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