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Making a cowhide strop

OpusX

OpusX

TSC’s Master of Warp Cores, Alchemy, Ale, & Cider
As I'm working into using straights, there is certainly one major thing missing from my overall kit, a strop. Now say what you will, I have been utilizing one of my belts as a strop. It is a 9/10oz 1 3/4 wide heavy belt, one of several I have from a local artisan, and it is working fine (please feel free to admonish me now).

I have been shopping for strops, and ran into one from Razor Emporium that was a very simple single piece of horsehide leather, with a handle shape cut into one end and a grommet with a tie off on the other. This design gave me an idea, as to why not make such a thing myself with a cowhide belt blank (again feel free to yell at me again here).

Based on that I have ordered some 3" wide 9/10oz 50" long cowhide blank to work with. I have done some leather work as a hobby years ago, so we'll see how things go.

I'll as always document here, and am looking for any thoughts or opinions on my plans and musings.

---Razor Emporium Strop (the current inspiration)---
h11__89381.1609603077.jpg
 
as long as you are using a good x-stroke stropping motion, and the belt is smooth then there shouldn't be an issue there... unless you slice your belt in half!😁
 
A 1 3/4 wide heavy belt is a little narrower than I prefer, but nothing wrong with it and if it works for you, use it. I have thought about making my own strop in the past, I say go for it. Where are you buying the blank from?
 
I made my first strop (a fantastic one too) using leather I got in a grab bag at hobby lobby. I made another with much “better” quality leather and I’ve had a few extra strips cut, finished and ready to mount hardware as well as some vintage herringbone linen cloth (and some vintage flax linen that is less impressive than I imagined). I have been meaning to work on them for a couple years now.
I’ll snap some photos of what I did on each of them, each used very different ideas. I also have some vintage hardware somewhere that I thought would be cool to use. And of course you KNOW I have a few old strops that just need a little love and they would blow the doors off what I’ve made.
I’m interested in seeing what you come up with.
 
OpusX said:
Interesting. Do tell?
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Well, my original thought was that a 3” stone and 3” strop would make 3” blade maintenance pretty straightforward. The problem with a 3” stone and/or strop is some razor styles and geometry’s don’t work with something that size. Specifically, a spike point razor will drag on the 3” but a 2.75” will allow you to angle the blade and draw the blade across the leather comfortably in an X pattern. A 2.75” is a great compromise between 2.5”and 3” ...but 2.5” is pretty darned nice too.
 
Here are my photos as promised...The 2 piece is the first one I made, I very nice strop with stirrup style ‘d’ ring handles and a flax linen firehouse cloth component (excellent!) the newer one is a singe piece but the cloth component hangs free at the end, I put a magnet in the handle to hold it in place so it doesn’t flop around when I am using the leather. The first one is 2.5, the second one 3”84F7F1A3-92BA-4C54-B3E6-76CBE2FC1C93.jpeg8F1F9356-781A-48CE-AC01-A5FEB6AC7EF8.jpeg46A7926B-048E-45C5-98BC-70BF8A51FAEE.jpegF451752E-4896-4B96-8D9C-6752D1B12E2E.jpeg7E8408A9-BAA8-4010-8A2C-F3F23C7C0060.jpeg
 
It’s been a while since I’ve looked. Is Tandy leather goods as widespread as it used to be?
 
A long strip of leather has been delivered. Overall quality looks quite good. No general issues, and it seems smooth and well tanned. I already enjoy the width. This will make for easy stropping just up and down main street if you will.

I found some old leather working tools, but did not locate a grommet punch and anvil, so that will need to go on the list. Also I have a general plan for leather treatment using a conditioner I have come to enjoy on my boots (not mink oil if that's what your thinking).

20210118_155946.jpg


20210118_160102.jpg
 
After dinner, and some relaxing adult beverages last night, I became quite motivated to make my strop. This motivation was not without a few faults. The first of which was that I cut a bit (1/4") into the handle section as I was shaping it with my hobby razor. Woops!

The other was when creating the hole for hanging. As I was without a proper leather punch of the desired size I determined, at the time, "certainly a power drill shall work...". Now granted it "worked", but it would have been better had I measured and marked the center, as now we are a bit cockeyed.

All of that withstanding, the 25" overall length, with a 4" handle section, and rounded top corners turned out well. I treated the leather with Obenauf's Leather Heavy Duty Leather Preservative, which has been very successful with my boots and belts over the years. It was also quite good at restoring my Rolls Razor strop to a useable state.

This morning I found stropping on this beefy 3" wide piece to be much easier than a belt (no surprise there). As such the result was a much smoother razor feel this morning, and though she isn't the best looking piece, she's a keeper.

Considering this is half of the leather I procured, that makes this about a $9 strop. Worth it.

20210118_203508.jpg
 
OpusX said:
After dinner, and some relaxing adult beverages last night, I became quite motivated to make my strop. This motivation was not without a few faults. The first of which was that I cut a bit (1/4") into the handle section as I was shaping it with my hobby razor. Woops!

The other was when creating the hole for hanging. As I was without a proper leather punch of the desired size I determined, at the time, "certainly a power drill shall work...". Now granted it "worked", but it would have been better had I measured and marked the center, as now we are a bit cockeyed.

All of that withstanding, the 25" overall length, with a 4" handle section, and rounded top corners turned out well. I treated the leather with Obenauf's Leather Heavy Duty Leather Preservative, which has been very successful with my boots and belts over the years. It was also quite good at restoring my Rolls Razor strop to a useable state.

This morning I found stropping on this beefy 3" wide piece to be much easier than a belt (no surprise there). As such the result was a much smoother razor feel this morning, and though she isn't the best looking piece, she's a keeper.

Considering this is half of the leather I procured, that makes this about a $9 strop. Worth it.

View attachment 45387
Click to expand...
The man has skills.
 
Excellent. And you just demonstrated the how/why this hobby can be a money saving venture. You filled the “need” and then some all for $9, leaving you with extra cash for other necessities...or wants.
 
OpusX said:
...which was promptly spent on more vintage straight razors...:sneaky:
Click to expand...
Exactly. But seriously. Too many people let the idea that owning a straight razor has to be expensive because you need to buy/have an expensive artisan made strop and a fancy Coticule stone etc, but as you have demonstrated that is not the case. All you need is the desire and a willingness to try. Our forefathers made due with the tools they had ready access to, whether it was a sturdy belt and affordable barber hone or a mined stone and a craftsman made strop. I personally started on my journey with a couple $10 razors and a strop I made from a $6 bag of leather pieces and $10 of hardware. I "maintained" (poorly) that razor using lapping film on a piece of tile, another $20. Later I learned I could BETTER maintain a well honed razor using a pasted balsa strop and by adding a nice flax linen fire hose component to my strop (another $20-$30). I bought more lapping film but before I ever had a chance to use it I jumped in to the world of stones and never looked back. I could have been happy for years with a couple razors (even a gold dollar), a homemade strop and balsa strop but decide to collect and play because I found it fun.

Now that you have the strop you NEED you can spend some time making a fancy strop with all the bells and whistles you WANT.
 
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