Thread: Questions about new strop

Hi everybody!

I recently bought some vintage straight razors on an auction (a real one, not eBay ;]) here in Sweden. There were three razors in the box i bought, one old looking one full of rust and no "hollowing"(?) on the blade, and two more modern looking with minimal to no rust. Since i'd been wanting to try shaving with a straight razor for some time, and had been reading alot on the internet about it, i went to a local barber here in Stockholm to ask some questions and to have him look at my razors to say if they were any good. He thought they were usable, and said I needed a strop. He had no one in store, so today I went back and now I have my strop.

Now I have some question i was hoping to get some help with.

First off is what to do with it before i use it. The barber said to rub cooking oil in the leather and let it sit for a day before using it for the first time. What do you think about that? Is it a good idea?

Secondly, he said I should use two pastes, one black little "block" for the leather and a paste in a small white tube (with a yellow tape stripe) for the textile side. He only had the white tube in store, so i bought it, and will go back in a couple of days to get the black stuff. Is this the way to go? Should I wait stropping until I get the black stuff, or should I go ahead anyway?

I've searched the web for info, but haven't found any information about the cooking oil, and little information about pastes. I'm kind of scared of ruining my (expensive) strop, so I'd like a second opinion before i get started!

Oh, one more thing. The barber said that you should never hone your razors, you only destroy them. He said he had been a barber for 60 years and never honed his razors, he only used the strop with pastes. According to what I read on this forum, honing is something you need to do a couple times a year at least. Well, is a strop enough or do I need a hone aswell?

Thanks for your help!
Sincerely
Isak

Isak,
I'm not liking most of that advice <g>. First, I would use any strop plain at first a little just to see how it feels then think about dressing. if I was going to ad dressing (I rarely do, but most others always do) I would use something specifically for leather.....Neat's Foot Oil, Lexol, etc.....try to avoid "waterproof" or silicone based leather care products as they tend to make things slippery.

Pastes, unless you really know what you are doing and have a second strop for daily use, do not paste your hanging strop. It is a tool for aligning the edge, not sharpening. Now, that said there were strops made years ago with 2 leather components marked "finishing" and "sharpening". On these it looks like the "sharpening" component was often pasted with red or black paste. I doubt this is what you have bought though. Save pastes for paddles and refreshing a blade.

On the linen or canvas side I'm not a pasting fan either. The tube you are describing, white with a yellow stripe sounds like the Dovo "fat" used for the leather side of the strop, not the linen. They do make an all white tube for linen but I have not used it.

The little blocks, red or black are for sharpening on paddles and far to agressive for daily use.

It is interesting that he said a barber never used a hone, only stropped on pastes. I think you could come close to that but still feel a hone is needed at some point.

Tony

I don't use any pastes on a hanging or paddle strop, but
I've heard from some members that they feel after a time
the bevel becomes `rounded', and only after a refresh
from a flat, solid hone does the V bevel return. This seems
to make sense to me, and I typically use my hanging stop
without any kind of dressing.

You can usually keep the leather side sufficiently conditioning
by rubbing your hand across it for several passes.

All right Tony and Sebell, thank's for the advice!

So I really don't need nothing for my strop, so far= I can go ahead and strop with nothing on it? It needs no lubricant whatsoever, no water?

Water is not a good idea on your leather. Besides, the point
is _not_ to lubricate the blade across the strop, it's the force
of the even friction (or `draw') from the leather to the steel
that gives you the nice keen edge.

- Scott

I am very reserved of ready for shave status of your auction razors besides if you strop them.
Your barber seems to me unworthy of belief.
Try to find a person who knows well staight razor shaving and honing to hone the razors for you, or buy a shave ready razor
I agree with Tony, the small white tube (with a yellow tape stripe) is dressing for leather side and not for linen.

Yanis has hit upon a key point here.

While Tony et al. has given some good advice about your leather care and use. I think your razors need a second look.

Your barber told you that two of them were usable, not ready for use. I would guess that they both are in serious need of honing before you try to shave with them. I have never bought a vintage straight (other than from here) that was sharp enough to cut hair painlessly. Few were even that sharp!

I would send them, or at least one, to a honemeister here who can sharpen them and make sure you will have a good tool for your use. Otherwise your first shave will be disappointing at best disastrous at worst. Just inquire on the board or look around you will find a good judge of blades or two you can for a nominal fee.

Good luck

The barber did strop them for me, with the pastes. But I still felt, when i shaved with them, alot of resistance against my beard. And alot of strain on my face, alot of redness. However, the resistance did become less the second time, and even less the third time. So it might also be a matter of technique.
Evenso, when I tested to shave the thin hairs on my hand, I found that both blades were dull in the middle, and sharp(er) on the edges. So I believe you when you say they need honing.

So I'm thinking about ordering a new DOVO razor from classicshaving.com, along with the sharpening service, so I'll get a good edge and a benchmark for future stropping/honing. Is there any big difference between the 50-60$ razors and 100$+ ones, besides scales material and gold plating, and so on? The cheap ones are still good ones, right?

Isak