Thread: Soilarch's $7 Strops

Meant to do this for awhile. I don't claim that these are on par with expensive "proper" strops, but they are all I've ever used. If you're reasonably handy and have a 1/2 hour this can save you some $$$

Find someplace that sells bridles, reigns, and just horse tack in general. (TSC, Rural King, Orcheln's are were I look) What you want is called a cinch strap. Synthetic ones are becoming popular nowadays. You want a leather one. It's about 1.75" wide and usually at 4-5' long. I've paid between $18-22 for the Weaver brand. It's the only leather cinch strap I've seen in the stores mentioned above.

You also need:
*A SHARP knife. (Cutting leather and dull knives don't mix)
*Some type of cordage, I use 550 paracord.
*Lexol, or Neatsfoot, or a really greasing nose. (In the store, Lexol or Neatfoot will be somewhere very near where you find the cinch strap.)
*Sandpaper 220,400,600...it's not cold fusion...use whatcha ya got.

Here's what we start with:


Take the cinch strap and find what I'll call the "finished end". This is what will make your one "finished" looking strop.


Here is the Butt end, with the little tag of leather you want to save!



Cut the cinch strap with your SHARP knife. (Trust me on this one guys, I didn't include band-aids in the material list.) You can cut it above the second hole, like I did, or the third.


This will be your "finished" strop before long.

If the leather isn't to your liking then this is the time to use the sandpaper. You've got to use your own judgment here. Sand it, clean it very well, and then put a little lexol/neatsfoot on it to slick it back down.

Take the little tag of leather and cut it like so:


Double over the one of your mini-tags and thread it through the bottom hole of your "finished" strop like this:


Double over the top-end of your "finished" strop to make a loop:


I use bullets, use can use anything you like or nothing at all. The leather is squeezed in there tight enough you don't need anything for it to stay together.


Cut out the middle section of the cinch strap that has all the holes in it BUT BE SURE to leave at least 1 hole left on the bigger pieces! If you want to fold the second strop over like the first leave 2 holes. I left 3, because I can


Now you almost have 3 strops for less than the price of 1:


Finish the other 2 however you'd like, and run some type of cordage through the loops to hang them by. Here are some examples, with the 3 new strops on the right:


They've averaged me about $7 a piece.

For a beginner I'd certainly recommend this. Get some Chromium Oxide paste to work into the one strop, use the second to practice on and leave the more presentable "finished" strop for daily use.

I do realize this eats up bandwidth, if anyone knows how to resize the pics (I'm using facebook to host the photos) please pm me.

Originally Posted by Soilarch

I do realize this eats up bandwidth...

Bandwidth well spent!

Question -- is there a similar piece of tack that is wider than 1-3/4 inch? I do like two-inch strops so maybe 1-3/4 is wide enough, but it would be nice to have a wider choice.

Great project! Weaver uses Latigo for these so the draw should be fine as is.

As for width many of Dovos strops were/still are only 1 1/2" or 1 3/4" wide.

Quick easy strop set for a beginner and the guys can have the thrill of having made it themselves.

Tony

thanks thats pretty useful actually
there aren't many antique or decent strops for sale - so this is a great idea

cheers

I don't want to step on anyones toes here but check this out.
www.toolsforworkingwood.com sells 3" x 15" strips of Genuine Horse Butt for $22.95.

He also sells Norton and Naniwa stones, pumice, rottenstone, diamond paste and a fine grade CrOx.

The Horse Butt will make a fine flatbed strop. Good sturdy leather.

Jerry

Originally Posted by mrsell63

I don't want to step on anyones toes here but check this out.
www.toolsforworkingwood.com sells 3" x 15" strips of Genuine Horse Butt for $22.95.

He also sells Norton and Naniwa stones, pumice, rottenstone, diamond paste and a fine grade CrOx.

The Horse Butt will make a fine flatbed strop. Good sturdy leather.

Jerry

$36 postage to Australia................................
makes it a bit more expensive for me

If you have access to leather wholesaler or merchant it can be pretty cheap too. (My closest is a 40 min drive - but it is worth it).

I picked up my leather pieces for something like $2 and they even cut the strap neatly and to size! (Didn't have to pay for any extra leather either and was able choose the piece I wanted).

It is worth looking around. You don't need great leather working skills either - you could manage by poking in a hole or two and threading in a cord to attach your strop.

Of course - there are some very nice looking strops for sale out there.

But - DIY can be very satisfying, especially when you make something that works and you use every day.

All the best,
Michael.

I also posted this weekend about a source for bridle strop leather in the state of Maine. www.NarragansettLeathers.com

I ordered two strips of 3" bridle leather from this company because of the recent upsurge in popularity regarding English Bridle strops.

I purchased an English Bridle strop from SRD and am quite pleased. I much prefer the feel of the Bridle strop over the feel of my Latigo strop. It's just an ongoing purchasing experience. The goal is a perfect shave and I am well on the way to achieving that. Only 75,000,000 more miles to go.

You must realize that I have been playing with straights and hones since 1968. I basically know what I'm talking about. You wanna arm wrestle??