Leather Strop

■ Mini Leather Strop

This is a mini-sized leather strop used for the final polishing of knives and blades. It uses honing compound and machine oil as abrasives. It's suitable for daily touch-ups on blades that don't require a full sharpening.
For the blades I use in my own leathercraft, I slide them over a leather strop before use to maintain their sharpness.

■ Materials
Body: Cypress (thinned wood)
Leather: Vegetable-tanned leather
The underside of high-quality vegetable-tanned leather scraps from leathercraft projects is used. Machine oil is soaked into the leather, and honing compound (approximately 4000-5000 grit) is kneaded into it as an abrasive. The leather is secured with brass nails.

■ Maintenance
If the honing compound abrasive becomes depleted, add a small amount of oil and rub the honing compound onto the strop. Both machine oil and honing compound can be found at 100-yen shops. If not available there, check hardware stores.

■ Precautions for Use
If using on kitchen knives, rinse thoroughly after sharpening.
For safety, it is recommended to place the leather strop on a surface and sharpen the blade.
There is a risk of injury if your hand slips. Please exercise extreme caution. We are not responsible for any accidents.