deer hide leather for strop?

I have a big piece of leather hide that im pretty sure is from a deer. I have been trying to figure out what to do with it for a while and recently became interested in straight razor shaving. I was wondering if this materiel would be good to make a strop with. One side is really smooth leather and the other side is a nice soft suede. The material is fairly thin though probably around 1/8" to 3/16". Think it would work?

I think of deerhide as a stretchy leather and as such not really suited to a hanging strop that is "pull tight and strop light" however it may work for a paddle strop if glued onto a suitable backer. I'm far from an expert though and would like to see others opinions on this.

I've heard of people using it, so it should work if the leather is in good shape. It's a very lightweight leather, so it may actually do better on a paddle strop than hanging.

I think you guys may be right about it being too stretchy. I wouldnt be apposed to the paddle strop idea since i enjoy working with wood. They dont seem to be that popular, but as long as it keeps a straight edge id be happy.

In order to use as a hanging strop you would only want to use the low stretch leather on the back. Not the best.

I had a deer hide wallet once. It felt nice, but fell apart pretty quickly.

I'm gonna vote no to a hanging strop, maybe to a paddle.

another vote for a paddle. If you have left over a sheath for your straight razor may be a good use.

Hey razortector I made a hanging strop out deer hide about 2 weeks ago. It has a very small amount of stretch but it works better than any thing I have ever used. It works so nice that I am making a smaller one for travel. I will post some pics when I get home tonight

mannyl said:

Hey razortector I made a hanging strop out deer hide about 2 weeks ago. It has a very small amount of stretch but it works better than any thing I have ever used. It works so nice that I am making a smaller one for travel. I will post some pics when I get home tonight

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Hi mannyl, The Denver group is planning another meet in late February. Please try to come and bring your deer hide strop, I'd love to try it.

I would say no for either application. Deer hide is generally < 6oz, more like 4 so there isn't a thick matrix of fibers and o e edge will stretch more than the other giving you a floppy edge. It would work for awhile but can't define awhile further, 3 day, a week or 3. As for a paddle strop the problem lies in it known for soft and supple feel. Even if you stretch it out before gluing it down is not going to get the spring out of the surface which when stropped on, the surface will spring back up after the edge passes rounding the keen edge.

But, inquiring minds would like to know. Might make a good first strop to hit coming off a hone for a few strokes.