Thread: Beginner purchase (suggestions and criticism needed):

Check this SRP vendor:
For Sale - Gem Star Customs

Scroll down and look at the bench strop. This is what I ended up buying and would not hesitate to buy another. No questions asked. Its fantastic, imo. You can't beat the value for the money. A quality build. Glenn seriously doesn't mess around.

And no, I do not work for Glenn

Originally Posted by kwlfca

You don't need to learn an x stroke on a strop to be able to do one on a hone...honing is completely different. I use 3 inch strops with no x stroke (although I could if I really wanted to) and am able to do an x stroke on a hone just fine. You can also get a lot of 3 inch hones too and not really have to do more than an abbreviated x stroke...in fact, an x stroke is just one tool among others

My point is, don't get caught up on getting a certain strop because you're worried that if you don't you won't be able to do an x stroke.
It's not hard. I personally find an x stroke on a hone far easier than on a strop.

Just pick a strop and if you're really that worried about the vendor (hint:do a SRP search to see what experiences other's have had with them), pick a different one. All else fails, pay with paypal so you can cover yourself if you get sent a bad product.

I respectively disagree...I have honed a few razor's in my time, and as you can see from the pictures the razor will extend beyond the edge of the hone, hence the need for the X-Strop. the straight on the bottom right is a $300 desert iron wood Dovo, I would not hone that straight on the 12,000 Naniwa without doing an X-Strop.

There is no need to pay extra money for one inch of leather. The X-Stroke will serve you well just as it has the millions of straight razor shavers over the past hundreds of years.

I just had another thought which might be considered noteworthy if you're worried about nicking your strop and having to buy a new one later on.

If you get the Lynn Abrams modular paddle strop, you can buy replacement leather modules for $20.
The paddle strop itself comes with a premium leather module, 2 hardwool felt modules, a scrub leather module and a bottle of .5 diamond spray for touch ups (Lynn has a video on youtube showing how to apply the diamond spray to the hardwool felt).
The paddle is two sided with magnetic pads on either side. The modules have a magnetic backing so you can easily switch between them.

A paddle strop is also easier for some to learn on because it is flat and stationary, whereas a hanging strop is as flat as you can pull it. This, for some, makes it easier to not mess up and dull your blade from poor stropping technique. I find it's easier to use more pressure (bad) on a hanging strop whereas you'd have to be a bit more deliberate about it to do the same thing on a paddle strop (I have and use both). The same can also be said when using pastes and sprays on a hanging vs paddle strop.

While these things are all different, they all lead to the same place. Just educate yourself, and make the decision yourself.

Originally Posted by kettlebell

I respectively disagree...I have honed a few razor's in my time, and as you can see from the pictures the razor will extend beyond the edge of the hone, hence the need for the X-Strop. the straight on the right is a $300 desert iron wood Dovo, I would not hone that straight on the 12,000 Naniwa without doing an X-Strop.

My Dovo fits just fine on my naniwa 12K

That also wasn't my point you don't need to be able to do a x stroke on a strop to be able to do it on a hone


Nice stone collection though

Originally Posted by kwlfca

My Dovo fits just fine on my naniwa 12K

That also wasn't my point you don't need to be able to do a x stroke on a strop to be able to do it on a hone


Nice stone collection though

Thank you for the complement on the stone's, they serve me well....most of the time

Again, I think with the pictures make my argument quite well. There is no need to spend extra money for a three inch strop. learn the X-Strop, it will serve you well.

They all work

Originally Posted by kwlfca

They all work

Unfortunately not. When using a straight stroke on a 3" strop there is only one vector of movement on the strop, vertical. When using a X-stroke there are two vectors of movement being used, vertical and horizontal or at right angles to the vertical line, this offers a more dynamic coverage to the blade edge and a better stropped razor. Sorry, but X-Stoke is the better way to strop a straight razor, and you can do an X-Stroke just fine a a 2" strop. No need to spend almost double the money for a 3" strop

I was told by a honemeister, in his opinion, he prefers the X stroke. He said it was the only way, in his opinion, to ensure that the center of this blade was properly addressed, as well as the entire area of the blade.

In his opinion, this removes most chances of having an uneven stropping session, whether your blade isn't entirely flat, or there are edges on the strop that aren't hitting the blade uniformly, this can be reduced by the X stroke.

I have a 2" and a 3" strop, and I could tell the difference in the stropping. Now in this case, I'm sure this was down to the fact that the 2" is a year old Russian leather and well broken in, and the 3" is brand new English leather, been palm rubbing quite a bit, but it still hasn't broken in yet and some areas are stiffer than others, and I've noticed that the entire blade isn't meeting the strop evenly just using a vertical stroke, hence the X stroke.

Originally Posted by kettlebell

Unfortunately not. When using a straight stroke on a 3" strop there is only one vector of movement on the strop, vertical. When using a X-stroke there are two vectors of movement being used, vertical and horizontal or at right angles to the vertical line, this offers a more dynamic coverage to the blade edge and a better stropped razor. Sorry, but X-Stoke is the better way to strop a straight razor, and you can do an X-Stroke just fine a a 2" strop. No need to spend almost double the money for a 3" strop

From Thaeris' collection of razors thread, there's a pic of a strop he got from Japan, a very nice one from the looks of it. The instructions on the strop were interesting and thought they applied to this thread:

Just wanted to tell that my first straight razor arrived from thesuperiorshave and the shipment took little less than two weeks. Jarrod was nice bloke to make business with and we had good talks, which derailed offtopic quite a bit at times. He gave me alot of insightful information, without pushing his own products at every given chance.

Edit:

I could take picture of my razor, but I think Jarrod has made better job in it so I shall give a picture from his sites.



Edit2:

So that any tinfoilhat doesn´t think that I am Jarrod adverticing my own products, I took a picture with my phone:


Picture taken with Nokia Lumia 920. (With absolutelly horrible light conditions haha. Makes all the shapes on the blade disapear)