Hey all,
So I found that my Dad had rolls of old seatbelt material, and decided to try to make a linen-like strop out of them! I found 2 types of seatbelt material, both black, that differed in texture. One is more smooth to the touch while the other is more textured. So I found some hardware that I could use to make my strop.
The hardware I used was:
2 D-rings
8 rivot-like screws
2 caribiners
I cut out the length that I wanted from both the materials, taking into account the amount I would need to fold over each end to fasten the D-rings into place. Then I cut little notches out of each end after folding the material over on itself, this was to fit the D-rings nicely as they were shorter than the width of the strop. I then heat sealed all of the cut edges with a lighter so they wouldn't fray.
My Dad helped me put in the holes and attached the screws/fasteners into the material, and for that we used a soldering iron. We basically melted holes into the materials, put the D-ring into place, and shoved in the fasteners while it was still hot and semi-melted. After doing this for both ends, I realized that the D-ring was a bit loose so we put some hot glue inside the ends, between the D-ring and the fasteners, and then clamped it down. This made the handles very secure.
It's a little awkward attaching a D-ring to anything while stropping, since it would slip, so I made a little attachement to the top end. It's basically just a little piece of seatbelt material folded around the top D-ring, fastened into place with a hole melted in the middle for a caribiner to go through. I have it hooked onto another caribiner on my towel rack, and voila, my own home-made seatbelt strop.
Here are the pictures of the finished product. I think it looks pretty good for a make-shift/experimental strop! The first picture is of the smoother side, and the second of the slightly more textured side. I like the smoother side more, but they're both very nice to strop on. It looks like the top fasteners in the first picture are at an angle, but it's just because the strop is a bit twisted in the picture. :p
I haven't shaved with an edge stropped on this, but it honestly feels very similar to the linen back on my old Illinois strop. :)
I'm happy with the result, and it was something that was certainly fun doing.
