Thread: How To Make a (Very) Home-made Strop: A life in pictures.

I've have a bunch of left over leather... I was going to just use some as my strop. Do I have to use Strop Dressing? Do I strop the blade on the smooth side of the leather, or the "sueded" side? Thanks, Noob here - this is my first post.

Great tutorial, very detailed, awesome results. I think I'd do it the lazy way, and just fold the ends over to hold the hardware.

Thanks! This is extremely interesting. How does the Roo Strop compare to a horsehide or similar? Nice job!

Originally Posted by STR8CUT

I've have a bunch of left over leather... I was going to just use some as my strop. Do I have to use Strop Dressing? Do I strop the blade on the smooth side of the leather, or the "sueded" side? Thanks, Noob here - this is my first post.

Great tutorial, very detailed, awesome results. I think I'd do it the lazy way, and just fold the ends over to hold the hardware.

Welcome to SRP. Most strop their razors on the smooth side of the leather although there have been experiments with roughing up the smooth side and some folks like that. Personally I don't use any dressing on my strop. I follow the recommendation of rubbing the strop with the palm of my hand fairly often and let the skin oil work on it. If you use neatsfoot or something like that a little goes a very long way. Abrasive pastes are usually on a different strop dedicated for that purpose. Not on your regular strop. You will find all that info and more in the SRP Wiki here . There are tutorials on all things straight razor related as well as a lot of eye candy in the straight razor data base.

Pretty awesome Jimbo! and you say your workmanship is shoddy! pssh That strop came out great! The pictures really gave a good idea on how you did things. Anyhow very impressive.

Cheers,

- Tam -

Originally Posted by mbhodges

Thanks! This is extremely interesting. How does the Roo Strop compare to a horsehide or similar? Nice job!

I think it compares fairly well. It is thinner, and that can be slightly disconcerting to begin with. But it is strong for its weight. It has a slick feel to it when stropping, but also a noticeable draw.

James.

I liked the rivet part especially, I'd wondered how you put those in.

Something that worked for me pretty well was a carpet knife, the kind that looks like a hooked birds bill. If you decide to make more strops you might experiment with using one if you feel the need. It seemed to cut the thick leather better, and it didn't want to jump out of the cut or off at an angle nearly as much as an exacto knife or box cutter and it had a better feel. It also let you retrace your cut pretty easily if you didn't get all the way through the first time.

Cheers Pete! The carpet knife sounds good actually. I think I have gotten away with the Stanley knife because the roo leather is so thin, but there have been times where it has not cut through all the way. Thanks for the tip!

James.

Originally Posted by STR8CUT

I've have a bunch of left over leather... I was going to just use some as my strop. Do I have to use Strop Dressing? Do I strop the blade on the smooth side of the leather, or the "sueded" side? Thanks, Noob here - this is my first post.

Great tutorial, very detailed, awesome results. I think I'd do it the lazy way, and just fold the ends over to hold the hardware.

You use the smooth side of the leather for your daily stropping. The strop will dry out over a period of time unless you do something to keep the oil content up. Some guys rub the leather with their hand before each use and they have had good success. I use neatsfoot oil or mink oil. Be sure to treat both the front & back side of the strop, also the edges.

Read the links that JimmyHAD gave you.

Hope this helps,

They are watching your Jimbo...

That was a great tutorial. I will not be making any strops but it is nice to see instructions on how it is done.