4 sided Strich Riemen razor strop with hone

Hello Everybody;

I am getting deeper and deeper in this world and I like it.

I would like to be able to 1) make a new SR truly shave ready and 2) be able to do touch ups so the SR stays sharp longer.

For my understanding the best tools to do this are the Naniwa 12K and the Shapton 16K stones. However I can not get any of them here in Europe so I need to find alternatives.

I visited a store the other day and they proposed the 4 sided Sreich Riemen razor strop which present a natural stone on one of the sides.

Could this be a substitute for the Naniwa or Shapton stones in order to make a SR shave ready and keep the blade sharper longer?

Thank you for the feed back

Any finish hone is suitable for the job of touching up a blade. There are also some very good barbers hones for that too. My synthetic hones stop at 8K and that is where the naturals take over. If you are getting your razors honed by others right now, you may already have a favorite finisher. Most of the guys that hone have a variety of finishers. If you are thinking about which finish hone to get, get your razors finished on different hones and then get that one as your touch up hone.

For maintenance that paddle with pastes will be fine. Question 1 about new sr honing Is a different story. If it needed bevel set to finish you will want more stones in your progression or a whole lot of time.

I have seen those strops with 2 sides. One is good Russian leather and the other a fine slate hone. Very good for razors.
I wish you might take pictures of all 4 sides so we can tell what they are? I expect one is pasted leather, one not, one a slate hone, but what is the other side?

Not really. The stone appears to be a slate most probably in the 5-8k grit range, more probably in the lower range. The Red & Black pastes are higher grits, most probably Red(Iron Oxide) and Black (Graphite) paste and could polish a 5k edge to a shavable and very comfortable one. Here is an old, good thread on Dovo pastes.

But as said, this is not an alternative to a shave ready edge and mostly because of its narrow width and short length, might be difficult for a novice. One of the biggest problems with those multi pasted strops is, contamination. If one puts the cover on incorrectly just once, the strops will be cross contaminated.

Stropping with paste can be an alternative to a high grit stone for maintenance, but first, one must master stropping. There are a number of other pastes that will work well for maintenance, other than the black and red paste, Chrome Oxide, Diamond and CBN.

So, first send your razor out to be honed, shave ready, then maintain on a barber hone and strop, pasted or plain leather, it will be much easier to maintain and to learn to shave.

Find a local mentor, your learning curve will be dramatically reduced and they can advise you best, what products are available to you locally.

And there you have it! :nj

Thank you for the replays;

I found a picture in this link of the strop / hone that I am talking about: http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...9YS9pD8APQ.jpg

I don´t have in my mind going farther than maintaining the edge of my SR´s as long as possible so maybe that will be enough.

For the moment I just strop and do some chromium oxide on balsa wood passes every 3 or so weeks.

I feel this strop will not replace the synthetics you mentioned in the OP, considering your last message.

Once you touch that stone, you are not touching up a blade anymore, but will need to do a lot more after. Maybe the pastes will do the job, but then why not try a natural stone that starts at 5-6k and forget about the pastes? To me, it's a much simpler and cleaner solution. Coticule of the Ardennes comes to mind..

We have some great options in Europe, when it comes to natural stones. I can tell you a whole lot about them, if you're interested, but I feel that isn't really a topic here. However if you're growing to like this, like you say you do, I feel the european naturals will soon become very interesting. There's also a bunch of great barber hones, like RezDog mentioned.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Srdjan

I feel this strop will not replace the synthetics you mentioned in the OP, considering your last message.

Once you touch that stone, you are not touching up a blade anymore, but will need to do a lot more after. Maybe the pastes will do the job, but then why not try a natural stone that starts at 5-6k and forget about the pastes? To me, it's a much simpler and cleaner solution. Coticule of the Ardennes comes to mind..

We have some great options in Europe, when it comes to natural stones. I can tell you a whole lot about them, if you're interested, but I feel that isn't really a topic here. However if you're growing to like this, like you say you do, I feel the european naturals will soon become very interesting. There's also a bunch of great barber hones, like RezDog mentioned.

---

Thanks for the replay.

I don´t care about the strop it just came with the hone. The also offered me natural stone. Can a natural stone be comparable to a 12k Naniwa for what I need?

