Thread: Making my own strop

How 'bout an old car seat belt for the webbing?

Seat belt sounds too coarse to do much good... only guessing because I'm certainly no expert!

You know, there was a member on here recently, asking how to "remove" soap he put into his leather, after a while, it caused quite a bit a drag/draw on his strop.
Keep in mind, When old time baber's rubbed soap into their strops, it was quite different than the stuff we have today. If anything, I'd just rub the hell out of it wth my oily hand, 2x a day if possible. It'll take some time, but your patience will be rewarded. Or, Go back to Tandy, and ask them how to make it slicker. Don't forget, After you get out of the shower, and have used soap, Does your skin feel smooth and slick, or dry....? I would definitely stay away from rubbing soap into leather. It just dont' go...My two cents...Now....on the other hand, Saddle soap can be used to clean leather, once dry the leather needs to be treated with neetsfoot oil to reconditon it....Or you can use some type or leather conditioner....

I've had many strops for years and years. All they ever get is a good rub down with my hand, and they work and look great. I would advise against rubbing today's soaps into them.

BTW, I made some paddles and used Tandy's cowhide belting, the 3". I thought it was great, perfect draw..Honestly....Here's a pic.

P.S. The last paddle on the right is English Bridle...

Tandy 3" leather belting is what I used also. You are probably right about using soap on the finished leather surface. I think that I'll just use plain warm water on the surface in the future, enough to soften it, and then press by running the side of the coffee mug down it again. It's really coming along nicely, so a couple of more treatments with just water should finish it perfectly.