Thread: What makes a strop

In my never ending quest to over analyze and understand everything I do, I have a few questions for those more knowledgeable than I.

What makes a strop different from your run of the mill piece of leather?

I understand that certain materials, like horsehide, are seemingly preferred over others. But when it comes to regular old leather of the moo cow variety, what differentiates a strop, making it better? Other than the workmanship, the various notions that are used (D ring versus thong versus swivel clip), handles, etc. - which are sort of a given, that is. If one were to find a 2.5" genuine leather belt, or get a strip of leather from a leather shop like Tandy, what makes those any better or worse than say, a Tony Miller strop (other than the fact that the TM strops are beautifully made AND functional) or one of the Illinois strops? If it's simply a matter of raw material vs. finished product, I totally understand that. Just because my fiance went to fashion design school and knows how to make a suit jacket, and the materials are easy enough to come by, doesn't mean I get her to make my clothes - time and desire are factors, and I'd rather go to the men's store and buy one than have her devote the time to sewing one, simply for the sake of convenience. But I recognize that materials that make up the suit I buy are not in essence superior to the materials we could simply buy and assemble, and that I'm paying for the privilege and convenience of having someone else do the work for me. Is it the same thing when it comes to strops?

So to sum up my ramblings, is the difference between a leather belt you could get at the store on the cheap, a strip of raw leather you could get from the leather supplier, or a completed leather strop from a strop maker different only in the fact that they are tailored with details for specific use, or is there another variable that makes one better than the other?

You certainly can buy a suitable strip of cowhide from Tandy and make your own strop. I use my home made strops in both cowhide and horsehide exclusively now.

Off the top of my head, the differences you may find in a strip of belt leather from Tandy vs. an artisan made strop are:

• Surface finish. Unfinished veg tanned belt leather strips are just that. Unfinished. Latigo leather has a different surface than unfinished leather. I sand my unfinished leather with varying grits of sandpaper to get a nubuck finish on the grain side and a velvet finish on the flesh side.
• Suppleness. Vintage shell strops, the very thick ones if you've ever had the opportunity to own one or examine them in person were supple even for being so thick. A comparably thick unfinished cowhide strip can vary from being significantly more inflexible to almost rigid. I've spliced the ends of cowhide strips, glued them with Barge Cement and clamped them together to form a belt. Then I've put the joined belt on my 2" x 72" abrasive belt grinder and I've run the grinder for approx 10 minutes, flipping the belt inside out and running it again for about that long. I'm not sanding the belt on the grinder, mind you, I'm using the the grinder as a tool to run the "belt" at a high speed over tension on the rollers for thousands of revolutions. That softens the thick leather considerably without lifting a finger. The thick leather after this goes from stiff to more like a wet spaghetti noodle.
• Aesthetics. Blemishes, scars, fat wrinkles are ubiquitous to leather. It's a challenge to find a strip that is flawless in all aspects.

Chris L

Other than a few unusual materials one could duplicate anything I, SRD, Hand American or Kenrup makes. We each have a few different materials under our belts, horsehide, cordovan, bridle leathers, buffalo, etc.... You need a certain level of skill in cutting, finishing etc... Access to the hardware used, etc.....Some of us do certain steps to break in leather etc...trade secrets if you will. This we learned by using and making strops.

Materials though is what makes it harder. Unless you can walk into a leather supplier you take a chance on ordering a belt blank. I know my local Tandy has latigo blanks for belts ranging from pretty nice looking to completely unusable for strops.....which one will you get if mail ordered?

What you buy, when you buy from one of the mentioned dealers, is workmanship and the sellers judgement of what will be acceptable and what will not. You know you will get a near perfect strop, if it is not you know the dealer will make it right and in most cases if some issue develops in a week or two the dealer will still stand behind it.

If you have skill and access to materials you can make what we make, no problem. What you buy from us is our experience and discernment in what we sell. Any of the mentioned dealers and our UK counterparts pretty much follow these same standards of service and care.

Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Other than a few unusual materials one could duplicate anything I, SRD, Hand American or Kenrup makes. We each have a few different materials under our belts, horsehide, cordovan, bridle leathers, buffalo, etc.... You need a certain level of skill in cutting, finishing etc... Access to the hardware used, etc.....Some of us do certain steps to break in leather etc...trade secrets if you will. This we learned by using and making strops.

