What is the best bang for the buck for begginer strop
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What is the best bang for the buck for begginer strop
For just starting out and for relatively little money, I don’t think you can beat the WhippedDog poor man strop kit.
http://www.whippeddog.com/products/v...-man-strop-kit
That’s what I have been looking at by it is only 2” so I’m not sold on the “X” pattern
As many of the experienced folks on this site suggest, practice with a butter knife until you feel confident in the X-stroke. If you intend to hone your own eventually, it’s a movement you will need to get familiar with. Until you feel comfortable with a hanging strop, lay it on the edge of a counter top and practice stropping with it flat.
Most hanging strops are 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide and you will pay extra for a 3 inch strop. As MrHouston said, you are going to nick your first strop anyway so you might as well develop. Your skills on something inexpensive.
You could also buy a 3” bench strop for under $40 and learn on that.
Best to learn the x stroke from the beginning. It's the only way to guarantee that you get the entire edge. I would use it no matter how wide the strop.
You can look on ebay and pick up a cheap strop to practice on. You need to learn the x stroke anyway. like the others have said you will ruin your first strop. Good luck.
WhippedDog has other inexpensive options as well.
http://www.whippeddog.com/products/find/dog-deals
You will eventually have to master the X-stroke if you want to straight shave. Best to start out early with it regardless of the first strop you buy.
It is along the same lines as learning to use both hands when shaving with a straight, or learning to hone with one hand and flipping the razor the correct way. The X stroke on a strop is best so learn it in the beginning and you will be better off. And when learning the shave and/or hone...
I started with whippeddogs richmans strop. A little more hardware but still a piece of leather that will work fine and not cost you a lot when you hide it in the trash after you have learned and bought a nice strop.
No matter the width of your strop you should use an X stroke.
Also Illinois makes some hard working and inexpensive strops.
If you have good manual dexterity in your fingers, hand and wrist, then mastering the x-pattern needed to use a strop narrower than the length of the razor. I have some arthritis in my fingers and could never master a 2" strop. I can use a 2 1/2" strop on standard 2 3/4" length blades but have difficulty stropping my 3" length blades unless I use a 3" wide strop. You would not think 1/4" in blade length would make much difference, but it does.
As said, practice with a butter knife.
When comfortable with that only use the linen for the first few days. Linen is very hard to cut and a miscue on linen is much preferred to a slice in the leather
Good luck
While everyone recommends a cheap strop for your first because you 'will' cut it. I am one who has never 'yet' cut a strop with a bit over five years of daily stropping. I am well aware that I could cut a strop on any given day, but it has never happened to me 'yet'. Just saying that IME cutting your first strop is not inevitable. YMMV
I find 2.25" - 2.5" to be most comfortable and often use 1.5" for travel with little difficulty. I find 3" strops easier to use, but much harder to use x strokes on as the edges are to far from the center, if that makes any sense. I think that 2.25" is the sweet spot for me.
Going with what Bluesman said, afte i cut my first strop a few times and i wanted to replace it with something nice, my second strop was a Kanayama 70000. I spent a lot of money for it being a top shaelf strop. This made me NOT want to go fast, and to be damn sure of not cutting it. I cut up my first one but have not cut any sense. Some have said that after you get started, spend big money! It will keep you from making mistakes because you dont want to damage something that cost a lot.
Another way to go is the SRD strops. You can spend a bit of money on your first one, but then after you cut it up you can replace the leather and/or linen as they sell replacements for low cost. Im not promoting SRD, but the strops are not a bad deal. Lots of ways to go about strops!
PM Speedster as he had one he was selling.
There may be some cheap strops for sale after the Wisconsin meet.:boohoo:See if you can borrow someones beater until then.
i always thought the tony miller plain vanilla or chocolate strops to be excellent quality, no frills, low cost strops.