Thread: Hard Felt users

Hello all,

my question is this - for those that use hard felt and no linen etc. - Do you paste one side and also use the back side of the felt with nothing as you would the linen or do you only use the felt pasted side only?

thanks in advance
andy

Welcome to SRP Andy. My Hand American flatbed hone felt is coated with chrom ox. My Straight Razor Designs felt hanger is coated on one side only with 0.5 diamond spray. Both work very well. I use an uncoated linen and an uncoated webbed fabric for normal stropping before going to leather. When I do use the felt my favorite is the hanging felt with the spray.

If you haven't checked out the SRP Wiki here do so. It is chock full of info on all things straight razor related. Feel free to ask questions. We are always willing to share info.

I bet Don or Lynn will stop by but when I spoke to Don I believe he said the felt can be used felt only.

Thanks for the responses and the welcomes.

I was thinking of using the plain side of the felt (hanging) like someone would use linen before the strop and then only using the pasted side once a month for touch ups or as needed. I have been using plain felt recently with no issues to report other than "is it working or not even worth the added step?" Although, it does have a nice sound as the blade is running up and down

I have the lee valley green honing compound (about .5 microns) - I was just gonna apply in an x pattern on the felt and let the razor spread it as it goes but I have also seen some felt strops completely greened by the compound - not sure if it makes a difference or not.

Seems like there are a million different ways to do things and ya just gotta pick one and do it - in which case mine would be if the plain felt thing turns out to be of value in the process:

cleaning a bevel - 8000 to pasted felt to plain felt to strop
touch ups monthly - pasted felt to felt to strop
daily - plain felt to strop

numbers may vary on strokes depending on how often I wind up shaving.

andy

Your plan sounds good Andy. I've heard the untreated felt works well. After you've tried it awhile you'll know better if it is working for you. In terms of how many laps on the strop here is a good archived thread on the topic of stropping that may be of interest to you. It was to me.

I'm quite interested in this myself...How stiff/hard is the hard felt? My "linen" is quite stiff. Stiffer than the leather on the strops, in fact. I've been using it coated with white paste but I'm not sure ho much I like that, and I've been thinking about trying another fabric component, just to compare

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Welcome to SRP Andy. My Hand American flatbed hone felt is coated with chrom ox. My Straight Razor Designs felt hanger is coated on one side only with 0.5 diamond spray. Both work very well. I use an uncoated linen and an uncoated webbed fabric for normal stropping before going to leather. When I do use the felt my favorite is the hanging felt with the spray.

If you haven't checked out the SRP Wiki here do so. It is chock full of info on all things straight razor related. Feel free to ask questions. We are always willing to share info.

Can I ask, why do you use two different fabrics before the leather? Does it make a big difference, or is it just a habit you got into or what? I'm curious...I've been thinking a lot about stropping lately, and new ideas are tasty.

I didn't want to tangle my nice 3" latigo leather/canvass strop with any paste on either side.

So I bought a 4 sided paddle strop and pasted three sides and I like the fact that they are separate from my main strop. I was advised by Tony Miller and bought the paddle strop from him. I couldn't have asked for a better setup as a newbie and it serves me very well and keeps all my straights sharp!

Its doing such a good job, I have no idea if any hone miesters will get the chance to hone my straights since I will be adding a barber stone to the mix.

Pabster