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Leather strops

jack of all

I've been doing a bit of research on leather strops and the physics of stripping, as I was trying to sort out some older kitchen knives that needed some attention. I used an old leather belt for stropping but I'd like to make a european style paddle strop; does anyone know where I could get some leather to do this? I've tried the local cobbler but no dice; I need a strip about 12" x 3", a standard leather belt is just too narrow.

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ttm

eBay? Just and example http://cgi.ebay.ie/Blue-Leather-Hide-Skin-Craft-Fetish-Upholstery_W0QQitemZ160316328991 might be a bit thin for what you want but I'm sure there's other stuff if you look

jack of all

Thanks ttm, hadn't considered ebay.

ttm

Sadly its the first place I look for most things

Double Barrel

Jack
One of the harness makers, saddlers or tack shops should be able to take care of you.

http://www.localpages.ie/category.aspx?category=Saddlers%20%26%20Harness%20-%20Makers

Sadly its the first place I look for most things

jack of all

Cheers Double Barrel, looks like a trip to County Kildare is in order.

jack of all

I haven't taken the trip to Kildare yet

, but I did experiment with an old leather belt and some oak flooring (this doesn't sound right), putting together some paddle strops today. Once the paddles were made and finished I "conditioned" the leather with some light oil and charged each one with a fine and medium compound, respectively. I then set to honing/ polishing a penknife and some kitchen knives, which were dull but otherwise had decent edges on them. I was well pleased with the results- the penknife now has a razor edge and could easily cut a sheet of paper held from a corner only. The kitchen knives were also the better of the exercise. Stropping doesn't do away with the requirement for a proper sharpening session from time to time but it should mean fewer trips to the oilstone and prolong the life of a blade. I'd say this would be a good addition to any woodworks kit and would be especially useful to the carver I'd guess. The beauty of the whole thing is it's clean, quick and cheap. The compounds are about €4 each and will probably last a lifetime! The leather belt and oak were free!

ennisa

i was looking into straight razor shaving a while ago and a strop is used for the final honing on you may find something online to supply that. I did find a barber supply shop in dublin that has them with a canvas back. However the strop was €60 and cost more than the razors they supplied. It seems that you need a soft leather. There are some studies online that I read where somebody studied what stopping did from a microscopic level and ironically it actually seemed to remove some of the fine edge. I can't find the link now though of course. The stropping technique for a straight razor would probably be of use for knives too. could be worth a look, youtube has some OK vids where you can see it in action.

jack of all

Very interesting ennisa, I think I may have seen the same article also, the problem being that the strop tends to "round over" the fine edge. This could be a real problem with very soft (resilient) leather and poor technique I guess. But for knives and carving tools I reckon this system has its merits, time will tell.

ennisa

The proof is in the using, if it feels sharper and works better then microscopes be damned, I say!

jack of all

Indeed, it's a bit like the debate about "flat soles"- you can find no end of stuff dealing with the subject. Personally I wouldn't be overly inclined to be messing about with the sole of a plane from a good maker, unless there was a very obvious flaw that prevented the tool from working as well as it should. I like a bit of pottering and fettling with tools myself but when stuff like engineer's blue and scrapers are mentioned I wonder!

ennisa

We do like the pottering

Fingalian

Nice looking penknife, is it Japanese with a brass body? I saw it somewhere a couple of years ago amd meant to order one but never got around to it. Did Axminister or Rutlands sell it? Cheers.

jack of all

Neither Fingalian; I bought that from Dick Tools nearly 10 years ago (back in the days when, if you googled "dick tools" you got a load of porn sites and no sign of Rudolph!:eek:). It's nice enough alright, I reserve it for one function only- cutting the one or two good cigars I might smoke in a year! It makes a nice job of splitting the cedar spills I use for lighting the cigar too! The knife came with a nice split leather/ suede sheath. The purchase of that knife was, in hindsight, the start of this terrible (tool buying) disease

Fingalian

ah the slippery slope. Been ages since I last visted that site, hmm nice stuff.

ennisa

Dick have so much of my money

but really

jack of all

ennisa wrote: »

Dick have so much of my money

but really

All those tools are an investment! That's what I tell Mrs Jack; they are an investment of the best kind, for not only do they (mostly) retain their value over time but they give you great pleasure in their use over the years too!!!

ennisa

A quote I saw as somebodies signature goes something like;

"I'm not afraid to die, I'm just terrified that after I am gone my wife will sell me tools for what I told her I paid for them!"

jack of all

ennisa wrote: »

A quote I saw as somebodies signature goes something like;

"I'm not afraid to die, I'm just terrified that after I am gone my wife will sell me tools for what I told her I paid for them!"

My wife won't be fooled too easily on that score anymore, she knows they're expensive!

ttm

jack of all wrote: »

My wife won't be fooled too easily on that score anymore, she knows they're expensive!

I think I can get away with it

. I buy a lot of stuff on eBay but only at bargin prices so "under questioning" anything that looks expensive was bought on eBay