The new toys are all rolling in!

My razors arrived one right after the other, and an Illinois 361 strop. The razors seem promising: a vintage(ish) Wade & Butcher from ebay (I know I know, i impulse-bought before doing my research), which is dull as crap and a touch grody around the tang, but not bad for what I paid, and a NOS Wapi, so they'll both need a good honing before I get to play. It sounds like the Wapi's a crap-shoot, quality-wise, but I like the look of them enough, I figured I'd take the chance. I have one more on the way, and a practice one, and then I need to stop for awhile. Yikes, I had better take to straight shaving or I'll feel pretty foolish

Strop questions:
1) would the Illinois qualify as a good practice strop, or should I save it for when I don't suck?

2) I rubbed the strop with my hands for a couple of minutes and they came away nearly the coulour of the strop. Washed right off, though. Normal?

3) I've currently got the strop hanging vertically in a temporary place in my bathroom, but need to create some sort of place to anchor it to the wall. Anybody have any recommendations on methods/materials for this? My walls are drywall, about 30 yrs old, with wood studs, if that info has any bearing.

4) My bathroom can get pretty humid. Presumably that's not gonna mess up the strop or anything?

5) any tips or pointers, razor OR strop?

Sorry for the onslaught of questions.

Thanks!

first off dont store the strop in a humid place
whatever you deside to secure the strop with for use make sure you hit a stud
if the strop is fitted for practise depends how much you value it
do you think you will be upgrading later?
if leater gets to humid the color tend to wash off a bit, not sure if that applyes to yours tho

Personally I like to hang my strop on a door knob. I like that height and I use a zip tie ... cable tie to secure it. That is roughly the height that pro barbers used to attach their strops at on a barber's chair. I think it makes for efficient stropping. Here is the 1961 barber manual excerpt from the SRP Wiki help files. The last couple of pages have some good info on starting out correctly. Of course you should get your razors pro honed for best results.:gl:

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Originally Posted by janivar123

first off dont store the strop in a humid place

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Even if it's just humid during a shower but then normalizes afterwards? Or even then?

well atleast for me i had the strop in the bathroom during shower
and i noticed it has started bending

good to know...

I keep my strop hanging on a hook in my walk-in closet so it won't get damp. I bring it out to strop, then put it away as soon as I'm done. Isn't too much more work, but I think it will keep it in better shape.

One thing I do is to strop in the evening. Gives me a chance to step away from the chaos temporarily and have a Zen moment. Then the razor is ready when I get up in the morning. Only problem I have is remembering which razor needs stropping!

Fred

i know what you mean by which one needs to be stroped i spent the first few hours of my day today stroping and sorting things out