Thread: Affordable Strop Alternatives

Hey all, this is only for those who are cost conscious, as I am forced to be while trying to get my business off the ground. I highly recommend getting a strop that's made properly to begin with if you can afford it. But for the rest of us poor blokes here's what I did in an emergency.

PROBLEM:
The belt I've been using for stropping finally gave way. I've been putting off buying one due to budget issues but this required action.

I can't really afford to wait for one to arrive by mail since I'm trying to bid/win some important work and need to look my best every day for the next couple weeks.

A few of the Antique stores around here have some well used 1960's strops they want more for than tony's beautiful new strops so that wasn't an option.

SOLUTION:
I stopped off at the local shoe/leatherworks repair shop where he cut me 2 strips 3"X30" pulling (sp?) leather for 9 bucks. That was the minimum quantity he could sell and it put it in a length that gave me enough leather to design and cut a handle of sorts on the bottom. I punched 2 holes in the top , put a grommet in each and secured it with shoe lace. I conditioned it with some lexol leather conditioner and tomorrow I'll take a pic and post it.

For a grand total of 9.60 USD and some elbow grease I have 2 strops. Leather conditioner is something I keep so I didn't factor that into the cost. Once again, I firmly suggest getting something properly made when you can afford it but I was under both a budget and time crunch (I needed it today).

I don't have the canvas on it but I've come to believe that's primarily a friction thing utilized to warm the steel before the real stropping (could be wrong). I can do that with hot tap water and a towel dab If I feel the need.

Necessity IS the mother of invention! Great job!

RT

Hey! Nice inventiveness!

Another option would be to go to a Goodwill or Salvation Army store and buy a used leather belt.

BTW, a piece of linen would be advantageous. There have been numerous long threads on the utilityof linen and the general consensus is that the linen works much the same magic as a leather strop but on a coarser level.
Cleans the razors edge, re-aligns the fin, and imparts a bit of abrasion.

Good luck on your business venture!

Originally Posted by randydance062449

There have been numerous long threads on the utilityof linen and the general consensus is that the linen works much the same magic as a leather strop but on a coarser level.

Hey, Randy . . . Should we be including the number of linen passes and leather passes in the total number of stropping? What I mean is, if say, 30 passes on the strop are considered optimum, would that be 10 linen passes plus 20 leather passes, or is the linen just a suplement?

Originally Posted by randydance062449

BTW, a piece of linen would be advantageous. There have been numerous long threads on the utilityof linen and the general consensus is that the linen works much the same magic as a leather strop but on a coarser level.
Cleans the razors edge, re-aligns the fin, and imparts a bit of abrasion.

Well after reading this I figured I'd better find some linen. I found some really good sturdy cotton "canvas" that's slightly thicker than a quarter coin at a local awning/fabricator shop today. The roll had been in his shop for some time. He cut me 2 strips from it. I had to scrub them pretty good to get the dust off them but now they look just like the linen on the better made strops. I took the grommets out and am waiting for the linen to dry. I'm going to sew each side with some heavy duty cotton thread to prevent the cuts from unravelling and will hook it in with the grommets. I cut the strop handle off with a bit of a lip and will sew this onto the linen and remake the handle for the leather side. I'll pic and post when it's done.

I'm up to almost 13.00 total for both strops now but I guess it's still cheaper than the 50 plus at the local antique shops for just one.

I use 20-30 on the linen followed by 25-35 on the plain leather strop.

BTW, some people never use the linen, other swear by it. Give it a fair trial and see which you prefer.

Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by xman

Hey, Randy . . . Should we be including the number of linen passes and leather passes in the total number of stropping? What I mean is, if say, 30 passes on the strop are considered optimum, would that be 10 linen passes plus 20 leather passes, or is the linen just a suplement?

Ok, here's a couple pics that I hope are good enough to see and low rez enough to make it on here. the leather is still discolored because I redressed it after all the handling today. I didn't add the shoe lace back yet but the idea is to run it through the grommets, double looped, and hang it on the hook in the bath room.

I still have refining work as you can see.


I have to trim all the "fuzz" off and smooth the leather edges.



When I went back to add the linen I realized the strip was longer than 30", so that gave extra lead way that I used to make a 2nd handle for the linen side.

All sewing is done by hand with an antique sewing awl, looping one stitch at a time. I know it's rough looking but it's very sturdy.

Since the widest area in the leather was 3 inches I didn't waste any leather in order to square the sides. I figured I'm not selling it so I'm not concerned with it being perfectly square. The linen is a very heavy cotton canvas/duck cloth that's slightly thicker than a quarter

Like I said, it's a good alternative when under budget and time cruches like I am and I'm proud considering this is my first major hand sewn leather item

Looks plenty good to me!