Thread: Stropping only on pasted strops

I used to be against pastes on the daily strop though I've since changed my mind. If the linen is abrasive (as I believe it to be) then the question of pasting the daily strop really comes down to "how abrasive do I want it to be" not "do I want it to be abrasive at all". Regular use of linen will round the edge the same as pastes, only much slower because it's not as abrasive. And linen can sharpen an edge the same as pastes only much slower because it's not as abrasive - slow enough that it's not something you really want to do, but nonetheless it's doable. I once brought a dull Wostenholm to shaving sharpness with roughly 1400 laps on an unpasted linen strop.

Traditional linen seems to be fairly abrasive as fabric goes, and seems to do a good job of maintaining the edge and can even be used as a touch-up hone if the thought of doing a hundred laps or so doesn't bother you. Cotton on the other hand is much slower but seems to produce a somewhat sharper edge, however it is slow enough that stropping can become laborious, so a mild polish can speed it up so that it is more comparable to traditional linen or even slightly faster. Since genuine linen of sufficient quality for razors seems to be a disappearing commodity this is a worthwhile technique. My favorite abrasive for cotton strops is the Harbor Freight white rouge stick (~$4 for a lifetime 4"x1" crayon). I lay it across the strop and rub it back and forth one time and it's good for about a week of use (it's not sticky so it seems to fall off the fabric after a few uses). I don't know if the other white rouges sold in other hardware stores are equivalent or not.