Carvers Strops ?

[Doug Shepard]

I've been surfing about looking for a good strop to use for honing gouges and such. The 2 that I'm looking at are quite a bit different and wondered if anyone has used either (or both) and have any feedback pro or con.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200...Slipstrop.aspx
I like the low price and different profile shapes on that one.
http://www.woodisgoodco.com/strops.htm
Also decently priced but maybe not as many shapes on the edges.

[mike holden]

Doug,
I have both of those. The wood is good is similar to one available from Rockler (which means you can find it on sale often)
The flat strop is the one I use the most. For things like v-tools, I cut my own in a block of wood and scribble the honing compound in it. Use the tool itself, and the strop fits perfectly.
The cheapest way is to buy some leather and contact cement it to a shaped paddle.

The slipstrop is from flexcut, and it just seems too awkward to use. Primarily it is too short to hold comfortably.

Strops are easy, mdf and leather are cheap, compound directly on mdf works as well as on leather.

Dont overthink this, spend your money on gouges, not toys.

Mike

[Doug Shepard]

Mike
Thanks for the feedback. Think I'll order up one from Wood is Good. I got a whopping 2 hrs or shop time in last week, so think I'll avoid spending time making my own. I'd rather spend time using a strop than making one so I can get back to practicing on this carving stuff.

And I already did this

... spend your money on gouges...

in spades coutesy of pretty much my whole tax return.

[Gene DiNardo]

I agree with mike.
Why settle for someone elses idea of what your strop profile should be.
Make a couple out of poplar with the profiles You want.
You can put several profiles on each one.
Poplar is soft enough to slightly conform to the shape of the tool, yet hard enough to stand up to stropping and it holds compound well.
Also, dowels of various diameters work well for gouges.
The time spent fabricating them is well worth it.