4 Attachment(s)
convex paddle strop - why?
I've just finished getting this this old paddle strop back in shape, and wondered what the point of the convex stropping surface was:
Attachment 317139Attachment 317140Attachment 317141Attachment 317142
As can be seen, one face is leather, and the other is bowed wood, under tension from an aluminium spring underneath.
Apart from the reason for the convex stropping surface, which I hope someone can explain, I also feel that even if you want a convex stropping surface, this is a funny way to go about it. The springing is strong, so the wooden bow is absolutely solid, and has no flex in normal use. Seems massively over-engineered, is it something designed to catch a customer's attention rather than perform any useful function?
The wooden stropping surface originally had what appeared to be bits of green compound on it, and I did see one other identical strop on eBay Germany on which the wooden bow was entirely green. Sadly I forgot to save the pictures for comparison.
(The wood between the original paddle and the leather is my addition, the original paddle was both badly warped laterally and bowed lengthwise)
Any ideas? Many thanks!