Thread: Making a paddle strop

I made my first paddle strop from some canvas I got at a fabric store, a nice thick piece of cowhide from a local saddle maker and a broken pizza peel. It's not the prettiest, but it's functional. I wasn't worried about looks since I figured I'd nick it a few times (OK it was more than a few times). The nicks sanded out and it still works fine. Its been a while since I last nicked it, so I'm looking to make a nicer one. I also want to try a different fabric/leather combo.

So far I've gotten a piece of hemp with a herringbone pattern (https://www.rawganique.com/hemp-webbing-p/web-ft.htm) and selected a piece of oak for the handle. I've been breaking the hemp in by soaking in water, pounding the edges with a meat mallet, and shoe-shining it over a smooth chromed 1" bar. It's getting fairly soft and the edge seams are flattening out. What is a good way of dealing with the cut ends to keep them from fraying?

I've been looking for veg tanned horse hide, and have only found one source. https://maverickleathercompany.com/p...s-seconds-9oz/ These pieces are seconds and have a few dents and scratches. They are large enough that I may find a clean section to cut out for the strop. If I can't find a clean section, will the dents have a negative effect on the edge? I suspect it won't, but I don't have much experience with strops and would rather ask the question before mucking things up through ignorance. Does anyone have a source of clean horse hide suitable for a paddle strop?

I also came across some pre-cut 11x3 roo pieces at Chef's Knives to Go, but they are also seconds with some blemishes. If the blemishes won't effect the performance, I may go with the roo, since it's a bit cheaper and I won't have left over pieces.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Local hobby stores such as Hobby Lobby and Mitchell's carry leather. I have bought 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of vegetable tanned cowhide sold as tooling leather. These sheets will nearly flawless. They also sell trim leather that can also be used. It just depends on the type of leather you want to use.

I treated the end of my linen strop with super glue to keep it from fraying.

There is a couple of vendors here that may be willing to sell you the hide you want.

Here is a possible source for you to contact:

Oregon Leather Co. – Portland and Eugene's premier leathercraft and leather supply store.

When I first discovered pastes, I bought soft blocks of balsa from a model shop and glued them to wooden backs - they did OK, but eventually I bought the wide TI double-sided paddles for pastes. For a plain strop I still prefer to have a hanging strop, but I have had a couple of paddles that I've used for travel (a narrow TI in a nice scabbard and the SRD paddle). I'm pretty sure that for a paddle strop the quality of the leather is less important than with a hanging strop; the fact it has a solid backing means that softness and elasticity - that determine the catenary of a hanging strop - just aren't factors.