school me on leather selection?

[Kavik79]

I've been thinking about trying my hand at making a strop or two, not professionally or anything, but just to see how I do and to get a chance to try out a few different leather types without spending a bundle. In most cases I'm finding pieces that would make 2-3 strops (this is all assuming there are no imperfections that I need to work around, which I know is a long shot, but it's just an estimate) for around the same price as buying 1 pre-cut piece. Problem is, I'm having a hard time figuring out what types of things are good or bad in a leather for strops?

1) Latigo: is a 9-10 oz Latigo belly acceptable? Or would I have to get a piece from a side/shoulder? I know the bellies are more irregularly shaped, and there would be a lot of scrap cut off, but I'm not buying a whole side just to play around with Found a source for 4-6sqft bellies that should yield a couple strop sized pieces for $20

2) Horse Butt: 7-9 oz have the option of Drum Dyed black in a size that should make at least 2, or non-dyed that should make 3-4. I already have a natural horse butt strop that I love, just curious if Drum Dyed would be okay to use if I wanted some variety? Or is it something to avoid?

3) Tanning: I know I've read you want to avoid leathers that have been waxed and stick with ones that have just been oiled, but what is Veg Tanned? Something that's okay or something to avoid?

4) Anything else I'm not thinking of to ask?

 

[Kentos]

I think any leather- bovine, equine or otherwise, will make a fine strop as long as it is smooth enough to not catch, strong enough to not cup, and nice looking enough to satisfy the eyes.

Pics are mandatory BTW

 

[Kavik79]

don't worry, there will be pics if/when I actually do it

 

[Tony Miller]

Latigo can work just fine for strops if not too waxy. The belly areas are usually a lot softer feeling and more prone to wrinkles. When cutting they are a bit more stringy due to a looser fiber structure in the hides. They can still make a fine strop, you just need to look at them closely.

Drum dyed horse should be as good as the natural. Horse butt can vary widely, super smooth and nice to an almost "quilted" wrinkle pattern. Again, great leather if it is a good piece and not super hard. Some horse butt feels like masonite.

Veg tanned can cover a lot of bases. Most leathers for strops are veg tanned, such as latigo, bridle, steehide and horsehide as opposed to chrome tanned. You are probably talking about a tooling type leather which can work very nice.

Remember that many flaws are really of no issue when stropping. fat wrinkles, slightly raised scars, depressed scars, small scratches, discoloration, etc..... will not hurt your razor nor the edge. The only thing they hurt is the appearance and that is what sets a super high end strop from the rest. At the higher price levels no only do they need to perfom well, they need to look perfect. The less than perfect leather is used for other things or discarded and along with the labor involved, that is why the high prices. For a home made or"do it yourself" strop you should be fine as long as the leather is not too hard and has no really big scar that interfere with a uniform stroke.

Tony

 

[Kavik79]

Thanks Tony! It never ceases to amaze me how willing you are to give information when a lot of vendors in general are so secretive about information on stuff they sell

Unfortunately looking at them before purchasing doesn't seem to be much of an option, searching for local tanneries didn't find anything good. I was look at Springfield Leather, they have bellies from Hermann Oak that they claim are very high quality as far as bellies go. And I guess the horse butt they sell comes highly recommended by Bo Riddle, I guess that's a good thing? *shrugs*

I certainly understand the added expense for the perfect look and professional craftsmanship, and it's something I'm even happy to pay for if I could know in advance that I would like the particular material. I took a gamble on a $90 horse strop and ended up loving it, but then I hear people rave about latigo, or steerhide, or kangaroo....just don't want to be shelling out $100+ on each one then finding myself always going back to what I already had anyway lol
I figure this way, when all is said and done, I haven't invested too much and anything that turns out well, but isn't to my liking, I can sell off for people to learn on before investing in something like one of yours Or maybe do a pass around for others to try different leathers to help them decide too


What about weights though? is a 9-10 oz range the right stuff to be looking at? I don't know how that relates to an actual thickness

 

[Tony Miller]

Most of the higher end strops are probably 7 to 8oz leather. Dovo and Jemico seem to be thinner, maybe 5 to 6oz. My steerhide is a 9 to 10oz. It is not just weight that matters but how supple it is. You can have a very stiff temper 4oz that will seem like cardboard, and a softer temper 10oz that lays nicely like a piece of cloth.

Some of the thinner, softer leathers will conform to the blade better actually and even if they start to cup they have enough flex they will still contact the entire edge with just the slightest pressure. It is impossible for a craftsman to say this leather is good, this is not unless they have it in their hand, can see how it feels and look at the surface.

But again, even with small flaws you will get a very usable strop and have the fun of making it.

Tony

 

[Kavik79]

yeah, I figured different types would work better at different thicknesses, and then individual pieces will vary....just didn't know if there was "general guideline" for different types, somewhere to start off with

I guess I'll give it a go with the 9-10 oz latigo, and roll the dice on the unspecified horse butt

 

[Kavik79]

well, the leather arrived today........rolled up with the good side facing in
Luckily it wasn't rolled TOO tight, but there is some wrinkling on about 6-8" of the horse, the cow seems okay for the most part. A shame too, if not for the wrinkles there was nothing else wrong with that section.

I'll have to look it over more closely later, hopefully it's something I can work out of the surface, or if I can line up the pieces so I don't need that section, I could use that for the end caps


At a quick guess though, I'd say I can get 3, if not 4, strops out of the horse butt......and I don't even have a guess at how many the cow will make, but a lot more than the horse. I went with the plain "Black Veg Tanned Belly" instead of the Black Latigo, and the natural colored horse butt


I also ordered a bunch of D-rings and clips, they'll be about another week before arriving because I got some of them powdercoated. Just need to get some chicago screws rivets, a punch and a good metal straight edge and I'll be ready to give it a go

 

[Kavik79]

edit.

gonna make a new thread to document the actual making of them.....since the topic of this thread no longer really applies