Thread: Cross hatched embossed strop

I recently purchased several stops from eBay. This one has be stumped. It is not smooth it is textured, the 5th picture hopefully shows the texture. I have done some cleaning, glued down a nick and added neatsfoot oil to it. The strop is just under 1/4 inch thick (.6mm). The texture hopefully shows in photo 5 and the flex in photo 6. What is the purpose of the texture?

Why dosen't the original post show in the new post view?

Originally Posted by boz

Why dosen't the original post show in the new post view?

Because you've already seen it by virtue of submission, the whole things is not new. Until someone responds to your thread -- like me here now -- it's not considered a "New Post" for you, just everyone else.

Thank you Mark

I have seen it on the back side of lots of American-made strops. The leather is run through a machine to make that pattern.
Seems it is to make the leather more flexible. This one has the stamp on the cross-hatched side, though.
It may have been mis-stamped on the back side or is an aggressive strop, I suppose.
You might have a 'sharpen' side and a 'finish' side since there is no fabric.

I defer to Mr Miller

https://sharprazorpalace.com/strops/...-needed-2.html

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I have seen it on the back side of lots of American-made strops. The leather is run through a machine to make that pattern.
Seems it is to make the leather more flexible. This one has the stamp on the cross-hatched side, though.
It may have been mis-stamped on the back side or is an aggressive strop, I suppose.
You might have a 'sharpen' side and a 'finish' side since there is no fabric.

I agree with this. The cross-hatched side may be there to make it more resistant to humidity fluctuations, preventing cupping on the front-side. Looks like the cross-hatched back-side may have been mistakenly stamped instead of the front.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I have seen it on the back side of lots of American-made strops. The leather is run through a machine to make that pattern.
Seems it is to make the leather more flexible. This one has the stamp on the cross-hatched side, though.
It may have been mis-stamped on the back side or is an aggressive strop, I suppose.
You might have a 'sharpen' side and a 'finish' side since there is no fabric.

What sharptonn said. Some old strops have this, especially if you search for Russian leather or grain. I think even some new do. It was a design flexibility thing. Sometimes it looks a little bit different. And I've seen this layout before with the stamps. I don't think is a misprint, but I don't know if there is another purpose to it either.

There is purpose to most things that are done.

I have a Duble Duck Strop with the diamond treatment on the back. I always assumed it was there as a secondary stropping surface to give some more abrasion.

True, I just don't know it. I've read about the flexibility thing, but nothing much about usage. I do remember at some point seeing one with a somewhat similar cross cuts on the surface. Unfortunately I can't remember that much about it, I guess I haven't paid that much attention to it. Diamond cut is something familiar to me (again done on the back for flexibility and softness), but this one had the "cuts" on the working surface and much bigger. Maybe someone knows the manufacturer. Now this bugs me quite a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-St2eaUrNM

on this clip I always missed the fact that no reference was made about the back of the strop. This is also a DD and by the looks of it, with a similar finish like the one above, even if in very poor shape.