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Art Deco Inlaid Paddle Strop
Art Deco Inlaid Paddle Strop
Click picture for more detail
Click picture for more detail
I use an antique leather doctor's bag to house my traveling luthier's kit, and it very conveniently holds my essential tools and small jars of shellacs and cleaners, as well as has upper compartments which my planes and other odd shaped tools fit into with ease.
The only tool I wanted to include but was too large to fit in the bag was my paddle strop (see the galleries for more information on that). This presented me with a dilema: I could either cut down the strop by about half an inch for it to fit (which would either destroy the handle shape or shorten the stropping surfaces, neither of which I really wanted to do) or I could make another strop to fit inside the bag. Choosing the more time consuming option, I geared up to make another paddle strop.
Although a paddle strop is a fairly utilitarian tool, it had to still have style and flair of its own. Inspired by my favorite Art Deco styling, I came up with a handle shape inspired by deco "fan" motifs, and decided to further embellish it with inlaid purfling as one would see on a violin. Again, wholly unnecessary from a functionality standpoint, but a nice aesthetic touch.
I chose a piece of very hard flamed maple for the strop paddle. The enigma here is that most of the strop paddle is covered by leather so the figure of the wood isn't visible, but yet again, the visible flame on the handle section would be beautiful, and the edges of the strop paddle would show the figure as well.
The strop turned out nicely, and learning from the first strop I made the leather surfaces a little wider for more usable area, which I found important for stropping wide blades like plane irons. The strop now lives in my bag, and always draws interest when removed and used!
I use an antique leather doctor's bag to house my traveling luthier's kit, and it very conveniently holds my essential tools and small jars of shellacs and cleaners, as well as has upper compartments which my planes and other odd shaped tools fit into with ease.
The only tool I wanted to include but was too large to fit in the bag was my paddle strop (see the galleries for more information on that). This presented me with a dilema: I could either cut down the strop by about half an inch for it to fit (which would either destroy the handle shape or shorten the stropping surfaces, neither of which I really wanted to do) or I could make another strop to fit inside the bag. Choosing the more time consuming option, I geared up to make another paddle strop.
Although a paddle strop is a fairly utilitarian tool, it had to still have style and flair of its own. Inspired by my favorite Art Deco styling, I came up with a handle shape inspired by deco "fan" motifs, and decided to further embellish it with inlaid purfling as one would see on a violin. Again, wholly unnecessary from a functionality standpoint, but a nice aesthetic touch.
I chose a piece of very hard flamed maple for the strop paddle. The enigma here is that most of the strop paddle is covered by leather so the figure of the wood isn't visible, but yet again, the visible flame on the handle section would be beautiful, and the edges of the strop paddle would show the figure as well.
The strop turned out nicely, and learning from the first strop I made the leather surfaces a little wider for more usable area, which I found important for stropping wide blades like plane irons. The strop now lives in my bag, and always draws interest when removed and used!