New experiments.

[Flanny]

I've had a heck of a time finding 3 inch wide strap material that would work well for linen. I hope I've found a good set now. The Manufacturer sent me enough to make 2 test strops with and have a small amount left over.

The material made me decide to go with sewing it onto the leather before riveting anything. This led to a tough decision. I could make 2 strops and get them into testing as fast as possible, potentially making mistakes in sewing and having to correct this on future strops, or experiment with sewing first and have a delay on the strops.

Though I am very patient when working on something, that doesn't always extend to other decisions so I decided to go ahead and try sewing without much practice (not much of a practice piece left after cutting the material for the 2 strops).

The first thing I noticed was the pressure foot left huge marks in the leather. The 2nd was that this was so thick that even the walking foot machine had a tendancy to go crooked when sewing with the pedal.

My wife decided I was worthless and sewed one side of the 2nd strop and but quit after I got upset when she curled the strop into a roll to push it past the throat of the machine. I finished the 2nd side of the 2nd strop by manually turning the machine and feeding the material by hand. This worked best.

I had put tape on the 2nd strop where the walking foot would hit it and this helped for the most part but then took out some of the pigment when I peeled the tape off. I'll try a different method next time if this material pans out.

I've still got more experimenting to do if this space age material turns out to be good for the linen side. Here are some pics of the 2 strops:

http://www.procis.net/Razors/Strop4

These aren't pretty but they're perfectly functional. I used flawed leather, placing the flaws in the rivet areas so it wouldn't affect the stropping. If they test out I'll order more material and practice sewing BEFORE making any more. I'm also working on a new design for the 2 handed stropper who doesn't need the 2 rings for rotating the strop.

Glen F

[Kees]

Nice looking strops, Glen! Have you used real linen or is it actually cotton or hemp? I am still looking for real linen webbing for a strop.

[spacetoast]

Nice curtains, FUD.

Are you using a special sewing machine to do the sewing?

[Flanny]

sorry for taking so long to respond. I don't know why I wasn't notified of the responses to this thread.

The linen on these last 2 strops is a new material designed especially for the military supposedly.

I have found a couple places that provide 3" wide cotton webbing in 100m rolls and I'm trying to convince them to send me a swatch to try with it.

I use an industrial strength genuine walking foot sewing machine with all metal/gear drive. Not the glorified home machines that have the walking foot attachments that don't really do what walking foot sewing machines are designed to do. 9 oz leather is a bit thick for it though. I've got some 7 oz leather I'm going to try this material with if it pans out for a good strop piece.

I'm still trying to find 3" wide hemp webbing thats affordable. Not much demand out there so it's very pricy. I'm a big proponent of hemp products. It's a plant that grows very fast and is very versatile and the majority of hemp has little to no thc content.

I don't see any sense in changing the curtains. I just keep ripping them .

Glen F

[xman]

I'm a big proponent of hemp products. It's a plant that grows very fast and is very versatile and the majority of hemp has little to no thc content.

And at least for a while, the US government agreed with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkroOQT-84Q

[Kees]

Glen, how does your razor respond to the strop?

[Kees]

I'm still trying to find 3" wide hemp webbing thats affordable. Not much demand out there so it's very pricy. I'm a big proponent of hemp products. It's a plant that grows very fast and is very versatile and the majority of hemp has little to no thc content.

Glen F

How about this for a strop: http://www.hempbasics.com/store.php?...mode=cat_click

[Flanny]

Glen, how does your razor respond to the strop?

So far so good. I've tried 4 of my own razors out on it and quite a few other razors I'm sharpening for others. the linen material doesn't seem to be fraying and it has a nice feel to it. I'm waiting on a response on the other one I sent out for testing before I decide whether I use this material.

As far as the hemp webbing link, it might work. Im not fond of the specific weave but that's not to say it wouldn't do the job, I just like the look and feel of other weaves. The trouble is the price. I can get cotton and this new stuff for a buck a yard or less. That's considerably less than the cost of the hemp product, the 2.5" wide hemp in the link is 4.00/yd. if they DID sell 3" it would probably go for 5 to 5.50 per yard or more.

[JohnP]

How about this for a strop: http://www.hempbasics.com/store.php?...mode=cat_click

You know, that webbing looks almost exactly like the canvas side of my Jemico strop...makes me wonder if it is one and the same, even the weave looks the same.

On another note thanks for that link, I'm also considering trying their hemp cordage (perhaps the 170lb test) for making bowstrings for traditional style longbows (big stick, in my case, Yew, horn nocks, string...) on which it has always bothered me a little to see Dacron or Kevlar/Spectra strings....
Mine currently has a linen bowstring on it, but now I'm curious again....
John P.