Thread: Quick change balsa wood paddle strop

My first attempt at making a balsa strop, its a little bit rough but its a first attempt.

This is an idea for an easy replacement balsa wood paddle strop as all the other ones i have seen involved gluing down the balsa wood. To me that didn't seem practical due to how soft balsa wood is.

Once the balsa wood gets damaged or worn just remove it and replace it with ease, no sanding back, removing glue and risking damaging the paddle.

This was made from a solid piece of 80mm x 340mm x 19mm jarrah. I routed the initial grove and chiseled out the majority then finished it with a hand plane leveling the center, then sanded and applied a hard banishing oil.

The inner sides of the paddle has a slight bevel so when the balsa wood slides in to place it compresses slightly and sits in very tight so it wont move at all once in place (as you can see in the video).

All it needs is a quick lap, some CrOx and its all good for stropping!

I have searched through the forums and i haven't found a design like this, not saying there isn't one already but if there is i couldn't find it. If there is one like this let me know!

Hope you guys like it and get some ideas from it!