Thread: SRD Roo Strop

From my own personal experience as a maker of 'roo strops and using my own strops in 2, 2.5 and 3" widths, the only strop to cup slightly is the 3". I put that down more to having a narrower dee ring as a handle than the actual strop width. The 3" is my daily strop (and the oldest and ugliest one I have, being the first born and all) and this may also be part of the issue, but as has been sad 'roo hide is thin, strong and flexible.
Quality 'roo hide should also be supple without too much stretch, if any. Cupping in 'roo hide will not affect the stropping of your razor. The hides supple, flexible nature, combined with its finer grain compared to all other leathers should, in theory, impart a higher polish to your razors edge, and thus aid in giving a superior shave.
On any one hide there is a lot of wastage around the belly, flanks and arm areas as these have the most stretch and must be removed to ensure only firm leather is used in the making of a quality strop. One hide will yield roughly five or six straps depending on widths required, and the cost of a single 'roo hide averages around $150 for a square metre depending on the grade. You pay less for lesser quality, and you do get lesser quality as 'roo's are not farmed. They are a wild animal that has scars and marks, from fighting each other and things like barbed wire, that make parts of, or indeed entire lesser hides totally unusable as strop material.
And here ends the lesson... I hope you can learn to appreciate you 'roo hide strop for what it's worth. Quality 'roo hide is a fantastic strop material, and I don't doubt in the slightest that SRD 'roo strops would be anything but the highest quality.


Mick