advice on which leather for strop

[mac1012]

hi I have been looking for leather strops to buy I have seen one on the tool post here

http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Grindin ... stems.html


its the one on the board and with handle this design is better for me as I can grip in my dumb head shave horse

I having made and sharpen on the go at craft fairs

I could make my own as I have plenty of nice flat pitch pine knocking around and I am a regular scoll sawer so making the base with handle would be fine I just not sure what leather to use I have seen people say you can use leather of a belt ? so could I go and purchase a cheap wide leather belt and use that ??

and which side is best to use the smooth or rough or both ?

or if any one has any other leather choices that they have used as I would prefer it 3 inch wide like the one on the tool post site

and what would be best way of sticking to the board pva as I want to make sure it is flat and well stuck down or maybe I would be just better buying the one at tool post as its 80mm wide and 15 pound with postage

mark

 

[undergroundhunter]

Mine is made from and old car seat cover (its what I had to hand) about 2mm thick but an old belt would do if you can find a wide one. I use the rough side with some green compound. Mine is stuck down with PVA to an MDF off cut but I would use contact adhesive as its starting to come away at the edges.

I find it works a treat, mine goes in the vice but like you have said you could easily but a handle on it.

Matt

 

[mac1012]

ok thanks for advice matt I may have a look in town there is a material shop that I have used before they might have some thin leather on a roll that may be suitable


mark

 

[Argus]

.

As an alternative or (even in addition) to a leather strop, you may consider a wooden stropping board.

You need a piece of substantial (at least 3/4" or 1" thick) ply or MDF. It needs to be flat.
Mine is about 9" square. After a very light oiling on the surface, I have one half dressed with the same carvers' stropping compound that is on my leather strop, the other is dressed with a small amount of Autosol metal polish.

If the wooden board method has an advantage, it is that it doe not tend round over your cutting edge as much as a leather strop will with frequent stropping between cuts. This can be an issue with carvers. It also allows the backs of chisels and plane irons to be polished by running it flat on the Autosol side, which you can't do easily on a leather strop without ripping it to shreds.

Both methods work well, either used together or solely.


Hope that this helps.

.

 

[AndyT]

I just popped in to our nearest charity shop, looked through the leather belts and bought the widest. It works fine.

 

[MIGNAL]

I prefer the slightly harder leather that is often found on belts. The bit of leather that I use was from an old school satchel bag, just laid flat on the bench. I hone at a few degrees less than done on a hard stone.

 

[DTR]

I just popped in to our nearest charity shop, looked through the leather belts and bought the widest. It works fine.

+1. Mine's glued to a length of 3/4" MDF, rough side up.

 

[Fromey]

So let's start a debate. I've read (sorry can't remember where but I think it was an American forum) that the hard side of leather is the one to used for stropping, not the soft 'furry/fluffy' side. In addition, apparently horse leather is better for stropping than cow hide.

 

[MIGNAL]

I doubt it matters very much. Stropping is the very final polish, the part that gives a fraction sharper than finishing on a very fine stone. You could probably strop on paper or denim and it will give a similar effect. I've used wood and the Green paste and that works too.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Actually, chaps, what does a strop need to do? Something to carry a very fine abrasive, and apply it to tool edges without dubbing them over. That suggests that a solid surface would be better than a soft, squidgy one. So a hard leather, fairly thin, fixed to a solid backing, or even just the solid backing if it'll take and hold the abrasive.

I really don't know, but I wonder if leather has become the material of choice because donkey's years ago it was relatively easy to come by and fairly cheap, and also held whatever fine abrasives were then available - jeweller's rouge, for example. If it worked then, it'll work now, of course; but other, newer, options may be just as good or even better (neither Autosol nor MDF were available to the Victorians!).

One advantage for leather is that it can be bent to conform to odd shapes like carving gouges. I've even read of leather bootlaces being dressed with abrasive and used to strop the insides of small vee tools (supply of leather bootlaces may be a tad problematic these days, but I bet Ebay has something pretty damn close!)

I think it can be a sensible move to keep a strop clean when not actually in use - a little slip case may be a good plan. Leaving it lying around unprotected near the grinder or other source of grit particles may not be the best way to ensure a high polish on tool edges!

