How To Make A Strop For Knives

[Ranelpia]

I got a couple of 3-4oz sides from the Tandy Black Friday sale, are they thin enough for a strop?  I was talking to another person on here, and they told me to go with a thick piece of leather.  I have an 8-9oz side if that'll work.  

[Art]

3-4 oz is marginally better because it deflects less, but the difference is pretty much negligible.

Art

[Tannin]

 

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 swivel knife seems to drag.

It really doesn't matter that much. Although I think I would recommend smooth side up. I've seen both approaches recommended and I have strops of both types.  I tend to use rough side up as a coarse strop with courser compound and the smooth side up as a finer finishing strop -  but it's not really necessary to have both, either will do the job.  In use, stropping and compound tend to smooth the rough side and use tends to roughen the smooth side.

I still sometimes use my oldest strops, pieces of an old, suede from a worn-out old welders gauntlet (used as gardening gloves).  The smooth side is glued to flat pieces of scrap wood with room left for a handle.  I wasn't sure it suede would work but it worked fine.  I later started using metal polish (autosol) as "compound" on it.  That and use have made the strops quite smooth now & I sometimes use them for final strop/polish.

Edited August 25, 2016 by Tannin

[Tannin]

BTW My preferred final strop currently is often a power strop: I made a leather stropping wheel from 3x 4" circles of thick saddle leather fixed onto the  drill arbor from a cheap metal polishing kit, which I fit into an knackered old Bosch drill with a seized-up chuck (just enough movement to fit & tighten the drill arbor), which I clamp into my woodworking bench vice.  The drill has a speed control, which I set quite low.  I have the wheel spin away from me. I treated the new leather wheel with a little soap (soap or beeswax was recommended - probably to reduce unnecessary waste of compound?) & then green compound. It works very well.  Best of all, it cost me nothing, as I had all the parts before I thought about making it.

I am also currently experimenting with MDF.  I cut a large paddle from an off-cut that I had laying around, I strengthened the handle with a piece of scrap hardwood - it looks like a short cricket bat!  I put green compound on the rough side & white compound on the smooth side - no leather, just MDF.  The rough side seems a bit too rough but it does seem to work quite well, also both side are getting smooth, glazed even.  You could probably make a pretty good power stropping wheel out of MDF.

I also like the huge, long strop by a Scottish saddler on youtube (a forum member here too).  It looked like a length of wall stud with a long leather strap glued to it, covered in the saddler's own "compound": beef tallow & carborundum power (coarse compared to green or white compound).

Edited August 25, 2016 by Tannin

[BEARable]

Pretty basic questions on the rogue put on the Strop: Does one just apply more rogue on top of the rogue what was being used? and of course it doesn't take long for the rogue to turn black from the blade, Is the paste still pretty effective after it has turned black? And after I am done for the day do I just leave the old rogue on it, and add more on top of it the next time I start working again? 

[Northmount]

On 2017-01-12 at 3:36 PM, BEARable said:

Pretty basic questions on the rogue put on the Strop: Does one just apply more rogue on top of the rogue what was being used? and of course it doesn't take long for the rogue to turn black from the blade, Is the paste still pretty effective after it has turned black? And after I am done for the day do I just leave the old rogue on it, and add more on top of it the next time I start working again? 

Personally, I would use rouge.  I think it works better, even though rogues are everywhere and are less than a dime a dozen.

Tom

[Jack142]

I just thought I would put a pic of my 2 strops on here, easy to make, white rouge, one strop has a soft rubber back, ( old mouse pad ) .  This for convex knife blades, and what I call a soft strop.  The knife is a custom made Stek knife.

[kirbytorres]

I have read somewhere that by submerging a veg tan leather on hot/warm water and then letting it dry, would make the leather harden. Would that hardened leather be good as a stropping leather?

[St8LineGunsmith]

A piece of card stock from the back of a legal pad and white rouge makes a great strop for my knives especially my round knives.

The extra surface area of the card board helps to cover the whole blade.

[WolfteverGunleather]

@judgebc  

They are called russet horsehide strips. You can contact The Tannery Row on their online store and order them.