Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
It's been a long time since I last made any strops, and I had a bunch of leather laying around in the shop. D rings came from a saddle shop and cost too much to just take up space in a drawer. Leather is buffalo, and I bought a 3" wide strip of it. Cutting it into thirds would have made a strop a little shorter than I like. Cutting it in half made a strop a little longer than I like... Oh, who am I kidding. I like BIG STROPS. No fabric. First of all, I never use it. Second, if I added it just so the nattering nabobs of negativity would have one less fault to pick, then the strop would not be either-end-up. I like a D ring on each end so I can swap ends for even wear or in case I manage to hack up one edge... swap ends and it is on the other side. Three Chicago screws instead of two, for better anti-cupping control. I think I am gonna like this one.
The black one was storebought. A Mountain Mike's, I think. It's okay. The chestnut one peeking out from behind the new one, I made, using D rings from an old safety harness. Cheap Tandy remnant leather but it has always pleased me with the draw. I soaked it for several days and rubbed it down hard with a beer bottle, and as the water dried, I replaced it with neatsfoot and beeswax and a few other things, and handrubbed it for hours before trimming and attaching the hardware. I did NOT need a new strop cause nothing wrong with the chestnut I made. But I WANTED one and I am too cheap to buy what I want.
All of my strops have relied on the Big Daddy strop from the defunct Star Shaving Company, for inspiration. Life is too short for 2" wide strops. I usually go 2-3/4" wide but this strip was nice and straight, and had nice edges, so I left it at 3". Plus I wanted to use up a couple of the 3" D rings I got.
Usable length is 23" and length overall including D rings is 32" or a bit less. This is not a little girly strop. I still need to give it a final treatment but I can't find my beeswax or neatsfoot. I think I will give it a test drive, anyhow.