I switched to a straight and strop last December and have had the usual learning curve but my strop has suffered from a lot of nicks and finally, a deep gouge. I do leatherwork occassionally, so I thought I would use some of my scrap to make a replacement. I didn't need to replace the nylon, or hardware, and I had a small roll of black leather - easy enough, right? ;) The first one didn't go as well as I had hoped. The material was too thin and had been rolled for too long, so whenever I pulled it taught, the leather would warp. Plus, it just never "sounded" right. The next one worked out beautifully. I used some plain leather, cut it to 3" x 24" and put a light coating of baseball glove oil on it. (ran out of neatsfoot oil, Tandy was closed but Play it Again Sports was next door and open) I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and the sound and drag is much, much better. I do the daily hand rub but the edge is staying where it should be, so I'm happy!
