Thread: Stropping Adventures.

So today I was driving by and saw a Tandy's Leather Shop. I figured why not stop in and see if they got any scraps to maybe make a strop. Well they did but they also had some nice 3"x50" strips of european cow hide for like 20 bucks. So I went for that and made a strop or two. The leather was really stiff so I tossed it in the dryer with no heat and let it get beat up for about a half hour. After that I rubbed some Fiebings Aussie Leather Conditioner to really get it nice and soft. After that I put some Neatsfoot on it and man is it nice. Super smooth and just the kind of draw I like. This is the first strop I have made and I am impressed with it even though there was really no skill involved being it was already pretty much ready to go just need to be softened up a bit. Here's some pics. The black strop is my old strop for comparison. I think it is like 16x2 inches.

Oh yeah I will be making a handle soon. I want it to be fancy so I ordered a bocote blank and will carve it into a handle and I am going to be getting some better hardware for the hanging part. That piece that I have on there now is just something I had from my old strop.

I've used the same stuff 3x50. Works great. I made a few paddles, pasted some....

Be careful not to mailorder leather for strops. You need to hand-select in person each piece so you don't end up with blemished leather surfaces. Strop surfaces need to be free of any flaws.

Yeah I bought it from a brick and mortar store. It is super smooth. The guy was telling me that european is better because they don't use barbed wire and let the cattle roam free and when I compared to the domestic leather you could definitely see the difference. I made one paddle strop with some balsa and just pasted the other side of the wood. I found some old fire hose and the linen covering is in really great condition so I will be using that for the fabric component. Right now I am just debating what kind of wood I want to use for the handles and for the hanging hardware. I am thinking heavily figured bubinga or some kind of burl and make it real fancy.

So cool *drool*

Lendo, like I said on your post it was super easy. The only part that took time was conditioning it, which wasn't really necessary but I just preferred it softer. For me the leather (3x50 which is enough to make atleast two strops) was $35 and the conditioner was $15 and I already had the neatsfoot but it was like 7 when I bought it and I have added some Fromm Strop dressing which I bought a long time ago and can't remember the price but it was cheap. So total investments so far about 60 bucks for 2 strops that are of great quality in my opinion and huge. You can't find a better deal than that. And if you want a fabric strop you can go to a craft store and buy linen for like 7 a yard, which is more than enough to make multiple strops.