Thread: Horsehide leather for a strop

I have a "Tandy" leather by me. I've bought plenty off them over the years. It stores well, doesn't really need anything, depending on the climate, and where you keep it. As long as it's not too dry, you should be fine.

In addition to the strops, you can make a couple of paddles or bench strops.

Which leather sid you buy from Tandy? I visited their website but they have a ton of different hides!

Any leather will work, just think smooth and how thick you want it. The grain on horse is the smallest of all. The thicker pieces come from the butt. Same with cow, it thins at the shoulder. Belly sections tend to curve and have wrinkles.

I bought this here: 3"x66" http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/e.../4576-191.aspx

For me, that was fine for a few paddles for pasting. Tandy has all types of leather, Roo, Gator, some other exotics, including full hides etc... Most have a scrap bin as well, and they'll let you rumage through it.

When I told the salesman what I using it for, He was nice enough to give me some pointers on how to do properly. It worked great...

I made a couple strops from horsebutt. Very thick leather and there is no draw when you strop no matter how long you use it. Very slick feeling. A horsebutt strop in the right hands should last two or three lifetimes.

P.S.
That's why horses can run faster than cows. Their hide is more aerodynamically smooth. Ha!

Broncc - the guy you need input from is "hidestoart". 44 yrs leather working. You might want to PM him. One of my better home made efforts was from horse belly leather, though as one poster mentioned, has wrinkles, irregularities. While technically not leather, the "Shell" membrane under the top of the rump is the most costly. Zero draw. Its where true Cordovan comes from. It may be that Horween co. in Illinois is the last place making real cordovan. Supposedly, the rump leather, as mentioned, was prized after shell. Having tried belly leather, I'd pay more for the rump portion, though this pc of belly leather still serves well. I start w/ a high-draw leather (latigo - another home-made strop), then switch to a medium or low draw strop. It has worked well so far.

I've not had a strop in daily use require care other than the daily hand rub w/ oils from rubbing my forehead. Those strops I've not used in a while benefitted greatly from application of a home made formula from hidestoart, rubbed in w/ a surfacing tool called a 'slicker', which is about a 5x6" pc of plate glass w/ one edge having a wood handle, the opposite edge being rounded and polished. It really has the strops feeling smooth and even.
'Hope this helps some.

Thank you for the input, guys. All the information has been very useful to me. I spoke to a guy from a Bulgarian blade forum who had purchased leather from the same factory and unfortunately he told me that the hide wasn't of very good quality. The thickness wasn't even, there were cuts all over the skin, the hide isn't vegetable tanned but chrome tanned, etc. There is another place that sells hides which I've been assured are top quality but they are more expensive and are sold by the square meter. I don't see a point in purchasing a whole hide as I don't need that much leather. I'll have to live with my old strop for now.