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After looking at the prices of leather strops, both here and on eBay, why couldn't a guy go to the local Tandy Leather store and get a 3 x 24" piece of nice leather? It would be much easier, cheaper and quicker than ordering over the Net. I am a newbie so if I ruin it, so what. I have a leather sewing machine so I can alter or add to it as I please. Opinions?
I'm not sure what the cost of the leather would be but if it is significantly cheaper give it a try. Go for something approximately 1/8 thickness if I were you. :shrug: The pro strops from SRD, Tony Miller and others are really special and not just a piece of leather though.... IMO.
Pretty new myself, jtb, but I have read a lot of threads where guys have said pretty much the same thing. A strop doesn't have to be fancy to do the job. I read about a guy using a strip of denim and getting good results. I cut my first strop badly, so a $5 piece of leather would have been a good idea to learn on. Having said that, I really love my new SRD 3" latigo strop!
Warm regards,
Larry
For fabric part i really like the feel of an old seatbelt
If you pick the right piece of leather i think you may be off to a good start
+1, I have some shoulder harness I got from a friend who is a mechanic for Roush Racing and it is pretty cool and 3" wide as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by janivar123
You can ... but...Quote:
Originally Posted by jbtusa
I just made myself some Tandy strops and I recommend the 2 1/2"
leather. You want longer than 24" to make a hanging strop. Tandy
has some bits that are long enough to make two strops.
You will quickly want to dress it and oil it.
I made four strops a month ago but find I am still reaching
for my Illinois 827 and appreciate it more and more.
The new strops work well and will eventually settle in.
Half will get pasted... Canvas and hangers are
hard to find. Ask me more in a year.
I did learn a lot in the process and expect I will learn more.
I now have a better appreciation for the value of a
fine well made strop.
I do recommend the project...
Exactly ! Sure anyone can make a sort of strop but a well made strop even takes into account the direction of the leather's grain.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
About any piece of smooth finished leather will work fine in my opinion. It doesn't even have to be a strip that can be hung. A hanging strop is convenient, and takes up little room. But, is not required.
I have stropped plenty on a 4" x 9" piece of leather I bought at a hobby store. (It is smooth, finished leather to be used for tooling.) Just put it on the edge of a table, and strop away.
You will slice up your first strop. Why not slice up a piece of leather. After a month or two, buy a nice strop.
Tandy does sell latigo leather. If you talk to a local saddle maker (they exist everywhere and yes even in big cities) they can help you with grain direction. Mine was a scrap in my saddlemakers' bin. Quite a few of the older guys have made plenty of strops in their day. I also used an old pair of jeans for my "shredder"
Yes - go for it!
A number of us here have done the DIY strops. (I'm still using mine - successfully and happily). Not expensive either if you're close to a leather merchant.
It's very satisfying to use something you've made yourself too.
All the best,
Michael
I make all my own strops because it allows me to experiment with different leathers, finishes, surface treatments, etc. for relatively little money. The two sources I use for most of my leather and hardware are eleather.com and zackwhite.com. Both offer all you need to make terrific strops.
There's no reason why newbies couldn't make their own strops, hone and forge their own razors, apart from knowledge. They just need to choose a leather that works well enough and hone their razor sharp enough =). Defining the amount of "enough" is where the guesswork gets nasty.
If you have your heart set to it, go ahead and give it a try. There's instructions at Category:Do It Yourself - Straight Razor Place Wiki. Also search might reveal some member projects.
However, as Jimmy hinted, you might not save that much when you factor the hardware and labour.
My suggestion is that newbies should start with known good gear and make their own gear when they know what to aim at. Do note that newbies are usually warned against buying off ebay until they know what they're buying.
Good luck
I made a strop out of a $5 piece of scrap Latigo & it works very nicely. I bent up some D-rings out of scrap stainless steel rod in the machine shop at the company I was working for at the time, but you could just as easily use wooden dowels and paracord to keep the cost down.
I just finished making one this weekend. I figure to get three or four out of the twenty dollar piece of leather i bought. I would be in trouble if I didnt have my Illinois for comparison though. Turned out well and it was nice to prove to myself I could do it.
I bought a piece of leather 1.4mm thick and about 8sq ft so i was able to make a few strops, after finding a nice treatment for the leather to make it work well, so far so good and very cheep !
When i can afford it and if i really want one i'll probably buy one from Mr Miller here in the UK :)
ian
The strop doesn't have to hang. A piece of leather laid on the edge of a table will work. Not much different than a paddle strop.