A few months ago, I ordered a new legato strop that came with a vintage 2-1/2" Irish linen strop. The vintage strop has quite a bit of wear on it and has some buckling or shrinkage issues due to, I'll suppose, repeated dousings with water during talc applications. Still, it is functional and the sensation when stropping is quite unlike today's modern linen-cotton blends or the cotton-canvas "herringbone"-type strops. A closer scrutiny of the vintage strop reveals that it is made from two thick pieces of identical material that have been laid upon each other and then carefully cross-stitched along the sides. Was this a fire-hose fabric from the era of the Keystone Cops?
Anyway, I bring this up because I also have a fairly worn pair of 13 oz. "fire-hose" fabric work pants that I bought from Duluth Trading three years ago. The material feels different from, say, a classic pair of dungarees and does remind me of the Irish linen strop mentioned above, although it is only about one-half to two-thirds as thick. It may be the same as the Carhartt type work pants material as well. When the time comes for me to ditch the trousers, I am thinking to use the material to make a strop (perhaps three layers to match the weight of the vintage strop).
Does anyone have experience in making a strop with material like this? And does it approximate the vintage material mentioned above? Anyone know of direct sources of the old-style (non-synthetic) fire-hose material? Or of thicker weights than 13 ounces?
Anyway, I bring this up because I also have a fairly worn pair of 13 oz. "fire-hose" fabric work pants that I bought from Duluth Trading three years ago. The material feels different from, say, a classic pair of dungarees and does remind me of the Irish linen strop mentioned above, although it is only about one-half to two-thirds as thick. It may be the same as the Carhartt type work pants material as well. When the time comes for me to ditch the trousers, I am thinking to use the material to make a strop (perhaps three layers to match the weight of the vintage strop).
Does anyone have experience in making a strop with material like this? And does it approximate the vintage material mentioned above? Anyone know of direct sources of the old-style (non-synthetic) fire-hose material? Or of thicker weights than 13 ounces?
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