Buffed surface for leather. DIY?
I bought a few of the horse butt strips from Hand American. Enough to hopefully make a strop or two for myself and maybe an extra. Of course there is the "smooth side" and the "rough side".
I'm assuming the "rough" side is the side used when horsehide is buffed with a velvet finish?
I've never tried a pumice stone as it would seem to be that I would not get a perfectly even buffed surface. I recall someone had used a wood plane to shave off a small amount of the surface to get such a finish.
My ultimate question is, since I'm not going to go into the strop business....can such a nice velvet even finish be attained by using home tools or is such a finish achieved only by skilled artisans like Tony?
I could fashion these few strops using the smooth side to strop, but I have a buffed horsehide strop from Kenrup and I'm addicted to the velvet finish for stropping.
Thanks
Chris L