DIY Flax Linen Fire Hose Strop

I bought a 4 foot section of fire hose off of the bay. I messaged the seller to see how he knew this was 100% flax and not a cotton linen mix like so many fire hoses were and his answer seemed pretty convincing so I pulled the trigger with the hopes that I could make a few stops from the 4ft. He also mentioned that he had been unable to source anymore 100%linen hose and was only able to find linen/cotton blend so this was the last of what he had which made me a little more comfortable trying it. It was being sold in 2ft sections and I prefer 14-16inches for the actual stropping material, so 48" would be perfect for 3 strops. I may have to make another 2 and see if I can sell one...or both...
The last 2 hanging strops I made I stitched the leather with wax coated linen thread with a saddle stitch and the cotton webbing I just sewed the ends overlapping the D rings with the sewing machine, so this was my first foray into copper rivets. I love how it looks. My D-rings are off a little...not uniform and my rivet placement is questionable. I don't have a dedicated jig so each one is a "one of a kind" haha. I'll just put a leather lace on the one end and tie it to the clasp on my leather strop.

I am still waiting to shave with an edge after using it. I stropped a couple of razors with it and went to leather just to see if I could see/hear any discernible difference in the FOTF test but I couldn't tell much. This obviously won't be a scientific comparison, but I am curious if I'll notice anything at all in the shave.

I have been using a 2" webbed cotton strop with crox on one side and plain on the other. I hit the crox only when I feel like the edge might be lacking a bit. However, I did notice the first time I ever used the plain cotton side before leather that the edge felt much better than with only leather alone. An increase in keenness was evident. I'm curious if I'll notice a difference going from the cotton to the linen.
I may post my findings even as just anecdotal musings at best.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

DIY Flax Linen Fire Hose Strop