Thread: Making Paddle Strops

I want to make about 4 paddle strops to experiment with some various pastes.

I have 2 questions:
1) Is there any type of leather I should stay away from or is it basically anythign that is without defects should work?

2) Should I use a thin piece of balsa between the paddle and the leather to provide some "give"?

Thanks dudes!

something like that should work:
Tandy Leather Factory - Natural Cowhide Strips
no need for balsa IMO.

I do not have a tandy leather near by, but i have a hobby lobby. Apparenlty hobby lobby gets their stuff from tandy any way.

I ended up deciding to try to do this as cheap and simple as possible.

So i bought an 8"x10" piece of leather for $2.99

Then i took some old laminate floor pieces and cut them 2"x12" with my pull saw.

The most difficult part for me was cutting the leather. You can see in the pictures i didnt do a very good job. I tried using a box cutter and scissors.

What is the easiest way to cut leather?

Here are the results, going to trim some more wants the glue is totally set.

I cut my old strop with a box cutter too.
I think the key is to go on a few passes to ensure the cut is even.
Light pressure the first pass to mark the way then a bit more pressure to go deeper and so on. If you have power tools, I think a band saw will work fine especially after the leather is blued to the wood base.
Before applying the pastes, work the surface with pumice stone (Found @ Walmart for example) to make sure its even.

You have inspired me to make my own strope. I have some castoffs from the trash of a very high end custom furniture store trashcan out back. Why not... we are all tinkers if we dare to use a straight razor. Even more satisfaction when you do it yourself, I trow.

Everything above is good information. My suggestion is to experiment a little before making paddle strops. You might make a strop, apply paste, and decide that paste is not for your. Then, how to remove it?

You can experiment like this...

Place leather on the edge of a table and strop. Do your experiments that way until you know what abrasives and surfaces you want to use more permanently. Then, apply the above suggestions to create a more permanent strop.

Keep it simple

I will say it would definately be easier to just buy leather strip that is allready the width you want and then some craft wood or something that is the same width.


But it was not much work doing it this way.

This suede is kind of a pain to paste. Would taking my pumice stone and trying to smooth it out as much as possible help?

I mixed some CrO with mineral oil and when I went to draw my x's, it just seems to clump.

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

... I mixed some CrO with mineral oil and when I went to draw my x's, it just seems to clump.

I mix mineral oil with alcohol in a 50:50 mixture, add about 1/2 teaspoonful chromium oxide powder (0.3 micron, Kremer pigments) and put in a 2 ounce spray bottle. That works well.