Materials though is what makes it harder. Unless you can walk into a leather supplier you take a chance on ordering a belt blank. I know my local Tandy has latigo blanks for belts ranging from pretty nice looking to completely unusable for strops.....which one will you get if mail ordered?

What you buy, when you buy from one of the mentioned dealers, is workmanship and the sellers judgement of what will be acceptable and what will not. You know you will get a near perfect strop, if it is not you know the dealer will make it right and in most cases if some issue develops in a week or two the dealer will still stand behind it.

If you have skill and access to materials you can make what we make, no problem. What you buy from us is our experience and discernment in what we sell. Any of the mentioned dealers and our UK counterparts pretty much follow these same standards of service and care.

Tony

It's this that is the difficult part. I bought a belt blank from Tandy just because it was considered scrap (it was cut into two pieces) and was so cheap. I looked over the larger piece (the one I'm using to try to make a strop) and it seemed good to me. However, I'm not sure if I have the expertise to make that judgement call.

When I looked at other blanks they all seemed good to me. Either I hit the miracle Tandy Leather shop with all good blanks or I just don't know what to look for when checking such things. I'm guessing it's the latter of the two.

Anyway, it's still fun to play with. Hopefully I'll figure something out and make a half-way decent strop in the long run. At this point in time it's pretty much just a strip of leather with D-rings that needs to be worked into a usable finish.

If all else fails I have a couple of D-rings that can be re-used on the next attempt.

At the Tandy store I've been to, I would say 75% of the belt blanks were uniform in surface and very usable as a strop material. Most were flawless. They wanted quite a bit for them, I think $18 each IIRC. Given that you can make two strops out of them, I guess that's not that bad.

As Tony has mentioned, I also would not want to blindly order a belt blank rather than personally select the blank/s I would use.

Chris L

At the store I hit in SD it was more around $23 if you averaged cow vs. latigo with latigo being the higher priced stuff.

That's why I picked up the cow hide 'scrap' blank to practice on. I was going to cut it anyway, might as well just pay $0.06 / oz. for a smaller strip.

However, it's this sort of research and re-learning that makes me wish I had paid attention in middle school shop classes where we worked on leather, wood, and what not.

Thank you, kind sirs, for your responses. All the info you provided is awesomely helpful, and in the end the thought that yes, the materials are basically the same but that the strop makers have the experience to hand pick the raw materials that would best suit the job makes total sense. Again, I have no qualms about paying for the convenience of having someone more knowledgeable do the work for me, plus I'm a firm believer in supporting the small business craftsmen so that they can continue to perfect their art.

What with all the other little projects on my plate, including the final plans for my wedding that's a month away, I'm not looking to try my hand at making a strop anytime soon. But at least now I know that a good strop is not so much about some magic material that the average person can't get their hands on as it is a skilled person using materials properly - and making it look good takes a big of art as well.

A strop maker.

Originally Posted by silentorpheus

What with all the other little projects on my plate, including the final plans for my wedding that's a month away, I'm not looking to try my hand at making a strop anytime soon. But at least now I know that a good strop is not so much about some magic material that the average person can't get their hands on as it is a skilled person using materials properly - and making it look good takes a big of art as well.

I say don't be intimidated by this project. There are instructions on how to make a simple strop posted on this site that require few tools and no particular skill. If you're concerned about material quality give these folks a call:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...g8zHH6oH-puHwg

Zack White's puts Tandy to shame for quality, selection, price, and most of the staff are experienced leatherworkers with decades of experience. They also ship FAST and their customer service is peerless. You can call them up tomorrow and tell them what you're trying to accomplish and they'll cheerfully make suggestions on materials to use and even hand-pick material off the racks to suit your needs. I've been using them for almost 10 years now and have had nothing but good experiences with them.

Of course if you're on the market for a really nice looking strop, you're going to be better served buying from one of these fine gentlemen, but if all you're after is functionality it might be worth your time to give simple leatherworking a try.

What I'd really like to see here is a discussion of the relative merits of say Latigo vs cow hide and how different finishes relate to strop characteristics. Anyone?

A strop make could say better than I, but a quick and dirty answer would be "draw, surface, and supple-ness" A napped/slightly sueded finish increase draw vs. a smooth surface, certain leathers have different draws (latigo>horse hide) and different weights/types of leather have different suppleness (see ChrisL's post...). It was hard for me to understand until I asked strop makers to send me off-cuts from their strops and then I could clearly see/feel the difference.