Thread: What makes a strop a strop?

I've seen available lengths of leather for belt making, quite cheaply, which would be easy to cut into lengths to make hanging or paddle strops from.

However, it begs the question of what is the difference between a piece of tanned leather and a good strop?

About $75.00

The razor


Some leather, and some tanning is not conducive to good stropping, don't ask me which, there are way smarter people on SRP to answer that hehehe

Kidding aside, if you were to have access to some current and vintage strops and compare them to other leathers there really is a difference. Not saying you couldn't take a belt or some top grain cowhide, horsehide or even exotic hides and use it but the strop makers have their processes and a sure enough razor strop is superior to an average piece of leather IME.

+1 on that. I tried stropping on an old belt once (as you do!), and the edge was nothing like as good after the belt as to my daily strop.

I dont know what the tanners do to strop leather, but whatever it is, it makes it good..!

I am no expert at all on this topic, but I believe the uniformity of the leather is key in regards to strop making. The treatment (i.e. the tanning process) probably contributes to both the uniformity of the leather and the feel of the leather as you strop. My two cents .

If you want to make your own strop but want good leather you could always buy a replacement leather for one of the professionally made modular strops.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

The razor


Some leather, and some tanning is not conducive to good stropping, don't ask me which, there are way smarter people on SRP to answer that hehehe

Sounds like the chicken and the egg to me

It depends how you define strop no different than what's a good hone. You can pick up any rock and grind it flat and it will have some beneficial properties for some part of the honing process but some are just better than others. No different with strops.

Originally Posted by Jeltz

I've seen available lengths of leather for belt making, quite cheaply, which would be easy to cut into lengths to make hanging or paddle strops from.

However, it begs the question of what is the difference between a piece of tanned leather and a good strop?

A lot of it is the same as what makes a great belt.
The first is a carefully selected surface...

I have made a couple of strops from inexpensive Tandy
leather. From the shop Tandy leather is too dry and
makes a rather unappealing strop. Over time with
gentle applications of neatsfoot oil it will soften.

Compared to a purpose made strop they come in
second but make good leather for pasting or paddle
strops.

I recently picked up an old used horse hide strop.
I can tell you that my new OLD "Shell Horsehide" strop is
a very different and feels wonderful.

If you are on a budget. A well selected strap of
leather can become a very serviceable strop.
Dress it with small amounts of PURE neatsfoot
oil once a week for a while. Mink oil products have
too much wax for my taste if available pure mink oil
might be OK.

In all honesty I am pretty sure there is no special tanning method for strops. From everything I have read the tanning methods are basically standard (eg veg, brain, etc).

One could imagine that certain tanneries might produce a better quality tan. Or that some perhaps get a higher quality skin. And that is where I think a strop differs from just a bit of leather: the good strop maker sources the highest quality leather they can find. IMO it is not necessary, but users seem to think they need leather perfection to rub their sharp metal sticks up and down every day, so the strop makers go where the money is, as they say.

James.