Thread: Paddle Strop or Cricket Bat?

How do you choose your leather for a DIY strop? What type of leather is best for making a paddle strop at home? Is there a certain animal it needs to be coming from? What are the do's and don'ts of strop leather selection?

I have made big paddle strops from raw cowhide and hard bridle leather. I greatly prefer the soft cowhide. The bridle leather is nice and smooth, but would make a better hanging strop. There's no give/spring to the bridle leather on a wood paddle, so it's more like a hone. It just isn't as nice to the edge as the cowhide. I think I could get better results from the bridle leather if it was a hanging strop. Maybe it just needs more time and conditioning. The hanging strop is harder to learn - I have others. I've put lots of strop conditioner on both types of leather, and the cowhide strop is nice and smooth, soft, and springy. It's better than what it was when I started using it. The paddles are maple and I used contact cement (rubbery) to glue the leather on both sides of the paddle.

I bought the cowhide from Tandy Leather - which is also available online. I used 2.5" wide leather straps (I think they're cinching straps) that were about 5' long. I like a 2.5" leather strop better than a 3". I like a 3" strop better for wool and linen (highly recommend a 3" linen strop).

I bought the bridle leather from a saddle shop in Connecticut, but any large user of leather will have leather available in the sizes you want.

Originally Posted by StraightShavingAustin

How do you choose your leather for a DIY strop? What type of leather is best for making a paddle strop at home? Is there a certain animal it needs to be coming from? What are the do's and don'ts of strop leather selection?

Personally I use Vegetable tanned kangaroo leather on my strops. It is my favourite.

As far as selection goes, use the highest grade you can get. You want the leather to be as free as possible of creases and scars. The type of tanning process also seems to effect the way the leather strops a great deal. For instance with kangaroo, the vegetable tanned seems to work a lot better than chrome tanned.

People use all sorts of skin. Cow, horse, roo, pig. They used to use dolphin in the old days. Experiment and see what you like.