Thread: kangaroo

I was looking into this to see what the possibilities might be. The average Roo hide that I could find is under 3oz. which is pretty thin and although the one I have was fitted to my strop, for the masses, it would seem like these might need to be put on some sort of backing. I have seen this done with some of the vintage strops and will explore it a little further. This is pretty good stuff for sure. Looks like Falconry is a big use for the Roo hides. They make the masks from it.

Lynn

Bonding leather for strops does not alwaays work too well as the two surfaces flexing against each other (even though they are glued) tend to want to break down. I've done a few suede/suede ones on order but do not like the idea as one cannot tell how long they will hold up in use without delaminating.

I would think that unless the hide exhibits some special characteristic not found in thicker choices it is not worth the extra effort to make it into something it is not.

Tony

I have an old C-Mon Deluxe Genuine Shell where the shell is very thin (1/16 inch) and it has been bonded to almost a hard foam type substance. The strop is extremely durable and I have honed hundreds of razors on it without problem. It is a very well made tool.

Lynn

I was also wondering about the possibility of somehow bonding it but did not know what to use to overcome the problem Tony raised. Then I thought, perhaps just attaching it as a second piece of leather, to a cow or horse hide strop instead of a linen side, for example?

Pulled tight (in normal stropping mode), I wonder whether the other, thicker, leather might not provide a decent base or backing?

I honestly do not know if the kangaroo leather possesses stropping properties over and above other types of leather, as I have not tried a lot of other types of leather. Cow and Horse is my limit. I do know that it is among the strongest leathers because it has a very fine and uniform grain. I would hazard a guess that my <1mm thick piece is at least as strong as a >5mm piece of cowhide, but that is really a guess.

I would also add that I personally do not find the thickness an issue at all. I mean, I did initially, but after a few weeks with my very home made roo strop I do not even notice it any more. This is maybe because I made mine double-sided (2 bits of leather back to back), whereas I only sent Lynn a single piece. I really do not know.

Not being a vendor myself, I am hesitant to add my 2 cents here, but I will anyway The roo leather strops well enough to justify its use in a strop I think. It is certainly no worse than cow or horse strops I have used. In addition, Kangaroo leather has a reputation in certain circles of being great leather (maybe even the best) for boots, whips, etc. In the general population Kangaroo itself is, I imagine, an attractive and almost exotic animal (although not to us Aussies, who tend to view them as over-sized rats ). I do not see why you could not move units by taking advantage of those perceptions. Plus, it does work of course.

James.

I received one of these strops (Thank you James!!) I can't really attest to the durability of it, yet, I'll know more in about 20 years, but as far as I can tell it is strong. It is thin, but pulled taught it doesn't seem to make a difference to me when stropping. I don't see why it wouldn't work just fine as is?

My comments on bonding and the strength of said bond over time are based on my cautious approach to marketing anything. Some glues work, some don't when flexed over time. Different thicknesses of leather and different stiffnesses will react differently. I approach much of this from my career in engineeering as opposed to just a user. Everything has been done at some point, the key is in how much work and experimentation it actually took to do it and have it work.

I was simply saying that unless I saw a true advantage to this material or I had good access to it over the more commonly used leather I'm not sure it would be worth the extra effort to back it up to make it thicker. I'd say use it as is. I was in no way saying it can't be done or is not a good leather.

There are a few interesting leathers out there once used in strops but today only available in paper thin hides. Not sure if kangaroo was used in the past but it does have all the right traits. Pigskin was once used too but again today is mainly used for lining women's purses and is very thin.

Tony

Just so happens I have a nice pigskin strop too..........

Whatever bond they used on the C-Mon, must have worked well because that strop is over 50 years old, easy. The Roo works very well on it's own, but the thinness just takes getting used to. Some people let the leather hang down on a hanging strop and just use the linen, while I prefer to hold both strops and have the linen backed up by the leather.

This is definitely a very personal sport, but it could be fun to see what would happen to bond the Roo to something.

Have fun,

Lynn

Now being the proud owner of a JimboRoo strop, too, I cannot commend it highly enough. Yes, it is a bit on the thin side, but when pulled tight, it just works like a charm. All my blades love it.

Thank you, Jimbo!

On the subject of leather adhesive, a friend of mine who plays bagpipes gives me his old leather bladder/bellows every few years, these things are usually glued only, no stitching, the glue is exceptionally strong and flexible, strong enough to support a lot of squeezing and a very stiff oversized waterproof zip, they cope ok with moisture. I couldnt seperate the glued seams by any means. Might be worth investigating what glue the top end pipe bag makers use if anyone wants to try a glued strop.

Hey Jimbo,

Do you have an update on how these strops are going?

Being a fellow Brisbanite, kangaroo is quite appealing.