How To Make A Strop For Knives

[Art]

Making a strop seems simple, but how many times have we seen those without one or who go any buy one. Here is how to make one that is plenty big enough for the biggest of head knives.

Please forgive the pictures, but this is a one man show.

If all you need is a strop for swivel knives, they are pretty easy to make. Put stropping compound on anything fairly substantial and hard (even a business card will do) and set it on a hard surface. The green thing is a strop made out of conveyor belting, you can get it from Weaver or Bob Beard.

This is a horse butt, it is hard jacked between 7 and 9 oz., this one is 8oz. These are available from Springfield Leather, Sheridan Outfitters, RJF, Maverick, and many others, make sure it is hard jacked if you can. This cut is taken right ahead of where the shell cordovan ovals come off.

While not absolutely necessary, it is good to get your strop up off the table or bench surface so you can get the proper angle of attack. I chose a 5x14 piece of 2x pine that is a Weaver edger strop on one side and now this new strop for other knives on the opposite. Make sure that the edges are NOT routed as sometimes you will need to use all the way out to the edge.

Sand only if you need it, it is good to have it flat, but not baby's butt smooth as you need some tooth for the glue. I am using an 80 grit ceramic belt, but a 60 or even a 36 would work just fine. I also scored up the surface in a hatch pattern with a utility knife after sanding.

After cutting out the strop, it fits pretty ok on the board. You can cut the strop out a little oversize and trim it later. I used a Leather Wrangler's Head knife by Paul Zalesak to cut it out, but my trusty Buchman was nearby. The Zalesak knife preformed very well in the hard jacked horsehide, it was easier to cut than some others I have tried. I could have gotten by with a Utility knife (well sharpened and stropped), but it is a little easier for me to see where I am going with the head knife.

I used PVA glue (Fiebing's Tanners Bond) on both pieces, let it dry for at least 10 minutes to even 15 minutes before sticking together, if you don't it will be like your first time on ice skates as it is like an oil bearing till it gets tacky.

A couple of hours pressing, but I let it go overnight at about 70 degrees.

I am using a French Edger to trim up the strop that is a little oversize for the board.

Any good saddle type oil, even neatsfoot or in a pinch mineral oil can be used to oil the strop and make it easier to adhere the stropping compound. I used #1 saddle oil with fungicides from Bee Natural.

This is a microfine compound I get from toolsforwoodworking.com, works for me, bought two (just because of shipping) and have never used the second one.

While the oil is still wet, just wipe off and pooling excess and get to applying the compound. Just rub it all over. and when you get little bits rolling up you can stop and rub them in with your fingers or a knife blade (what else?).

Let it dry up for a while and then strop, strop, strop. You can add a little compound when needed.

This work took about an hour and twenty minutes with fooling around with the camera and all, and like I said I let the glue dry overnight.

Art

[pabloz]

Art,

Nice one....THANK YOU for a great tutorial. I have never tried horse hide. I'll have to give it a try.

[King's X]

Very cool Art. PabloZ, I heard that those that use horse butt leather say that they have better results than regular cowhide? If anyone can elaborate, I would interested in knowing. Art, your experiences?

[Art]

Well, the horsehide is pretty hard and even at 8oz., you don't have to worry about rolling the edge. If you used 8oz. cowhide, unjacked, you can actually get a lot of give when pressing down. If I were to use cow, I would either use something hard jacked like a sole bend, or 3-4oz so there is not much flesh to push into. Horse butt is reasonably priced and hard, and I always have a lot of it around, so that is a good reason. It tends to fall off in thickness as you go down the flanks (the ends) so you will get only 2 or so strops my size out of one, but with 2 inch wide strops, you could get a few more. They compare favorably to the conveyor belt strops. I have not really done much testing to see if one type of strop is better than another. Anything is better than nothing.

Art

Very cool Art. PabloZ, I heard that those that use horse butt leather say that they have better results than regular cowhide? If anyone can elaborate, I would interested in knowing. Art, your experiences?

[Muse]

I made a strop many years ago, still have it. Here's what I did:

I made a box for one of my sharpening stones, made it out of pieces of lath. There's rubber on the bottom of the box to give the box traction on a surface, you don't want the stone shifting around while you're sharpening a blade, no blood letting! The strop is just a rectangular piece of thick hard leather that I glued to the top of the box. I used Shoe Goo or similar rubbery compound that comes in a large tube both to glue the leather to the box and for traction feet for the box itself. Works great.

Edited December 27, 2011 by Muse

[rod17]

Well, the horsehide is pretty hard and even at 8oz., you don't have to worry about rolling the edge. If you used 8oz. cowhide, unjacked, you can actually get a lot of give when pressing down. If I were to use cow, I would either use something hard jacked like a sole bend, or 3-4oz so there is not much flesh to push into. Horse butt is reasonably priced and hard, and I always have a lot of it around, so that is a good reason. It tends to fall off in thickness as you go down the flanks (the ends) so you will get only 2 or so strops my size out of one, but with 2 inch wide strops, you could get a few more. They compare favorably to the conveyor belt strops. I have not really done much testing to see if one type of strop is better than another. Anything is better than nothing.

Art

When you say conveyor belting what grade?surface?and synthetic material, as I have access to a lot of conveyor belting of all shapes and qualities.

[Art]

You got me there, I get it from Bob Beard or Weaver.

Art

When you say conveyor belting what grade?surface?and synthetic material, as I have access to a lot of conveyor belting of all shapes and qualities.

[King's X]

Lonnie at Hackbarth is selling some of that conveyor belt stuff for strops. He had it and some diamond rouge paste for sale at the Texas Show. The belting was $15 (?) for a strip about 6" wide by 2 feet or maybe 2.5'. I believe the paste was $15 a tube. Give him a ring and if I am wrong please post the correct price on here.

Thanks.

[rod17]

When you say conveyor belting what grade?surface?and synthetic material, as I have access to a lot of conveyor belting of all shapes and qualities.

[Ken Cook]

Which side of the leather is glued? I have been away from leather work for a long time, but I thought the strops we had in school were scrap leather with jewlers ruge rubbed into the rough side. That is what I have been using lately. Maybe that is why my swivle knife seems to drag.