Ah yes, the apparent newbie, that I am. There have been a few threads on these ebay strops. I myself prior to joining bought one. It did only cost me 11 bucks includign shipping. It has a 21" thick leather strop. the leather is not very smooth though. My first thought is to sand it down smooth. The other strop attatched is a black material that appears to be like a vinyl with felt backing. Is this at all usefull. It not i was considering wrapping it in denim and using that instead. The one possitive about the strop is that it's assembled with a screw clamp and i can change out peices later. I am not in a good position to buy anything else right now, so any thoughts on wether i can get away with it for a while or not.