Kit of 2 Leather Honing Strop 3 Inch by 10 Inch with 3 One Oz. Black, Green & White Sharpening Polishing Compounds (One of Each) & Double-Sided Adhesive Tapes by Upon Leather

I got this to make a few double sided portable stops for myself, friends, and family. And it has not disappointed and is perfect for that application.The PackagingEverything comes neatly packaged in a very nice cardboard gift box stamped with the maker mark (Upon) along with the leather, 3 abrasive compound blocks ( if you got a kit with the compound) two sheets of adhesive tape the size of the leather, and a handwritten note thanking you for your purchase.I did not use or need the tape in my application, but it is sized so you can use the top of gift box as your strop surface with the tape on your leather. When finished stropping you can just put everything back in the box and keep it stored there.As it is it makes a very nice and complete package to gift to someone.If you are struggling with what to get the guy who has everything and he carry’s a knife every day or uses wet stones to baby an expensive chefs knife, stuff like this is always cool to introduce them to a new way of maintaining their blades that they may not of know about.The LeatherEach piece of leather is consistent in both thickness and texture. When measured with a dial micrometer (pictured) in various places, the leather comes in at 2.572mm as advertised. The smooth side of the leather is smooth with zero scratches indication of abrasion or defects. And the flesh side has plenty texture to pickup and hold your abrasive compound but not so much that you are shaving off excess flesh while stropping. The leather is still supple being very flexible yet firm enough for the task at hand. I almost hated to start cutting it up, but when it was time, it was very easy to cut with a standard utility razor blade and a metal straight edge.The Abrasive CompoundI got the kit also came with 3 abrasive compounds. Coarse (black), Medium (green), and Fine (white). Each compound square weighs 0.95 as advertised and the blocks are of good consistent quality. They are not dry, chalky, brittle, or flaking like some others I have gotten before. They have the consistency slightly harder than a regular crayon which is exactly what you want so you can load up your leather with the compound.Applying to your leather is very easy and the leather takes the compound extremely well. No need to heat up the leather or the compound to apply. The black compound goes on a little bit harder but that is because it is of a coarser composition so it takes a little bit more to load up the leather. But a little goes a long way and each one of the blocks will probably last you several years. After I made my first set of strops I went on a sharpening spree stropping every outdoor, camp, or pocket knife I had. Using just the green, and white compounds brought every knife to a razor sharp edge allowing me to easily dry shave all the hair off my arms and legs. The black is actually coarse enough that I think I can replace my small pocket stones on camping and hunting trips to maintain my blade edges.I have a throwing knife that had a few nicks and rolled edges on it and the black compound was actually good enough to restore the damaged edge before going to the green and white compound.In fact the green and white compounds work so well on their own that I decided to only make double sided pocket strops for my nephews using just those. Unless they really damage their edges that will be sufficient to keep their knives razor sharp.The Strops I MadeI used ¼” thick pieces of lightweight balsa wood cut to a few different sizes to mount my leather on. I chose balsa because it’s very light yet still rigid and strong. So it won’t flex while stropping and still light enough to carry in a pocket, or backpack without noticing the weight. You can get balsa like this from most craft stores in their modeling departments, or your local remote control hobby store. If you can’t find that or don’t care about the weight any wood will work actually.The leather comes in 3” widths and I’ve found that 1.5 inch is plenty wide enough for any blade I have from a kitchen knife, survival knife to a pocket knife. That also give me the added benefit of being able to get two cut it in half and made a double sided strop with two sides 1.5” wide.Once I decide on how big I want my strop I cut the wood to size then cut the leather to match. If you want to make a pocket strop give yourself about an extra inch of wood in length so you have something to grip without having to hold onto the leather. Also I wanted to make sure I had a lanyard hole so I could put a piece of paracord through it to help me grasp the block and giving me a lashing point to secure it.I mounted the leather to my blocks using Locktite “light” spray adhesive (pictured) spraying both the wood and the leather for a “near permanent” bond. Before I sprayed the block I wrapped some masking tape around that extra inch of wood so I don’t have any excess adhesive where the leather won’t cover the wood. You only want the glue where you are putting the leather to wood. But if you forget, you can wipe off excess glue with some acetone.Once you let the glue set for a minute on both parts you can lay the leather onto the wood and give it a good squeeze and make sure all your edges are properly aligned and it will be adhered in less than 5 minutes. If you happen to screw up you can lift an edge of the leather and carefully peel it off the wood, then wipe the glue off with acetone and give it another shot, so the bond is not absolutely permanent and you can still re-use the leather or move it to another piece of wood or whatever later if you want to down the road.If you are going to be using buffing compounds then you want the rough side of your leather facing up so make sure you spray the smooth side. I made a 4 piece strop set using all 3 compounds and one smooth side up for final finishing a blade using no compound. Un-coated leather by itself is like an ultra fine compound.All that’s left is to drill a lanyard hole, touch up the hole with a countersink drill bit, and round the edges of my block, then insert some cordage.I’ve sharpened a dozen knives already on the first strop set I made with this leather and they are all terrifyingly sharp now! Each piece of leather still looks as good as it did new with the exception of being darker from all the steel that has been removed. I have not had to re-load any of my abrasive compound yet, but if I did the include 1oz blocks is enough to do so probably a 100 times. The rough side of the leather still has the same texture and there has been zero deformation or defects of the leather at all.Attached are the limit of pictures that Amazon would let me put up of the leather as received as well as several of the stropping blocks I made before and after I used to sharpen multiple knives I had at hand before I went nuts on every knife in the house. In one shot you can see the larger strops next to a Fallkniven CCA pocket stone. Also are a few pics of two double sided blocks that I started making for my nephews with just the green and white compound. So far I made a pair of larger 6-1/4" long by 1-1/2" wide double sided strops for the coarse, medium, and fine compounds and one plain smooth leather side up. Then two pocket strops that are 4" long by 1-1/2" wide.In short I’ve found my perfect source of extremely high quality yet very affordable stropping leather and I’m extremely happy with my purchase! I’ll be using Upon leather to make a bunch of pocket strops as Christmas gifts this year.

