Thread: DIY roo travel strop - my take

G'day all,
thought I would share my latest edition a DIY roo travel strop for those who are trying to find a easy and very portable option for a travel strop.


the materials
A grade razor stop quality vegi tanned Roo leather strip - I used 750x75mm (30x3")
Leather lacing - I used 1m x 5mm (3'x1/4") Roo same as the strop
1/4" stainless tube - 2 off 75mm (3") long - brass tube or similar could be used also but the stainless was from work for free.
Tarzan grip contact cement

the tools
Stanley knife
clamps
hard metal of wood for clamping glued surfaces

the how to
I sourced my leather from Newforce pty ltd (outthere09) on eBay he is in Airlie beach in Queensland Australia great lad to deal with, contact him about your size and quality you want as it isn't always listed and he will supply to suit your needs
Was $54AUD delivered (only 600km) for 2 strips and 2m of lace

the leather came stripped to width nice and straight so only had to square and trim the ends up
used the Stanley knife cuts the ends with a steel ruler as a guide
They came out 750mm and 800mm after trimming both

i then just marked a line at 3" from each end as the extent of the folded and glued area
applied glue to this area
laid the tube in place
Folded over pulled the tube in tight and clamped between 2 stainless bars and some plastic sheet to protect the leather and left to dry for an hour
then repeated for the other end

i then sanded the back completely with dry 2000 grit wet & dry grit to smooth some minor rough bits, so now it is like a very fine swayed feel to it for my linen side
no end for any sanding etc for the front
then threaded the lacing through the tube 6" at the bottom and 1'6" at the top
tied them both off at a similar length as a D ring as left the rest to hang
i added a bead to the bottom to hang to and a dice on the other for now until I get another long skull bead in the mail.

job done ready to use roll it up through it in the travel kit


I note this is aplagiarisation of an early post so a big thanks to Legion & MickR for sharing their original posts on making a Roo travel strop on SRP so long ago, I just I had thought of it myself.

Nice work… good looking collection too.

Some extra photos that didnt load for some reason
I forgot to take a before I glued photo

The rods and a dice for the temporary bead


The tools


The off cuts after trimming


Clamped whilst the glued is drying


After removing the clamps

I have been contemplating stitching this also but will wait and see how the glue lasts

The other one I made I already gave to me nephew earlier in the week, as he is going to Europe on Friday for a couple of years until his visa runs out.

If you (saddle) stitch close to the tube it will last much better than just glue alone. I did a couple similar and simpler than this design for Os a few years back. A simple barbers grip design. With the lace coming from a centred hole in the tube/leather.

Yours looks s**t hot mate. Love it!


Mick

Thanks Mick, I was thinking of changing to the centre hole set up you did in yours also,
if the tube comes loose I will definitely change it and add the stitching,
but i will see how long it lasts for now as a test if nothing else on the tarzi grip.
As I might have a couple more to make in the not to distant future for a couple of family members who I am doing blades up for.

Mine came out with about 6" of more stropping area than my Bigdaddy behind it and the nephews came almost the exact same length as it's a good full sized strop still

Thanks again Mick for the original ideas
Regards Dion

Not a problem at all Dion. Does me proud to see people like, and adapt my (not necessarily original) ideas. Oz introduced me to the idea originally, with some images he had if I remember correctly, so it has been done by others before me. Let me know how your glue only set up goes. I'm curious about the longevity as well.

Edit: Just looking at how much you paid and thought I might just let you know it might be caper to buy a whole hide if you plan on doing many more. Mind you, you'll have more work in it cutting the strips to width with out a 'strap cutter'. And they aren't cheap to buy. A long metal straight edge might do you and cost far less.


Mick

just an update
it's been 14 months odd and the Flexible Tarzan Grip "glue only" joints are still holding strong with no sign of lifting or hardening to date

cheers
Dion

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great job on the strop Substance , 14 mths that Tarzan glue's holdin up well , I have one very similar bout the only difference is I used 1/4" composite hollow tent pole tubing and saddle stitched the folds , paracord holds ...Im pretty sure I got the idea from MickR at the time he was making and if my memory serves me correctly selling them "thanks Mick" ...if that Tarzan glue fails at some point and you cant stitch it you could use gorilla tape USA made stuff , I recently ,made a linen strop looped over a brass ring with a couple of wraps of gorilla tape and ya could tow a car with it ..well maybe

yep MickR & Legion were my info sources also