Thread: What makes good strop leather?

I made this one last year from a Tandy Leather strip I picked out at a Tandy Leather store. This strop included the Hand American hard felt I purchased from Keith in April of 2008 along with some horse butt strips.

Cowhide strop Barber Style end

Grain side after sanding. I ran three fingers down the surface which shows the silky surface.

Grain side close up. Very uniform.

Flesh side. No matter how fine you sand, the flesh side IME will have more of a knap to it. Still it's smooth enough where I can absolutely use this side alone as my pre-shave strop.

Chris L