 

[Trafalgar]

hi I have been looking for leather strops to buy I have seen one on the tool post here

http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Grindin ... stems.html


its the one on the board and with handle this design is better for me as I can grip in my dumb head shave horse

I having made and sharpen on the go at craft fairs

I could make my own as I have plenty of nice flat pitch pine knocking around and I am a regular scoll sawer so making the base with handle would be fine I just not sure what leather to use I have seen people say you can use leather of a belt ? so could I go and purchase a cheap wide leather belt and use that ??

and which side is best to use the smooth or rough or both ?

or if any one has any other leather choices that they have used as I would prefer it 3 inch wide like the one on the tool post site

and what would be best way of sticking to the board pva as I want to make sure it is flat and well stuck down or maybe I would be just better buying the one at tool post as its 80mm wide and 15 pound with postage

mark

Shell cordovan very, very lightly dressed with strop paste from a barber supply. Don't use the green wax crayons so commonly offered as appropriate for dressing hand strops. They are for high speed power buffing where the wax melts to expose the abrasive then solidifies again once the buffer is turned off and the wax cools.

Another alternative is a hard rubber strop dressed with aluminum oxide powder. This combination imparts an unbelievably high level of polish with no dubbing. You strop with the lightest of pressure as the AlOx powder does all the work for you.

 

[Peter Sefton]

The leather I use and have sourced is English Cow hide 3 to 4mm thick and is taken from the bend of the cow (exported to the Bic factory for machine stropping) this is a stiff leather that we glue to English oak fine side out. We glue this with Titebond 111 and when dry dress with baby oil to open the pores. I have tried all sorts of buffing compounds most of which are designed for powered buffing which don't work for hand strops. I use Veritas .5 micron honing compound which is ideal and designed for the purpose. I feel the use of soft leathers can dub the edge if not used very carefully.
I do also have Autosol to be used on hardwood for students apposed to using leather but feel this along with fine diamond paste defeats the object somewhat of the strop. For me it's a bit of kit which is very clean left on the bench top for improving the edge of my chisels or plane blades during use, very quick and clean rather than going back to the messy business of re sharpening.
What ever sharpening medium I use I usually finish off by stropping in my hand (leather) or on my strop just to remove the very fine wire edge.
Cheers Peter

 

[mac1012]

thanks for all the comments and feedback , its good that we can have a discussion on here wthout it getting into woeld war 3 !!

some interesting ideas and techniques , peter is the leather you talk about in the shop you have provided the link too the one that says barbers strop ?

thanks mark

 

[mac1012]

think I going to go with the one I seen on tool post I put the link to , its wide board and thin leather and will be flat ! as the last thing I want it an uneven surface I have not stuck down properly as reading you comments to thick or not flat leather will cause me problems especially for a newbie !

I will try the mdf and autosol method on a piece of thick mdf too

thanks for all info as I am learning all the time !

 

[bugbear]

Don't use the green wax crayons so commonly offered as appropriate for dressing hand strops. They are for high speed power buffing where the wax melts to expose the abrasive then solidifies again once the buffer is turned off and the wax cools.

I'm not sure there's a fully standardised colour code for compounds, although some of them are directly related to chemistry (Chromium (iii) Oxide is green, iron (iii) oxide is red, hence "rouge").

The commonly used Veritas green compound is most certainly appropriate for hand strops.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... at=1,43072

BugBear

 

[Trafalgar]

Don't use the green wax crayons so commonly offered as appropriate for dressing hand strops. They are for high speed power buffing where the wax melts to expose the abrasive then solidifies again once the buffer is turned off and the wax cools.

I'm not sure there's a fully standardised colour code for compounds, although some of them are directly related to chemistry (Chromium (iii) Oxide is green, iron (iii) oxide is red, hence "rouge").

The commonly used Veritas green compound is most certainly appropriate for hand strops.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... at=1,43072

BugBear

While a lot of people have re-purposed these buffing wheel compound sticks (if the vehicle is a fairly hard wax at room temp it's for use with buffing wheels) they are not the correct way to charge a hand strop. They just aren't. They generally result in a total coating of the leather making the leather itself irrelevant. And it's not irrelevant. A lot of people use these things and a lot of people are wrong on this.

If you can find any classical reference that advises charging a leather strop with wax or something containing wax I'd love to see it.

 

[Trafalgar]

thanks for all the comments and feedback , its good that we can have a discussion on here wthout it getting into woeld war 3 !!

some interesting ideas and techniques , peter is the leather you talk about in the shop you have provided the link too the one that says barbers strop ?

thanks mark

Put some of this on one of the company's hard rubber strops:

http://www.amazon.com/Wood-Is-Good-WD40 ... B003NE5BFO

I expect the one container of powder to last ten years, at least. It takes an incredibly small amount to do the job.

 

[bugbear]

Don't use the green wax crayons so commonly offered as appropriate for dressing hand strops. They are for high speed power buffing where the wax melts to expose the abrasive then solidifies again once the buffer is turned off and the wax cools.

