Suggestion for leather strop.

[gentiscid]

I am going to sacrifice this old bamboo cutting board that has served us for more than 10 years & make it a strop board by cutting the sides and gluing some leather on it!

Question is:

Should I buy normal leather or top grain and what kind? Would appreciate links if u have any that work well. Also suggestions for compounds please, diamonds, green, whatever.

Thanks!

 

[martchap]

I am going to sacrifice this old bamboo cutting board that has served us for more than 10 years & make it a strop board by cutting the sides and gluing some leather on it!

Question is:

Should I buy normal leather or top grain and what kind? Would appreciate links if u have any that work well. Also suggestions for compounds please, diamonds, green, whatever.

Thanks!

Here's some info on great leather for a strop (I have no connection to this company; just passing along the info
https://toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/MS-HORSEST

 

[martchap]

If not the above link, at least search for 'horse butt strop leather' (really ) to find what's available.

 

[gentiscid]

Here's some info on great leather for a strop (I have no connection to this company; just passing along the info

Thank you, will take a look now!

 

[martchap]

As for strop paste, I've been using this:

Kent Grit 3.5 microns Diamond Polishing Paste​

... ordered from Amazon.com ($15)— it really adds to finalizing a razor edge (with the strop).
—Happy sharpening!

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

I'd just get a piece of cow suede and if you want, a piece of flesh side (smooth). If you're putting compound on it, the leather type isn't going to make much difference.

Bernal Cutlery has some very nice compound.

No need for diamond unless your steels dictate it.

 

[Stockman]

My personal favorite is Kangaroo leather, it is a lot thinner and tougher than cow. Being thinner reduces the con-vexing you get with softer thicker leathers.
Before I adhere the leather to the base, I lightly wet the leather then place it on a flat surface and use a rolling pin back and forth on the side used for stropping to flatten and release the natural leather silicates. Normally roll for about 15 - 20 minutes, longer is better. After rolled and completely dry, light coating of a leather conditioner and good to go.
2 sided strops are good, 1 side with a compound ( I like Gunny Juice 1 mic or liquid Green Chromium Oxide ) and the other side uncoated ( final finishing strop )
These are two of my homemade strops, cowhide with Green Chromium Oxide and 2 Sided Kangaroo. You can see the difference in thickness between the two types of leather.

 

[Legion74]

I also use kangaroo, but just for final stropping, deburring purposes. I don’t use pastes.

When I have in the past I have used CrOx on balsa wood.

 

[sansho]

i bookmarked this a while back just in case i ever wanted to try making a strop.

it has info about preparing the leather for best results. idk anything about leather, but i thought it was interesting.

https://www.honeybadgerknives.com/western-active-honey-badger/preparing-your-strop-leather/

 

[gentiscid]

Thank you guys!

 

[gentiscid]

i bookmarked this a while back just in case i ever wanted to try making a strop.

it has info about preparing the leather for best results. idk anything about leather, but i thought it was interesting.

https://www.honeybadgerknives.com/western-active-honey-badger/preparing-your-strop-leather/

I bookmarked it too, very helpful! Thanks a lot!

 

[Blank Blades.]

I personally like using the suede side of the leather for loading up with compound. It will hold a good bit.

Also, every once in a while. I find it needs refreshing. What i mean by that is, after reloading the strop multiple times, it starts to get a build up of steel particles, and old compound, and get burnished over.

So i will take some sandpaper and resurface the strop. Laying the sandpaper on a flat surface and going over it with the leather. Usually i use 60 or 80 grit to get the removal done quickly. Then just directly to 320 grit, and then something like 800, or 1000. I usually stop around 1000, it gives a nice surface for loading up with compound again, and using.

A tip if you resurface it. Once you get to the part where youre using the 320 and above paper i find it best to just sand in one direction.

 

[BarryMM]

I have one from scrupleworks. Very nice!

 

[esoo]

I bookmarked this post on making a strop, but never follow through on making one for myself:
https://www.honeybadgerknives.com/preparing-your-strop-leather/

 

[mike59]

You want to use veg tanned leather - not chrome tanned. You can read about the various attributes of the different leathers - Kangaroo, Horse, Buffalo, Cow, ... etc and seems to mostly come down to the density of the leather and amount of natural silicates in them. Latter would not matter much if using compounds, pastes, diammond, ... etc. Cost and availability plays a factor as well.

I bought this leather and very happy with it but many other places you can get it from. I've had good luck in all respects with these folks several times now and recommend them. They also run sales regularly.

The Leather Guy - The Leather Guy | Leather Hides, Scraps, Supplies & Hardware

Natural, 2-10 oz Veg Tan Pre-cuts, Artisan's Choice
Tooling Leather Veg Tan Pre-cuts | The Leather Guy

I bought 12x12 9 oz and then cut it into 4 3x12 strips and made 4 strops - 2 rough/suede side up and 2 smooth side up

Have recently bought some other weights to play with thinner cuts of leather but have not done it yet.

Glue the leather to the wood with Contact Cement that you can get anywhere (Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, hardware store, ... etc.). I used DAP Weldwood but any should work fine.

Stropping Compounds (Bars)
- I use them on the rough/suede side of leather but have seen it used on both sides
- To remove/refresh I use a steel putty knife and basically scrape the old off by rubbing it back and forth in short strokes with putty knife perpendicular to strop. Works great. Have tried other methods like oils and stuff but not a fan.
- I prefer the white (Aluminum Oxide) but seems like most folks prefer the green (Chromium Oxide). I've got 1 strop with each. White is coarser than green.
- Have heard good things about and use Enkay brand compound. Also heard good about Formax and also heard that Formax supplies Enkay.
- There are a bunch out there and probably not much difference from one to the next but I went with the following Enkay compounds and very happy with them. Will last me a lifetime!

White Diamond Polishing Compound 4 oz. - SKU 152-W - $6.00
White Diamond Polishing Compound 4 oz.
$6.00

Green Stainless Steel Polishing Compound, 4 oz. - SKU 152-G - $6.00
Green Stainless Steel Polishing Compound, 4 oz.

I've recently been playing with Gunny Juice Diamond Suspension
- on smooth side of leather
- on plain basswood (no leather) purchased from Hobby Lobby
I've only used it once at this point so no real experience yet but seems good so far. Google is your friend and will find a number of YouTube videos regarding Gunny Juice.

For wood - I had some Red Oak pieces when I started making my own strops so I used that. Good, hard, flat pieces. I had 1x4 that I cut to just under 3 inches wide and just under 12 inches long (the size of my leather). That left a little extra room so the leather didn't have to be exact when I glued it on and then I just trimmed the edges after.

If you're using leather you just need the wood to be flat but if you're going to use paste or solutions (diamond, CBN, ... etc.) on plain wood you probably want to sand it a bit more than if just using leather - to get it flat and then some more to close up the grain.

I marked my wood with pencil and a cross hatch pattern and put my sandpaper on a piece of granite and then sanded on that to make sure the wood was flat.

There's a number of pastes out there but I don't have any first hand experience with them.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Godinlhi]

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/chroostset3x.html
On the pricier side for a strop but this set up treats me well. The base is very sturdy and being able to swap out the magnetic strops is nice.

Edit: whoops forgot links to cktg are blocked