Thread: Guitar Strap as Strop?

Hello All,

I have a question for the community, I have an old but very pliable leather cowhide guitar strap. It's thin and well worn in. Do you think it's ok to use that as a strop or maybe strop for pasting?

Thanks,
John

You could give it a go depending on the condition of it. If you could post some pics it will give us a better idea of what you've got.

You know, just because it's leather and long and narrow doesn't mean it's a good strop. I know we always talk about all the alternatives and many work well but as far as strops go if making a quality strop was just a matter of getting an old piece of leather the strop makers would have gone out of business long ago.


Hey, wait.... they did but, for different reasons. One true fact. If you went into a barber back in the day you always found a quality strop hanging by the chair never any other substitute.

I do agree that in the past you always saw straps in the barber shop hanging from the chair which, would give anyone good reason to not doubt the use of it, but is it only because it was made for ease of use in the barber shop? I think if we can call a spade a spade, we could also call a good strip of leather a good strip of leather. As long as the guitar strap is in a good condition (not freyed or damaged which could deviat the steel from keeping its edge) then it should be alright. I have thought of using my black leather pants belt before, but barbers didnt take there belt off to sharpen their razor, mainly because the strop was made for one thing, a razor. Only because the razor's edge is so fine you didnt want to use the strop for anything else but sharpen razors, and discipline the children. So you have to keep your leather strop in as good condition as your straight razor itself.

If it were me, I would just buy a leather strop that was made for a razor...just mho.

Originally Posted by T0mS3LicK

I do agree that in the past you always saw straps in the barber shop hanging from the chair which, would give anyone good reason to not doubt the use of it, but is it only because it was made for ease of use in the barber shop? I think if we can call a spade a spade, we could also call a good strip of leather a good strip of leather. As long as the guitar strap is in a good condition (not freyed or damaged which could deviat the steel from keeping its edge) then it should be alright. I have thought of using my black leather pants belt before, but barbers didnt take there belt off to sharpen their razor, mainly because the strop was made for one thing, a razor. Only because the razor's edge is so fine you didnt want to use the strop for anything else but sharpen razors, and discipline the children. So you have to keep your leather strop in as good condition as your straight razor itself.

If another material was superior or cheaper and in the long run lasted as long they would have used that instead whether it could hang from the chair or mount on a table or whatever. They used a strop because it was the best all around device to do the job.

My feeling is in a pinch you can use whatever you have handy but for long-term use I would be using a strop made and finished for the purpose. You can get a decent one for not that much and it will last a very long time.

Me and thebigspendur have strop collecting in common. I'm not sure how many he has had, I know I have read him post that he had quite a few and thinned the herd some time ago. I've had some come and go but currently have 15 strops. Why would a guy want 15 strops ?

Well in the 1950s and '60s when I was a youngster I used to go to the barber shop and watch those old guys stroke their straight razors on the hanging strop attached to their Koken barber chairs. To me there was something romantic about using a straight razor to shave and a strop to polish the edge.

Back in those days it wasn't easy to acquire such things as a pro barber strop. No Internet and pro barber supply houses had traveling salesmen that would go from shop to shop on a route but the average guy didn't see them and many barbers would be protective of that kind of info if you asked. Like the old time tattoo artists they were somewhat protective of their trade secrets IME.

I got my first strop at Hoffritz For Cutlery back in '72 or so give or take a year. It was a short strop with the Russian writing in a circular pattern like some vintage Certifyd strops have. The stitched on handles on the end. A good strop but shorter than the default 24" professional models I'd seen at the barber shops. Fast forward thirty years and I discovered ebay.

So I love strops. Ten or so are vintage. C-Mon,dubl duck, Wester Bros, Red Imp, Craftsman, Beau Brummel, Koken (one of my favorites) among others. I also have current production from SRD, Tony Miller, HandAmerican and Kanayama's top of the line. If they were long enough they might make a good belt but only for a gun or tool belt. Too stiff for a dress belt.

I had a friend who bought a couple of horsehide butts from Keith at Hand American. He was going to make strops but the project got sidelined and he never did. He had to move from FL to Fairbanks, Alaska for a job and didn't want to ship all of his stuff so he gave the horse butts to me.

I made a couple of guitar straps, one for me and one for a friend. They are nice enough but not really suited to the purpose because they are too stiff and heavy a leather. Alternatively IMO a guitar strap, at least the ones I've seen and had, would serve as a strop but wouldn't be as good as a bona fide pro strop.

Strop leather wouldn't make a good shoe or boot IMO. All of the strops I have aren't exactly the same thickness, some are stiffer, some are more flexible. All are top grain, whether horse or bovine. Most importantly they are treated with what is undoubtedly a proprietary process of the individual maker.

I made one strop out of the same horse butt that Keith of HandAmerican uses. Of the three HA strops I have it is nowhere near as good as those he made. Same leather but it ain't the same. He knows something I don't know to treat the surface of his strops. BTW, of the three I have by him all three are different in a nuanced way and two of his that I sold were different from those three. All are different from each other.

If you've had the patience to get this far I say all this to say that a pro strop is way more than just a piece of leather. You can use a seat belt, denim, newspaper, carpet, guitar straps or waist belts, the palm of your hand or the side of your shoe, but, IMHO, it won't be the same as a bona fide professional razor strop.

I had wondered as to whether an old seatbelt strap would work as the cloth side of a strop.

Originally Posted by Drybonz

I had wondered as to whether an old seatbelt strap would work as the cloth side of a strop.

Yes it will. I've got a piece of NASCAR shoulder harness that works quite well. Thread showing it here. Regular seatbelt will also work but is narrower. I like the wider component personally.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Yes it will. I've got a piece of NASCAR shoulder harness that works quite well. Thread showing it here. Regular seatbelt will also work but is narrower. I like the wider component personally.

Cool... that is really interesting. I bet someone could make a really unique strop with a seatbelt for the "cloth" component.