot of leather like that or make my $6.50 practice strops from it.

Tony

I reread my original post and I erred gramatically; rather than say the strop FROM the local barber, I should have said the strop AT the local barber. This mistakenly gave the impression that I got that strop from the barber. I only wish! He said he'd never give it up (he's in 70's now and hasn't used that strop professionally for well over a decade) because of the memories it holds for him. I told him undeniably that I didn't blame him a bit and would never even think about trying to wrangle it out of him.

Chris L