3" Beech English Bridle & Balsa Wood Paddle Strop

3" Wide Beech Red English Bridle Leather & Balsa Wood Paddle Strop

A good quality strop made from a base of solid hardwood - english beech - with a red english bridle leather stropping panel and a balsa wood sharpening panel. 

The solid hardwood frame is just under 1/4 of an inch thick, giving a good solid support.  It is lightly sanded and treated with Renaissance Wax to make it moisture-proof and to enhance the grain.  The handle is cut to the style of a favourite Victorian paddle strop I own.  The overall length of the paddle is just over 18 inches, the width is nominally 3 inches and the stropping length is about 13 inches (note: each paddle is individually made by hand, so small variations in construction, wood grain, etc, may occur).

The english bridle leather is the result of a collaboration between the tannery and myself.  It has been specially prepared to be oiled only once (most are oiled up to three times) and to have the wax component left out completely (other english bridle leathers are both oiled and waxed).  This gives it a fairly fast, medium to light draw, but after a fair bit of use the draw increases slightly.  Giving the surface of the strop a good rub with your hand every day, prior to stropping, is all the maintenance required.  After repeated tests over the period of three months I have noticed that this leather gives a really good polishing action to the bevel, something that has also been noticed by other users, particularly with coticule-finished razors. 

The balsa wood panel is a good carrier for a variety of cutting pastes and powders and is commonly used with green chrome oxide powder (which is stocked elsewhere in this site).  The edges of both the balsa wood and the leather paddles have been bevel-cut.

Because leather is a natural item and also due to the hand-made construction there are some small marks, cutting variations and natural faint lines/grain, but these will not affect this paddles ability in the slightest to produce a keen edge on a razor - I use prototypes of all the strops I make, and can tell what is an acceptable cosmetic marking and what will impede the quality of the leather and affect its performance - I only sell the best quality selected leather - the rest is discarded.

Paddle Strop Pros:

• Easier for the novice to use - no need to worry about keeping it taut!
• Lighter and more compact than a loom or a hanging strop, so good for travelling with.
• Ideal for pastes because it does not sag - sagging contributes to edge rounding.