I have been using these now for a few months and really like the kit. The only material you need to supply is a flat, similarly sized piece of wood. If not handy, or needing good, flat stock, go to any Home Depot where they sell dimensioned, kiln-dried hardwoods by the foot. 1x4 works great, and have them cut to desired length! Ta-da!As far as getting the compound to adhere to the leather, I found a helpful video on YouTube that advised warming the leather, then applying compound. Used this process twice, with a light sanding w/ 400 grit sandpaper in between, and I’ve got a neat and even application of compound on both strops.

I had bought another strop from a more expensive company, here on amazon. After trying to use their expensive junk that never seemed to put a decent refinement, and struggling to make it work, I decided to order something more familiar with a more familiar price range. ALWAYS go with what you know to be tried and true. When I got my UponLeather kit the leather felt very soft and fine, and it came with two adhesive tapes, and three compounds. For about $20 bucks it was disappointing at first, but once I stripped my expensive Bamboo block of that heartbreaking reverse mounted leather (and underside rubber base strip), and mounted the two UponLeather strips, making a double strop, I was a bit relieved. The adhesive double-sided tape is pretty strong . . . much stronger than the rubber cement used on the block, originally. The compounds were easier to use than the white Dialux compound I used on the block before. I threw that chalky junk in the trash, where it belongs. This new brand went on smooth, and it put a keen edge on my pocket knife. I will say that I only ever use the black and white compound, and never the green compound. But i may order another strip from UponLeather and mount it on another brick, just to try it out. I highly recommend this more affordable kit over a trendy, expensive one.

Excellent product! I bought the double pack with white, green, and black compounds. Each strop was a full 10" (254 mm) of some awesome leather. Read and followed the instructions at "upon leather.com" website. Sharpened 3 new knives, none of which were shaving sharp. Brought 1 (Buck 119, 6" blade 420HC stainless steel) up to razor edge with just rough side of leather (10 draws, then 7 draws, then 4 draws....done). On the second knife (Buck Brahma, 6" blade 420HC stainless steel), I used the green (medium) compound on the rough side. After 7 draws, I checked it and it was SHARP! I left it alone. The 3rd knife (Puma SGB Badlands, 4" blade, 440A stainless steel) improved, but was not sharp enough to start with; however, it has a great working edge now.These are high quality and obviously can handle a long bladed knife. I love these strops and will buy again for gifts.

The strop kit included two leather pieces, with excellent double-sided adhesive tape strips, and 3 different grits of polishing compounds. The leather is very uniform thickness and smooth. The adhesive tape was very easy to apply when I put the leather strips on wood boards, thanks to the seller's website tutorial and the included business-card sized pictorial instruction. I just wish there had been 3 leather strops, since there were 3 polishing compounds, to minimize having to clean a strop to put a different compound on it.

The only thing better than Upon's Customer Relations and response to emails is the quality of Upon's leather. I don't use the word "luxurious" very often but this is the absolute best leather I have ever dealt with. You will NOT be disappointed.Semper FiMike

You can tell extra care was taken in making these perfect pieces of leather. I’m very fussy and everything exceeded my expectations. Came in a nice box and packaged very well. Really looking forward to now making my leather strops. Thank you!

Perfect strips and leather. Good product for my straight razors. Nice and wide so no X strokes required.

read the description so you know what you are getting. it is good quality

Am very happy with the product

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