Thread: replacement

The leather looks to be a 2nd or 3rd grade hide. You would want to use a 1st grade hide to get the smoothest and best quality. Having said that you can try a few different things to smooth the leather. The first is to soak it well in water and clamp it tightly between two smooth boards for a day or so till it dries. You'll need to give it a liberal dose of a leather treatment to replace some of the lost oils.
Another method to make the paddle strop up (I assume you are making a paddle again) and then sanding the leather with wet and dry until it is nice and smooth.
And another again is to simply give the leather a good stretching. Give the leather a good dose of leather treatment (not straight neats-foot oil. Jay-el or Dubbin or something similar is better), clamp one end or nail it down so that it won't move. Using a nice big screwdriver or similar smooth rod type object of decent size for the task, put a turn of the leather around it pull the unsecured end with you hand so that it tightens the turn around your screwdriver. Hold ig the handle of the screwdriver with you remaining hand so that it is forming 90' with the leather, begin pushing and pulling the screwdriver up and down the leather.

Hope some of this helps, But you will probably choose to buy a cheap strop instead...Might be getting into the too complicated basket for most people now.
That's some pretty rough cuttin' there mate...


Mick

heh yeah. finished gluing the strop to the plank. not nearly smooth enough for a razor, though it grabs well.

screw it, i'm going to buy a strop i think. i had to drive 45 minutes for that flank of leather and it cost $20. it's cheaper to order the other one online.

so any thoughts on that cheap horsehide?

This was my first new strop:
JEMICO GERMAN STRAIGHT RAZOR SHARPENING STROP W/ CLAMP - eBay (item 190482745062 end time Jan-21-11 16:48:32 PST)

It came loaded with CrOx on one side, plain leather on the other. I can't vouch for that vendor, but I can vouch for the strop- it's now my travel strop and I use it all the time.

Jemico also makes hanging strops:
18":
JEMICO GERMAN 18" STRAIGHT RAZOR SHARPENING STROP NEW - eBay (item 190482745046 end time Jan-21-11 16:48:28 PST)
and 23"
Jemico 23" Straight Razor Leather Sharpening Strop NEW - eBay (item 360305852812 end time Jan-28-11 12:13:57 PST)

Again, I can't vouch for this seller, not can I vouch for this hanging strop as I only have the paddle. But mine is great, esp considering the price.

I haven't seen the other strops mentioned in this thread, so maybe someone else can make a better comparison.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by dnullify

heh yeah. finished gluing the strop to the plank. not nearly smooth enough for a razor, though it grabs well.

screw it, i'm going to buy a strop i think. i had to drive 45 minutes for that flank of leather and it cost $20. it's cheaper to order the other one online.

so any thoughts on that cheap horsehide?

I'm due to go to the tannery tomorrow for more supplies. If I can pick up a respectable bit of cowhide from the bargain off cuts bin, I'll knock one up for you for nothing. If it comes to nothing, you've only lost a day. If I find something you'll have a basic hanging strop for free in a weeks time. Either way I'll let you know tomorrow.
$20 is extremely cheap for a flank of leather, definitely not a high grade piece of leather.


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

I'm due to go to the tannery tomorrow for more supplies. If I can pick up a respectable bit of cowhide from the bargain off cuts bin, I'll knock one up for you for nothing. If it comes to nothing, you've only lost a day. If I find something you'll have a basic hanging strop for free in a weeks time. Either way I'll let you know tomorrow.
$20 is extremely cheap for a flank of leather, definitely not a high grade piece of leather.


Mick

That'd be great!

It was between $20-30, i just picked the best one i could find. i guess it really does serve the purpose for my knives. now i've got a 16" plank for my knives, i guess.

OK. They didn't have any worthy bits in the bargain bin, but I got a discount on one of their pre-cut belt straps in black bridle leather, it had a cut that would have made it useless as a belt or girth. And, No, I didn't put it there. The strap is roughly 3" wide and about 2/8" thick. I'll knock up a simple strop and send it out to you. P.M me with where you want it to go to.


Mick

Some images for you. The basic Bovine. It is about 25" o'all with an 18" stropping surface and just shy of 2.5" wide. That should keep you out of trouble for a bit.



The front view showing surface quality, trademark and fastening.



The back view showing how it's fastened.




Mick

Hhhoooolllyyy cow Mick! (pun definitely intended)

That's about 50x nicer than the one I've got now!
I really appreciate your generosity. It's really quite cool!

Glad you're happy so far. I'll get it out to you tomorrow. I won't have time to 'go postal' today.


Mick