Thread: Thoughts on make-shift strops.

Howdy everyone. I know I post like a madwoman, but bare with me.

Like a lot of our newer members here, I'm young and broke. And yet, being young, I want to have a life despite being broke. So I looked into this whole straight razor thingie and decided, yes, I want to do this!

I read lots and lots, and looked into what's good, what's good enough, and what's crap. I wanted as good as can be had for cheap, which usually means good enough, without winding up with crap.

So, I read lots of threads about make-shift strops. A lot of the more experienced members recommended against it, but I never saw a clearly articulated reason as to why. They would instead recommend that a cash-strapped newbie buy a piece of leather.

"But isn't that the same damn thing as a belt?", I thought. I smirked and assumed that it was tied up in SRP's constant drive to get that extra 1% out of their shave.

Well, I was wrong.

So, to any newbie wanting to used a belt, or your jeans, or whatever, as a strop, here's my story. Here is a clearly articulated reason to think about it.

First, I'd like to say that lots of people can and do have success with such make-shift strops. This is just one tale of one person. But, maybe it's something worth considering.

I bought a belt from the Salvation Army. Two inches wide, perfectly smooth, no obvious imperfections. Looked like it had hardly been worn. Genuine leather and everything. Perfect.

When I first tested out my razor the moment I opened it (shave-ready from LilithParker the beautiful!), it shaved hair off my arm. Tiny bit of pull, but nothing a good stropping won't clean up, right?

I stropped my razor, and tried to have a shave. And failed miserably. So miserably that I would have almost been better off not shaving at all.

Tried to shave my arm again. Nothing.

The immediate concern was my stropping technique. Obviously I'm new, and while I did practice before hand, that was my first time stropping a real razor. I assumed the fault rested entirely with me.

And to be sure, my stropping is not that great. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't all that effective.

But when I sent it off to be honed (by the spendiforous Onimaru!), assuming I'd rolled the edge, I got quite a shock when I got an email with micro pictures of my blade.

I had not rolled the edge.

I had apparently ground off the edge like a maniac with a 400 grit stone.

I was completely confused. How did this happen? I was so careful with keeping my edge from hard surfaces. I was so good about storing it properly. The only thing it touched, besides my skin, was a leather belt. And while my stropping may have been a little more insistent than necessary, there is no way I was pushing hard enough to do *that.* Onimaru wondered if perhaps it was something in the leather.

And then, it was pointed out to me, that after a certain point, your fingers can no longer feel differences in consistency. A 4k stone feels almost exactly the same as a 16k stone, one member told me.

It is entirely possible that something has been embedded in, or roughened up, my belt. And my fingers may not feel it, but my razor will show it.

I have no idea where that belt has been. I have no idea if it was thrown in a box with a bunch of saw dust. I have no idea if it had tiny scrapes from being banged around. I have no idea.

I spent $5 on that belt.

I could have just as easily spent that $5 on a nice piece of leather which would have been sufficient. I would know that it had been carefully shipped. I would know it had little contact with anything, apart from other bits of leather.

I would know a lot more about what I was using, and thus it would have a better chance of being successful.

People don't really think about the micro surface of their belts. That's not what they're for.

But people do think about the micro surface of their strops, and even of plain leather. They are more likely to treat it accordingly, and it is more likely not to chew your blade apart.

So, the belt, being that it is far too big for me to use it for its intended purpose, is going back to the Salvation Army. Lesson learned.

Love,
Cassie