Strop leather

[D_W]

8/9 ounce bovine leather for a plain strop (no compound). Same weight in Horse butt strip for compound, and the leather should be glued down on a paddle in both cases to make it work stiffer and be easier to clean by scraping. Mdf is just as good for compound, though - probably better.

 

[gwr]

Received today thanks very much Alan I will put it to work very soon

 

[Trafalgar]

A lot of people source quality leather and then proceed to completely saturate and clog it with the green, waxy compound to the point the leather has little to do with the matter. Wax-based compounds are for high speed buffing during which the wax melts and the grit is exposed. Use a strop paste, or just dry AlOx with a little mineral oil on your leather strop, a little bit goes a very, very long way. As in most things woodworking, less is more.

Anything sold in solid bar form is meant to be touched to a running buffing wheel and not scribbled onto a furnituremaker's bench strop regardless of how certain 'famous names' use them. Even people who use these bars more or less correctly on a running wheel still use too much compound. A bar should last years. Even at the wheel, less is more.

 

[nabs]

I resemble that remark! Actually I clog my strop with a pink buffing compound. The good news is it only cost £8 and will last years - any clogging is easily fixed by scraping the top of the strop every now and then with the side of a plane iron.

 

[rafezetter]

I also have a leaky pair of leather rigger boots which not only provide strop material, but the soles are good for abrasive disc / belt cleaners. K

I liked this idea so much that I tried it on my belt sander......but I fell off. Should I have taken the boots off first?

Not necessarily. However, since most belt sanders are not long enough to allow a full running stride, you may have to develop the ability to shuffle very fast.

=D>

a cleaning and fitness regime all in one... what's not to like.

silicone sealant that's gone off in the tube, cut the tube off.. voila, easily a years beltsanding cleaning free.

It is worth stropping after a hone on a very very fine slate (grit unknown but boy it works), which is what I use to bring the edge back - or essentially the same?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have a ply disc faced with leather that fits on my lathe :idea: .