New wooden strop with lowland paca leather

Hey folks,
Today i visited an old friend that is a master cutler and i bring my new razor for a professional first honing. He worked his magic with several stones and finished with an old wooden strop. The razor's edge became so sharp that i'm afraid in putting this monster in my face. Hehehe.
After work we drinked some coffe and i asked about that strop. He explained that he made it about 20 years ago with lowland paca leather and a kind of mahogany wood. Today, in Brazil, we are forbidden to use this kind of mahogany and to kill a paca too, BUT as i said he was an old friend and he has some wood scrap and spare paca leather stored. We returned to his shop and we made an strop together.
Rough side, soft side, hardwood and some rubber mats for softness. Here it is.
With proper care I can give it to my son someday. What you think?
Greetings.

The hardwood make it strong, the rubber layer make it firm but absorbs any imperfections on the leather.
It is 13 inches long (with 10 in leather) by 2 inches wide (almost).
And for those that dont know lowland paca is a big nocturnal rodent with a large head, brown fur and stiff leather found in Central and South America (similar to the agouti).
Regards

That is cool and the best part is the story that goes with it! Use in good health!

Very nice. Love the pictures with the rubber lining. I wonder if felt could be used in a similar way. Two thicknesses is a good idea there. Thanks for sharing.

Edit: I think I saw a few of these paca rodents in a zoo here a long, long time ago. They were enormous rats, larger than a beaver, more like the size of a raccoon or even larger. Are they mostly found near water? In France, I've seen water rats in the rivers. They're actually kind of pleasant to watch, swimming on the surface of the water...

Nice job! It looks great, and I'm sure it will work great as well. Something nice like this will be around for hundreds of years, and will still be getting used.

You do great work. Thanks for sharing.


Later,

Kenny

Alum of Potash said:

Very nice. Love the pictures with the rubber lining. I wonder if felt could be used in a similar way. Two thicknesses is a good idea there. Thanks for sharing.

Edit: I think I saw a few of these paca rodents in a zoo here a long, long time ago. They were enormous rats, larger than a beaver, more like the size of a raccoon or even larger. Are they mostly found near water? In France, I've seen water rats in the rivers. They're actually kind of pleasant to watch, swimming on the surface of the water...

Click to expand...

Friends,
Thanks for your kind words.
The rubber lining gives stiffness but flexibility. I tried today and it was very good. Maybe with a thick felt you can get good results.
The Paca is a big rodent (up to 40 inches and 25 pounds) that lives around water in tropical forest. It is very agile and aware, but is also docile, so here in Brazil is forbiden to hunt it.
Thanks again for your appreciation.
Best regards
Fabrizio