Thread: Pasted Strops, any interest ?

I was making a few pasted trops for myself and was going to make some extras to offer on ebay, etc.... I have been doing woodwork as a sideline for a long time and have always had some small products to offer.

I was going to make up 1 1/2" x 10 - 12" wooden strops with a nice round handle. The 2 faces would have leather on them with a choice of finished top grain cowhide, top grain veg tanned (unfinished surface) or hard split (suede type) leather. I could put any 2 types a person wanted depending whether they wanted this as a hone substitute or a finishing strop. I could also do a 4 sided strop just like the old days. 1 1/2" wide on a each side with choice of 4 leathers.

For me these are easier to use than a hone or a Norton stone and could e used with a variety of pastes, diamond, Hand American green, TI white paste, Dovo tube pastes, the traditional red and black, etc....

Just thought I would incorporate any sugestions before forging ahead on what would suit me. Hopefully these would be in the mid $20 to mid $30 range depending on leathers and if 2 or 4 sided. I do like the TI paddles I had been using but wanted something a few inches longer and a little bit wider while still keeping it small enough to be easy to use.

Thanks,
Tony Miller

just me, but if it was as wide as the blade is long, it would be more preferred.

sam

Sam,
That is easy enough to do as well. I got a 3" wide piece of the Hand American leather and found at least for me, wider is not always better. I was using it as a hanging strop though not a flat.

Doesn't Hand American already make a pretty wide leather hone/strop though? I didn't really want to duplicate what was already out there. If there is interest in wide ones I can do that just as easily using a choice of leathers but simply gluing a wide piece of leather to a plain board is something most here could do for themselves.

I wanted to make a new version of a more traditional paddle strop but just a little longer and wider and nicely finished so it looks nice.

Tony

Just an observation. Several of the pieces of leather that I have used as a pasted strop have NOT! been of an even thickness. It becomes more pronounced as you apply the paste.

You would probably do well to rig up a jig thgat you can use to sand the rough portion of the leather to a uniform thickness. Something like the following.

Desired thickness 3/16"

take a flat board about 8"x24" and place the leather in the middle

Place two 2x24x3/16 pieces of wood or steel on each side of the leather. These will act as a depth gage.

use a sanding block with sandpaper and sand away until ther leather shows a uniform wear.

You get the idea I'm sure. It's just that my writing is lousy.

I just hate lumpy leather!

For flattening out strops that are a bit lumpy, I use a kitchen rolling pin on a strop that's placed on a solid flat surface. After applying a little of Fromm's conditioner, I roll the heck out of it applying lots of pressure. This seems to result in a really flat strop.

Hal

Randy,
I know exactly what you mean. Much of the top grain "skin on" leather varies in thickness quite a bit. Splits on the other hand, sanded rougher leather used on some pasted strops tends to be much more uniform due to the sanding process that removes the skin layer.

The sanding idea is a good one, as is simply being selective, something a large manufacturer can't take the time to do. I do think one advantge with the narrow strops is a lack of uniformity is not as significant as with a 3" wide piece.

Tony

I just posted photos of the first of the strops I am making in the my Gallery folder. This is a standard 2 sided paddle. I will also be making a more vintage style with the round handle in both 2 and 4 sided models. The prototypes are working well but I wanted to clean up the cosmetics a bit as on the one posted.

Tony

The strops look really nice! Good finish work. How much are you selling them for?

Randy,
$20 + postage. I can make longer ones at a slightly higher price. fancier versions, with round handles are about a week away in both 2 sided and 4 sided. They will run about $25-28 for 2 sided and $30-34 for 4 sided.

Tony