DIY Strops

[Tony Miller]

It is increasingly difficult to obtain horsehide and especially any that looks and performs well. I just recently sent back half of this spring's shipment...and half of that was replacement for what I send back in the fall.

Bellies and sides.....for cowhide the sides are fine if you cut from the rearmost areas, not up close to the neck where there are many fat wrinkles, hence not smooth leather (creases). Down near the belly it gets soft and stretchy. High near the back of the beast, closer to the rump is the best surface finish, thickness and duribility. Shoulders are usually prefered for belts, etc...because they don't stretch and are strong but I seldom find the surface quality I desire in shoulders for my strops.

On horsehide, the thickest, strongest leather is near the rump or butt. The sides and bellies wind up in expensive leather jackets and if it can be bought is usually skived to a very light weight, maybe 3 to 4 oz thickness.

I prefer latigo mainly for the draw and that it is less prone to cupping. The oils and waxes displace moisture, the most common cause of cupping. Veg tanned cowhide tends to cup more easily than the latigo processing. Bridle typically has a great feel but I feel it is more likely to cup over the long haul as it contains far less amounts of oils than latigo. My old Honey Brown was bridle leather but now, 5 or 6 years later the pieces hanging in my shop have no faired well while the latigo of the same age is still reasonably flat. each tannery has its own process though and the newer stuff may perform much better that what I used 5 years ago. I have not revisited that material though as i am content with the performance of horsehide and latigo so see no need to confuse the issue with too many choices.....high draw and low draw is enough for me.

My best advice for the DIY guy, go for a nice feeling surface, no fat wrinkles, no raised scars and don't worry as much about what beast it once covered. That is how i got started. I was already familar with different leathers and knew latigo was durable and stayed flat. It had a good surface so I tried it and I and my customers liked it. Since that point many makers have started using it as well.

Tony

[rickboone1]

As far as leather conditioning goes. Latigo is a process, taking a piece of leather and conditioning it with oils and such, correct?

And, from your description it seems bridle leather is conditioned as well just not as much oils...correct?

Not sure if my language is correct, but assuming these things are oiled/ treated in the tanning process....or at least, by the tanner. The tanner being the person that takes the leather, dries it, stretches it out and makes it ready...to a degree. I suppose they seperate it as well.

My question: if someone wanted the feel of Latigo for whatever reason...would it be possible to get a piece of Veg Tan to that level on their own say by the application of neetsfoot or whatever you wish to insert here? or, is this something that needs to be done in the tanning process as the leather is being prepared or cured or whatever the word may be?

[Tony Miller]

Rick,
Latigo describes a particular tanning process used to tan a horse gear item that was called, well...a "latigo". Basically oils and waxes are infused ("hot stuffed", etc..) into the leather at the time of tanning. "Harness" and "Bridle" are similar, the tanning process is named after the item the leather was intended to be used for. They too use oils and/or waxes in different amounts to achieve different feels. Sadly, as these are "industrial" uses the sides that receive this treatment are typically graded "TR", tannery run, or in common English "whatever" leather. They are graded for function, not beauty and a smooth, flawless hide makes no better a bridle than a bumpy, not strop friendly piece so why use great surfaced leather on simple horse gear. There are better grades used where looks count but these typically have a different tanning done.

You could impregnate the leather after the fact with an oil that does not dry and get a similar feel but I have not tried that nor have any suggestions I can share. Some oild dry, some stay wet, some make it sticky, some slippery, etc.....

Tony

[Gafer]

Ok, this is just cold. Tony Miller goes on vacation yet he is posting on B&B WHILE he's on vacation? There are at least two things wrong with this:
1) Tony Miller apparently can't really take a vacation because, like us, he's obsessed with B&B and all things shaving.
2) We can't buy anything from Tony while he's on vacation yet...he's here to tempt us.

[rickboone1]

Hot infused...seems that's where it's at...lol.

I knew that about bridle leather, but couldn't put it together for latigo....duh. Had latigo confused with lariats. Looking it up seems it's nothing more than what I called a cinch strap. All these years of riding I never knew that was called a latigo.

Are you finding that one size over another prevents cupping? Width, that is. Say, does 3" tend to cup less over time than 2"?

Would any care or proper storage help prevent cupping for the user?

[Will P.C.]

I have been playing around with the notion of making my own strop. The process has involved emailing several companies to see what some leather would cost and it is pretty damn expensive. So if I was first starting out and trying to save money, this is not the route I would take. YMMV

I wish I had one of those Tandy leather outlets near me so I could go and scope out some leather. I don't want to have to deal with the headache of ordering something online and then having to send it back because it was unfit for a strop.

[Robust2]

Thanks for the input Tony! I'll just go with my intuition, and post back when I've found something.

Edit: Allright, bought something. It's cowhide from around the shoulders. It isn't perfect (it has some creases at the end) but I paid 5$ for it, so I couldn't really go wrong with it. I'll try to post some pics later tonight

[TChewy]

ok, this is just cold. Tony miller goes on vacation yet he is posting on b&b while he's on vacation? There are at least two things wrong with this:
1) tony miller apparently can't really take a vacation because, like us, he's obsessed with b&b and all things shaving.
2) we can't buy anything from tony while he's on vacation yet...he's here to tempt us.

+1

[Pumpkin]

Important note: Whilst this started life as one of Tony Miller's beautiful strops, the replacement hardware is all my own humble DIY!

When I decided to enter the world of straights I was hesitant on making a big outlay of $$. I posted a WTB for a beginner's strop and was fortunate to get a 3" Latigo from Lucky11453 that he had replaced
Unfortunately, it was just the leather so I set out to replace the hardware...thinking this would be pretty straightforward. I found the pictorial at SRP for a "very homemade strop" and got a few pointers.

My first challenge was finding D-rings that were big enough. I found a few but they were going to be expensive (from a diver's weight belt). A bit more searching uncovered a belt in a charity shop that had 2 rings in place of a buckle. They're a bit narrower than the strop so I was worried about introducing a curve into the strop's surface.

Challenge 2 was working out a way to reinforce and attach the fittings for the D-rings. Some lateral thinking and a trip to my local hardware store (B&Q) led to a pack of "mending strips" from the cabinetry aisle. Again, they were the wrong size at 75mm so I had to cut approx 1/4 of the length off each (of 4). A junior hacksaw and a Dremel took care of that and the resulting sharp edges. B&Q also provided the nuts and bolts

Now came the hard part....making loops to hold the rings. A hunt round (several) charity shops for an old, wide leather belt came up short. However, on my way home I passed a large furniture store. Asking the manager for a spare piece of leather got a raised eyebrow...but it did lead to a couple of samples

Now came the really hard part! Putting it all together.

If anyone else wants to try this I'd definitely recommend getting a hole-punch that can cope with leather!

Sorry for not taking pics at the intermediate stages...I was a bit too involved





I've got the satisfaction of rebuilding a strop...that's nowhere near as elegant as Tony's original craftsmanship...but, with hindsight, it would have been a hell of a lot easier (and probably cheaper) to have just bought a complete strop! Certainly, there's no way I could have got as nice a result without Tony's original work on the Latigo!!

And before anyone asks....no, I won't be taking orders!

[kopio]

That turned out pretty darn nice I'd say...but yeah....Tony's are a masterpiece and well worth every penny....here's mine from him...fresh out of the box. 3 Inch Latigo with cotton: