Making my own strop/bench strop

I have a nice big (15"x23") piece of leather I want to use to re-surface my paddle strop, and make one or two 3"x8" bench hones, which I will apply abrasive pastes. Any suggestions on which pastes to use? I currently use a norton 4k/8k, rough side of my paddle strop that has red "dusty" chalk, then the smooth side. While I get "defeated" by a razor every now and again, this has been a very good set up for me to get great edges on my razors. My thought is to put .5 and .25 micron diamond paste on the bench hones... or .5 green chromium oxide pasted and .25 micron diamond... let me know your thoughts.

My real questions are what should I use to cut the leather (will just a plain pair of scissors do, or should I use an exacto blade, etc.), and what type of glue/adhesive should I use?

thanks
Andrew

Andrew, I'll give you a couple of tips from my own project:
1) I cut the leather with a utility knife. Make sure you use a fresh blade for the leather cuts, it makes a HUGE difference.
2) For adhesive, we've had great results on 2 bench hones with regular contact cement. Make sure you apply it twice as the leather will absorb some. Once you mate the leather and the backing together, press down on them with a smooth surface and weigh it down (I used a granite tile that I use for hone lapping, with 2 cans of paint or 2 gallons of water over it) overnight.
3) For the backing, I'd use smooth granite, smooth marble, glass or MDF even though Dave's plywood backed bench hone seems to be working just fine. Tony M is worried about the wood warping after time. MDF's cheapest and easiest to work with.
4) Pastes.. I'm using the green 0.5mic CrO2 abrasive powder mixed with strop paste and nothing else.

I did pretty much what Ilija did on his bench hone.

Utility knife (new), contact cement and tonnes of weight (sandwiched mine between two hardback books with 4 paint tins on top) while the adhesive drys.

I used MDF as the backing, as it has no grain it will not warp.

I'm using a 0.5 chrome oxide paste supplied by the kind gentleman above.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bobbo

I'm using a 0.5 chrome oxide paste supplied by the kind gentleman above.

---

I am just sorry for not getting aroudn to it sooner. Let's just hope that CP and RM get it to your door... By the way I'm sure you'll recognize the hand-writing on the outer bag :D

for the contact cement, did you use a spray, or from a tube? thanks

Andrew

I used the tube stuff but I don't see any problems with using the spray stuff.. Actually it's probably better for this application.

should you have smooth side up or the back side