Would this leather work?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41814951@N06/5605989047/

I have a roll of this leather I think I had gotten very discounted from a shoe maker many years ago. I don't remember much if any info I had about it. I'm pretty sure it is cow. It is glossy and smooth and not stiff sort of supple for how glossy it looks, going from 1.5 - 3mm on the opposite end of the hide. Would this make any kind of decent beginner strop? I have some wood to try making a paddle type thing or hardware to make it a strap type deal. I don't even have my straight yet, and I am trying to build contraptions for it

Well upon examining it further it seems to have some coating that chips off a bit at the edges...nevermind...

Is that leather or pleather? Assuming it was really leather and that you could cut a section in order to glue it down to a paddle and sand it down a bit, you might have something.

It looks like some sort of patent leather to me.

I don't think it will work.

Looks like cordovan shell to me great score. They use cordovan to make nice shoes so this makes sense. The shine is a waxy gloss all cordovan has it. Take some saddle soap or a rich tallow lather and rub it in and off. Usually thats what I do with cordovan to remove that wax. Should make you a very fine strop indeed, a mighty fine one for a beginner! YMMV

ambrose said:

Looks like cordovan shell to me great score. They use cordovan to make nice shoes so this makes sense. The shine is a waxy gloss all cordovan has it. Take some saddle soap or a rich tallow lather and rub it in and off. Usually thats what I do with cordovan to remove that wax. Should make you a very fine strop indeed, a mighty fine one for a beginner! YMMV

Click to expand...

Well, there you go. Give it a try and see. I have been wrong before...

Let us know how it works out.

I was hoping it was actually cordovan, I thought that might be wishful thinking because I couldn't remember why or how I could have gotten my hands on such a huge nice piece of it. My leather skills are rusty, but I will have to dig up my tools and fiddle with it.

Is it too thin to make a hanging strop? If I cut from the section that is 3mm could that do? I am definitely going to make a flat one on wood. I also have some cotton canvas too. I also have some thick very fine napped suede, would that have a use?

Should I treat the section with the soap before I glue it down? If the waxyness comes off would it still require some sanding?

Jeez, that was alot of questions....

Edit: I took a snip from the area of the tag and gave it a bath and scrub. It seems the coating is not going anywhere. A very light plasticy surface (eew, patent leather...)