Thread: My Homemade Strop - Double Sided and Large

I just wanted to add to another post of mine but as a separate thread for guys looking for ideas or info. I made this strop with a strip of tanned cowhide I bought at a leather supply place here and glued it down with contact cement. Another member mentioned to make sure that the contact cement is applied as flat as possible, or else you'll feel it when stropping. This is true but somewhat mitigated as the leather you use gets thicker. I tried my best to apply thin layers. The wood is a dead flat piece of 1x4 maple. The leather is super slick right now on the skin side, as you can see the reflecting light off it in the pics. I normally need 100 passes after 50-60 passes on the Crox (flesh) side, after honing to 12000 grit.

I built it mainly for bench work on straights, but it's also super ideal for some of my larger kitchen knives that require a longer draw across a strop.

Just a word on contact cement. In my younger days I spent some years as a professional carpet installer. A good way to apply contact cement on something like your strop project is with a throw away paint brush. We also would pound the surface of the glued piece with a hammer, or something. A wooden mallet would probably be good for a strop like the one you've done.

The Granite in your kitchen is almost identical to mine. I had to take a double take it was so close.