Thread: 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