Made by a cowboy

Picked up a wonderful strop today.

On the north end of the big island of Hawaii, is cattle country. The Parker Ranch. And deep in the ranch is an old saddlemaker, Pete. He has his own leather working shop, and he builds saddles, general horse gear, and knife sheaths.

He also made me a huge and lovely strop. From skirt leather, which is the leather he uses to make saddles.

Heavy thick hand holding piece on one end, and a leather braid on the other to anchor it.


John

Nice strop!

That's very nice. Congrats. Does he make strops regularly or is that a special order?

thackeray said:

i'm not strop fanatic, but i was drawn in by the thread title "made by a cowboy" , here in the UK "made by a cowboy" has quite different connotations!!!!!!

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Pray, tell????

Your razor should love being used on that beauty

Cool looking piece for sure.

thackeray said:

the prefix "cowboy" in the uk means disreputable person or company doing poor quality work usually at a high price. example "cowboy builder"

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I have checked my Oxford Dictionary of English, 2nd edition, which gives international English usage, and this does indeed appear to be the case as an adjective. The Shorter OED claims the British usage originates in the late 20th century, whereas the American cowboy, as a noun for hired cattle rancher, dates to the mid-19th century.

Cattle ranching in Hawaii, there's an idea! To the OP, good luck with the strop. Nice to have someone nearby who can make one for you.