I have no idea as to the grit, but the one I had was very good at re-freshening an edge when used like a barber's hone and would greatly improve the edge from an 8k.
I forwarded it to a new shaver who is still going strong with it. FME

Attachment 207917Attachment 207918

Can a natural stone be comparable to a 12k Naniwa for what I need?

Maybe… but doubtful, depends on the stone. Natural stones are… natural and no 2 are alike, all 12k Super Stone will deliver the same edge.

Sometimes you get lucky, and find a stone that will deliver a great edge. But it is not just about grit rating, and it does not have to be a 12k edge to get a great shave.

So say it is a 6 kish edge, and then you strop with .50um Chrome Oxide, (20-30K ish grit), what is the edge 6 or 30k?

Comfortable is the right answer.

@OP: looks to me like Naniwa stones are also available in Spain: AFILADORES - CUCHILLERIA

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kees

@OP: looks to me like Naniwa stones are also available in Spain: AFILADORES - CUCHILLERIA

---

Thank you for the link. I had a look and it looks like they are wholesalers, they don´t sell to particulars.

I have been reading about natural stones and I must say that I am intrigued and since I can have easy access to them I might give it a try.

Swaty barber hone, Chinese 12k, the welch purple slate (Yellow lake), the Charnley Forest, Echer thuringian (vintage preferably), Coticule and BBW are all fine stones that can give comfortable edges (yes, even the BBW [emoji47] [emoji1]). Out of all these I haven't ever tried honing on the charnley forest and the bbw (this is about to change very soon). A friend of mine sent me a bbw and it's still with the mailman. He has the CF and I trust when he says it's a capable finisher. By the way, there are many more barber hones out there, but I don't really know them. Ebay is full of them...

What I've listed will vary in price greatly. Particularly vintage stuff, like eschers and coticules. I wouldn't bother with those, unless you've got cash to burn. Especially for an escher nowdays.. highly overpriced, just because they're gone. You can get a nice new Coti from the Ardennes people instead, they are a pleasure to deal with.

I have tried several "unknown" jnats as well. I have one that I've kept. The others went to the fellow honers in trades and/or sales. They were all pretty amazing stones, japanese barber hones that I got cheap and sold cheap as well. I usually post my findings on Instagram. If you use IG, give me a shout.. if not, you can still check it out @mr__britva.

If you're interested in a jnat, check the JNS website and pay Maksim a visit on IG @jnsmaksim.

There are also many japanese sellers online (ebay, websites...), some are good, some not so much.. but that's a different topic ;)


Good luck!

I finally got a welch purple slate (Yellow lake)....and a gold dollar 208 razor to practice on before I try with my good SR´s

Now I need to learn how to use it.

Can I get a Gold Dollar to a shave ready state with the yellow lake?

Thank you all for your feed backs

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Icarusflies

I finally go a welch purple slate (Yellow lake)....and a gold dollar razor to practice on before I try with my good SR´s

Now I need to learn how to use it.

Thank you all for your feed backs

---

Good choice for your first natural. I still have mine, although it's been collecting dust lately. Probabaly the best tip I got for that one is to finish on soap, or oil. Then it gives an amazing edge.. at least mine does! :)

Gold dollar though... I hope you get lucky. That's not a razor to practice putting a shave-ready edge on. It will be good for you to practice honing strokes, but don't expect to shave with it, without considerable work. I mean, YL alone will not help make it shave ready.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Srdjan

Good choice for your first natural. I still have mine, although it's been collecting dust lately. Probabaly the best tip I got for that one is to finish on soap, or oil. Then it gives an amazing edge.. at least mine does! :)

Gold dollar though... I hope you get lucky. That's not a razor to practice putting a shave-ready edge on. It will be good for you to practice honing strokes, but don't expect to shave with it, without considerable work. I mean, YL alone will not help make it shave ready.

---

I ll probably start a new thread about how to use the YL since I am clueless....

Do a bit of searching, there's info about it in the forum already. I might send you a few links and tips later...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Icarusflies

I ll probably start a new thread about how to use the YL since I am clueless....

---

PM-ed you.