horse butt strop question

ken werner

Member
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3,377
Location
Central NY State
I just recently acquired a small piece of horse butt leather. Any recommendations regarding:

smooth side vs rough side up?
use plain or with green rouge?
glue to smooth surface or leave both sides available?

thanks in advance.

Ken
 
ken,
i`ve always made my strops rough side out.....it takes a while and a bit of compound to load `em but they work pretty well for me.
 
I prefer the smooth side - what exactly is the point of using the rough side? If you use your strop with a rouge, then it follows that the surface benefits from being smooth - are your waterstones rough?

I would use the rough side if the strop was used bare, that is, without a rouge. This is useful when the strop is essentially for removing a wire edge.

The other issue is that any rouge should ideally be spread smoothly and not clump on the surface. I add mineral oil (in the form of Baby Oil) to the mix.

Here is an article I wrote comparing green rouge with diamond paste on a leather strop: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/Stroppingwithgreenrougeversesdiamondpaste.html

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
Boy I am glad to see this topic come up. I had this dilemma recently when sharpening my chisels.

I ordered some of that herbs yellowstone to try out. But at the time i used the green compound. Thanks Derek for the article. I never thought of the mineral oil thing cause i did notice the green stuff being lumpy.:thumb:
 
derek,
i too use oil to make a slurry of my compound and work the slurry into the leather....only difference being the rough side will "hold" the slurry...
after a while, depends on the user, the strop lays down and forms a flat abrasive surface that very seldom requires recharging.
i`ve used both methods and over time the strops that have "stuck" are the ones i glued rough side out.
i don`t imagine it really matters how you polish the edge so long as it cuts;)
 
I don't know the answer, but I've been searching and can't figure out why leather from a horse's butt would be a better strop than cowhide, elkhide, buffalo hide, etc. Are you sure this isn't just a clever marketing ploy?...given our love affair with horses their hide has to be in scant supply.

Cheers.
 
I can't compare Horse Hide to other hides on strops, because the strops I've used in the past were of unknown origin. I can say that in my earlier years I wore out many pairs of western, (cowboy) boots, both dress boots and work boots. The horse hide work boots didn't scar or wear out nearly as quickly as the cowhide boots did. I have NO idea why, but that was just my experience.

Note: The above statements were about the uppers, Not the Soles, as all soles were probably made from the same material and wore out about the same on all boots.
 
I don't know the answer, but I've been searching and can't figure out why leather from a horse's butt would be a better strop than cowhide, elkhide, buffalo hide, etc. Are you sure this isn't just a clever marketing ploy?...given our love affair with horses their hide has to be in scant supply.

Cheers.

Good point. I have just used old belts and scrap, usually cow leather, and they work.
 
After trying the oiling technique I found that my green rouge didn't stick well to the leather so I dissolved some natural horse fat (the one that is put on boots here) with paint solvent, together with shavings from the green rouge stick, wich also dissolved easyly.

Applied the cream with a brush and let it evaporate the solvent which happens quite quickly.

The results were fantastic, a uniform coat of green rouge stuck and penetrated to the leather perfectly and maintaining the softness of the leather.

The leather I used was sheep skin glued to a flat board with double sided venture tape. Ah! and smooth side up
 
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