Leather Sharpening Strop

My old strop was too small and I finally got around to getting a decent piece of leather so it's time to cross this one off the list. A strop is used in the final stage of sharpening something, it gives it a final hone and removes any burrs or something like that.

Anyway, while I'm not 100% certain how it works, it sure makes a big difference!

• Leather
• Wood
• Polishing Compound

Depending on how big your piece of leather is will determine the size of the wooden handle. Cut out a rectangle from the wood and shape out the handle. I like to drill a hole in the handle so I can hang up the strop.

I also made this strop much bigger than my old one since that was two small for small blades I wanted to hone.

Cut out a piece of the leather slightly larger than the wood and give the smooth side a quick buff up with some sandpaper.

Put some glue on the wood and the leather, be careful what side of the leather you put the glue on. You need to put the glue on the 'shiny' side that you buffed with the sandpaper.

Then clamp the strop between a couple of pieces of scrap wood and wait for it to dry. Make sure you wipe off any excess glue, you don't want to accidentally glue the strop to the scrap wood.

Now once the glue is dry use a sharp hobby knife to trim the leather to the same size as the handle.

The last step is to load the leather with polishing compound, just rub the compound into the leather.

Next time you have finished sharpening your tools or knives give them a quick stropping, you won't believe the difference it makes!