I'm not sure there's a fully standardised colour code for compounds, although some of them are directly related to chemistry (Chromium (iii) Oxide is green, iron (iii) oxide is red, hence "rouge").

The commonly used Veritas green compound is most certainly appropriate for hand strops.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... at=1,43072

BugBear

While a lot of people have re-purposed these buffing wheel compound sticks (if the vehicle is a fairly hard wax at room temp it's for use with buffing wheels) they are not the correct way to charge a hand strop. They just aren't. They generally result in a total coating of the leather making the leather itself irrelevant. And it's not irrelevant. A lot of people use these things and a lot of people are wrong on this.

If you can find any classical reference that advises charging a leather strop with wax or something containing wax I'd love to see it.

It's certainly not a repurposing - LV specifically claim it's usable for hand honing. As you know, older references tend to be scanty on detail, especially detail that was considered "obvious" at the time, but I'll see what I can find.

Ah - in the midst of another "discussion" I'd already found this:

There are twelve street-sellers of razor-paste, but they seem to prefer " working" the distant suburbs, or going on country rounds, as there are often only three in London. It is still vended, I am told, to clerks, who use it to sharpen their pen-knives, but the paste, owing to the prevalence of the use of steel pens, is now atmost a superfluity, compared to what it was. It is bought also, and frequently enough in public-houses, by working-men, as a means of "setting" their razors. The venders make the paste themselves, except two, who purchase of a street-seller. The ingredients are generally fuller's earth (Id.), hog's lard (Id.), and emery powder (2<Z.). The paste is sold in boxes carried on a tray, which will close and form a sort of case, like a backgammon board. The quantity I have given will make a dozen boxes (each sold at Id.), so that the profit is Id. in the Is., for to the id. paid for ingredients must be added Id., for the cost of a dozen boxes. The paste is announced as " warranted to put an edge to a razor or penknife superior to any thing ever before offered to the public." The street-sellers offer to prove this by sharpening any gentleman's penknife on the paste spread on a piece of soldier's old belt, which sharpening, when required, they accomplish readily enough. One of these paste-sellers, I was told, had been apprenticed to a barber; another had been a cutter, the remainder are of the ordinary class of street-sellers.

Calculating that 6 men " work" the metropolis daily, taking 2s. each per day (with Is. 2d. profit), we find 187/. the amount of the street outlay.

BugBear

 

[Peter Sefton]

thanks for all the comments and feedback , its good that we can have a discussion on here wthout it getting into woeld war 3 !!

some interesting ideas and techniques , peter is the leather you talk about in the shop you have provided the link too the one that says barbers strop ?

thanks mark

The product on the website is Razor Strop Leather, apologies I assure you the leather is a lot better than my Photography
The Veritas Green Honing Compound is designed to be used by hand on leather strops and the majority of students that have used it do buy it. If you are interested it's on the website.
Cheers Peter

 

[Trafalgar]

thanks for all the comments and feedback , its good that we can have a discussion on here wthout it getting into woeld war 3 !!

some interesting ideas and techniques , peter is the leather you talk about in the shop you have provided the link too the one that says barbers strop ?

thanks mark

The product on the website is Razor Strop Leather, apologies I assure you the leather is a lot better than my Photography
The Veritas Green Honing Compound is designed to be used by hand on leather strops and the majority of students that have used it do buy it. If you are interested it's on the website.
Cheers Peter

If the product contains wax as a vehicle (any at all) it is not correct for charging leather hand strops.

It should also be said that anybody using very fine media can skip stropping altogether. It is unnecessary. For folks wanting to polish steel there are several proprietary tubed polishes, silver creams, etc. which do a fine job. Wright's Silver Cream smeared lightly on an open page of an old phone book, tool catalog, or Kraft paper envelope is hard to beat. Otherwise, charge a linen strop with these. Charging ALWAYS means lightly, with restraint. If it becomes difficult to even identify what the strop is made of then it has essentially been ruined. Between leather, linen, etc. there's frankly an only barely rebuttable presumption that they should be used uncharged in the first place. It's nonsensical and almost an abomination to source a fine piece of leather or fine piece of linen and then proceed to smother it with a waxy buffing compound. One can easily make the case that a leather strop should only be charged once but if not that certainly very infrequently, the interval measured in years.

Any strop dressing should be creamy, well rubbed-in, and leave the leather itself still very much in play.

I like the AlOx powder on hard rubber; I use just enough to take the sheen off the rubber. My finest media is a black Ark so I have something to gain from the strop. A very light touch removes rag, doesn't "dub" the edge, and imparts a surprising brightness for the effort and time expended, which are next to nothing.