That is supposed to say "strop(ping)" :o
Is there a best or worst quality or type of leather for use a a strop?
What qualities of characteristics should one look for in leather to determine whether a strop is 'good' or 'bad'?
:shrug:
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That is supposed to say "strop(ping)" :o
Is there a best or worst quality or type of leather for use a a strop?
What qualities of characteristics should one look for in leather to determine whether a strop is 'good' or 'bad'?
:shrug:
The strop leather should have a smooth surface free from defects creases scars brand marks.
It should be heavy enough.
It should not cup when correctly mounted and placed under tension.
The thin split leather used on some furniture would be trouble along
with shoe sole leather.
Strops break in and improve with time or not. Mostly they improve.
I have a lot of stuff from SaddleBack Leather and they tout 'full grain' cowhide as being the best leather. Not sure how it would work for strops but it's really nice hide.
Vegetable tanned horsehide 7-9 oz (horse butt strips are best) should be the best leather (other than horse shell, which is expensive, and rather thin and delicate nowdays, unlike in the past) you can buy for diy strop. The other option would be vegetable tanned australian roo leather. Both have light draw, quite effective for razors. Cow leather can have very heavy draw....you would have to really check it first how it is tanned.....but I would only personally consider horse or roo pieces, with lots of preparation before use.
The best leather is closest to the spine of the beast.
The closer to the belly the more prone to cupping & crowning.
I have a wonderful leather strop that is made from a strip near the horses belly. It is pretty nice and has nice draw and is very very soft. I did get the strop from a leatherworker here.
I have a couple wallets and a belt from Saddleback. The stuff they make is really heavy duty industrial strength leather. My belt has developed a character that doesn't make for a good strop.Quote:
Originally Posted by kelbro
Yep. Seems heavy duty.
Over the years I have accumulated quite a bit of their stuff. Large briefcase, couple of wallets, large notepad, moleskin cover, iPad case, and iPhone case. Yeah, I got it bad LOL but I appreciate fine leather.
Don't even ask about rifle scabbards and pistola holsters!
It really depends on how the leather is treated. I have a vegetable tanned cowhide strop. Medium to light draw, it is great for my stropping needs.
Then again, that's what you'd expect from a Scrupleworks strop (that it's great strop, not necessarily that it has a light draw).
You'll find that most leathers work just fine, as there is really no way leather abrades steel. It's more about stropping comfort and personal preference in that regard.
For instance, while horse shell is very suitable for strops, it usually has very little draw; which is why it's not my favourite stropping material.
Please define "draw".
Thanks!
:)
Draw is the amount of friction between the razor and the strop. Some are light (very little friction) while others impart heavier draw. Like the various grinds, you won't know which end of the spectrum you prefer until you've done your own testing. :)
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Speedster
:beer1:
It is hard to find leather and hardware to make your own strop
for less than than the cost of a lot of good strops.
I made a bunch of test strops with leather from Tandy.
Oiled, dry, pasted and more.
I learned a lot.
Of interest I pulled a three year ago test strop down and
gave it visit. lt was heavy leather almost 3" wide.
see "Heavyweight Natural Cowhide Leather Strips" on the Tandy site.
I had added CrOx to the cut side and used way too much Neatsfoot oil.
Over the three years it had improved. Who knew?
It took a harsh Shapton Glass too sharp and harsh edge and made the razor
shave nicely.
Try stuff... but start with a nice medium price strop. They are all good.
It would be substandard compared to a broken in piece of vegetable tanned horse butt from a butt strip. Cowhide is nice leather, but if it was the best strop, they would've used it in the early 1900s when there was a full selection of leathers widely available for reasonable prices in all geographies. They chose butt strip and horse shell.Quote:
Originally Posted by kelbro
The only trick with butt strip is either ordering a few so that you're sure you'll have a smooth run of leather about two feet long, or being able to select one that has no wrinkle at all.
Butt strip cuts very easily with a sharp marking knife and a steel straight edge. Very easily.
I have a cautionary tale about oiling. leather will take a LOT of oil.
When my dad was younger, he would fix peoples' baseball gloves for a few bucks. Back when people actually kept things, it wasn't uncommon for someone to ask to have a glove restrung with rawhide and then oiled. One of the people he restrung a glove for didn't want to have the glove oiled and didn't have the patience to do it himself.
He put it in a drip pan of used oil overnight, and it became significantly heavier than expected, and looked strange my dad saw him at the next game. He asked my dad if he knew how to get oil out of the glove. Dad said that the guy had panicked after he found out the glove increased substantially in weight, that it was too heavy to be comfortably used, and it was beat up because the guy drove over it back and forth with his car thinking he could squeeze the oil back out of it! :)
If you ever rubbed a glove, you use either a small rag or your fingers and just rub in a little at a time until the surface of the glove gets its life back. It takes a while.
Lesson being, or attempt at it, the leather will take on a lot more oil than you want it to take on.
Oily rag is also a method to apply oil to a surface - not soaking rag, but lightly oiled (may have been suggested already).