Thread: Type of Leather for a Strop

Hi all. I see many discussions on strops, stropping, the usefulness, and so on. My question has probably already been covered. What I am wondering is there a specific type of leather that works better than others?

I have some veg-tan leather that I use for making various leather pieces for another hobby (I am a middle ages re-creationist and make armor out of it). It is 7-8oz and 4-5oz. I was thinking of trying to make a portable hanging strop from it and was wondering if anyone thinks this is a bad idea.

Thanks!

Hello!

I've made a couple of strops myself, lately, but I'm not a reliable source of information... the leather I've used for the ones I made was cowhide or perhaps something that can be called calf, I'm not quite sure, though. In my own (very humble...) opinion and based on my (very limited...) experience the right choice would center itself on the smooth and supple leather or vegan leather... Tony Miller - considered to be THE strop maker - has some strops made of vegan leather so I figure that it works. Another thing you might have to consider is the coarseness of the leather and what kind of draw it will provide... I confess that I did no such thing and my strops are actually OK. To choose the leather for those I made I went leather-hunting with my Dovo strop and tried to find something that would be similar in suppleness and feel... But the final test is in stropping, I think. If you strop your blade propperly and it works, providing a shave that is smooth and doesn't pull, you've got yourself a strop and a fine one indeed.

My 2 cents...

I'm sure that pretty soon someone more experienced and more qualified will chime in and throw in some advice and expertise. Good luck!

Here is what Tony Miller,our resident strop make extrodinaire, says on the weight. I use Tony's horsehide/latigo to get the best of both worlds. Some prefer one over the other. Latigo (cowhide) gives more draw (resistance) and horsehide is more slick. I like to use both.

Cool, thanks! I will give it a try and see what I come out with .