Kmart belt strops

[BOGARTUS]

I am thinking about buying three Kmart full grain leather 32" belts, sanding the tanning finish off and prep them for diamond paste. How crazy is this?

I already have one I experiment with as a finishing strop.

As a matter of fact, I just used it to strop my Saturday razor and shaved for, what my my wife affectionatly refers to as my Saturday night face. Smooooth (and no burn) :)

[Scorpio]

Not Crazy at all. Today I went to my local leather supply store(this is Texas after all) and bought a 54 1/2 in. x 3in tan smooth cowhide. I then cut it in half and prep it so it could be hang from the door knob in my bathroom. Tada!!!! homemade strop. Now I know it is not fancy but it does work. It is not from a name brand but I made it and it works. I will complete the strop with a D-ring. And yes I already stroppped my razors and they are fine and sahve ready sharp. How do I know, I just shaved and they were smooth and sharp, two passes and a little T&C, resulting in a BBS shave.

A little work, less money spent and I have a homemade strop.

so...not you are not crazy Bogartus...not crazy at all

Raf

[joel]

I am thinking about buying three Kmart full grain leather 32" belts, sanding the tanning finish off and prep them for diamond paste. How crazy is this?

I already have one I experiment with as a finishing strop.

As a matter of fact, I just used it to strop my Saturday razor and shaved for, what my my wife affectionatly refers to as my Saturday night face. Smooooth (and no burn) :)

Well - it is a decent idea, but I would certainly recommend mounting the leather on like a 2X2 peice of wood. Hanging strops don't work NEARLY as well as paddle strops for diamond paste. Too much flex in hanging strops for diamond paste - as it cuts so fast, you cannot be as precise with as much give as is in a hanging strop.

[AFDavis11]

Thats NUTS! Aren't they cheaper at Target?

[BOGARTUS]

I am not crazy about the owners of Target

[BOGARTUS]

By the way anything more than .25 is not good. But .25 is quick and good if not taken to far

[Suzuki]

You can also make a good paddle strop from balsa or poplar - or any other open grained wood that will hold paste.

Just make sure to lap it on some 600 grit sandpaper mounted to a flat surface (glass, piece of granite tile, etc.). Take the wood to the sandpaper and get it nice and flat (obviously the wood should be planed first). Use a tack cloth to clean off the sawdust - don't do anything that could raise the grain.

I have some balsa on my paddle with .25 paste and (in the week I've had it) puts a very nice finish on my blades.

PS: If you're going to make your own leather paddle or bench strop, you should make sure the wood is flat (lapped) before mounting the leather. Also, you should use make sure the adhesive you use will not create bulges, etc (there's some pretty good spray adhesives out there that should do the trick. Also, if you want to save some cash, you can make a pretty good strop by sticking some micromesh paper onto the trued wood (the micromesh can be found as low as .25 and is cheaper than the diamond paste - but won't last as long).

Classic shaving sells lots of pastes, but someone at SRP just pointed out that Ted Pella also sells diamond paste for much less (but not sure how it compares to the diamond concentration in the Amplex sold by classic shaving.

Good luck - great idea.

[BOGARTUS]

I have made a # of hanging/paddle strops. Just looking for what works for me. I have come along way since my first (Sweeny Tod) shave six years ago. I really enjoy messin around with Ebay Oldies. I have managed to make some nice smooth shavers out of $4 razors and that really helped me with my good ones.

There is a nice guy here who sells strops. I think I will finally treat myself to a store bought one.

Really enjoy the friendly advise here

Thanks

Maybe if its alowed, I will post some of my before and after picts.

[moses]

Maybe if its alowed, I will post some of my before and after picts.

It is very very allowed. Just try to keep the size reasonable. You can upload them into the user gallery first, which will resize your pictures for you. It also then provides you the code to paste into you postings to include the pictures. That's the easiest way, really.

Looking forward to seeing some.

-Mo

[ouch]

You can also make a good paddle strop from balsa or poplar - or any other open grained wood that will hold paste.

Just make sure to lap it on some 600 grit sandpaper mounted to a flat surface (glass, piece of granite tile, etc.). Take the wood to the sandpaper and get it nice and flat (obviously the wood should be planed first). Use a tack cloth to clean off the sawdust - don't do anything that could raise the grain.

I have some balsa on my paddle with .25 paste and (in the week I've had it) puts a very nice finish on my blades.

PS: If you're going to make your own leather paddle or bench strop, you should make sure the wood is flat (lapped) before mounting the leather. Also, you should use make sure the adhesive you use will not create bulges, etc (there's some pretty good spray adhesives out there that should do the trick. Also, if you want to save some cash, you can make a pretty good strop by sticking some micromesh paper onto the trued wood (the micromesh can be found as low as .25 and is cheaper than the diamond paste - but won't last as long).

Classic shaving sells lots of pastes, but someone at SRP just pointed out that Ted Pella also sells diamond paste for much less (but not sure how it compares to the diamond concentration in the Amplex sold by classic shaving.

Good luck - great idea.

That sounds great.