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Leather Strop: a Beech Paddle Faced with Leather on Both Sides
A strop is a strip of leather that straightens the fine edge of a blade after the stone; with an abrasive such as iron oxide rubbed in, it also polishes a little. Strops hang, sit as blocks, or come as hand-held paddles. Glue leather to both faces of a beech paddle, smooth side out on one face and rough side out on the other, and charge the rough side with red iron oxide.
The picture: our diagram, the paddle from above and in section, with a blade drawn spine first.
Beginner
An afternoon
Instructions
1
1
Shape the paddle
Shape the paddle
Saw and plane a beech paddle about 40 × 6 × 1.5 cm with a 10 cm handle (our size), and round the handle with the spokeshave.
Materials for this step:
Beech Lumber1 pieceTools needed:
Hand Saw
Hand Plane
Spokeshave2
2
Cut the leather
Cut the leather
Cut two strips of leather to the blade area of the paddle.
Materials for this step:
Vegetable Tanned Leather1 pieceTools needed:
Utility Knife
Ruler3
3
Glue them on
Glue them on
Glue one strip smooth (grain) side out on one face and the other rough (flesh) side out on the other face with hot hide glue, and clamp flat until set.
Materials for this step:
Hide Glue0.05 kgTools needed:
C-Clamp
Large Pot (lower, for water bath)
Glass Beaker4
4
Charge the rough side
Charge the rough side
Rub red iron oxide (red ochre) into the rough side. Strop by drawing the blade spine first, edge trailing (our practice), with light, even strokes on each side.
Materials for this step:
Red Ochre Pigment0.01 kgTools needed:
Utility Knife5
5
Leather for the paddle
Leather for the paddle
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
Materials
4- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 0.05 kgPlaceholder
- 0.01 kgPlaceholder
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