Thread: Linen or poly webbing...

Which do you prefer and why?

I cannot stand a strop that is too zippy. I have a vintage linen strop and had a nylon strop that are way too zippy. I had a cotton that was very nice and have felt and hemp and suede that are also very nice. For me it is all about the feel and sound. They have all had the desired effect.

I have the Herold (Kohl & Laibach) leather and linen strop, I have the Portland Deluxe English Leather on order; if looks are to go by it is going to be very high quality, but I have no experience of poly webbing as a backing, Lynn seems to rate it as a material so I guess that must be something��.

Historically linen is the cat's meow.

Unlike leather where it all does the same thing that is not the case with fabric because you can have wide differences in the abrasiveness of the natural material. Poly-webbing or canvass or flax or fabric blends can vary quite a bit.

I've never done or seen an experiment with fabric strops so just from anecdotal evidence I like Linen with cotton canvas a second choice.

Linen. Real linen not cotton webbing called linen.

Haven't tried poly, and linen varies. The best linen I have tried is on a vintage Japanese strop.

Interesting that this comes up now. I had a poly webbing strop and it was very loud and seemed rough. For that reason, I stopped using it and eventually sold it. I have some real linen and also cotton "linen" and they both seem to have a similiar sharpening effect and I like them both as they are soft and quiet with very little draw.

Interesting to see there are no advocates so far for poly webbing, yet both SRP and PRC use it with their English Bridle strops, I'd be almost surprised to learn this was simply down to cost as they are no less expensive than my German made Kohl Laibach.

I also do not care for poly webbing, however I have an old piece of seatbelt that I use for a pasted strop. Linen is awesome cotton next.

I recently made a strop using craft burlap on the backside. I did sand it down on the belt sander to take the 'edge' off. I've been using it for the past month or so and really like it.