Thread: help question about stropping

is it mandatory that i paste my strop or will the horse hide and canvas sharpen it without pasting.....bought a Dovo Black Handle Bismarck, Full Hollow Carbon Steel, 6/8" so please help

You should not paste your daily strop. Keep this clean and use it before (and ideally after) each shave.

For reference, I do 25 material and 50-60 leather before each shave, and then 10 material and 15-20 leather afterwards. The stropping afterwards cleans any microgunk off the edge and makes sure the edge is totally dry.

Stropping doesnt sharpen a razor, rather it just realigns the very fine edge of the razor to ensure that the razor is in the best possible condition for shaving.

A pasted strop is used now and then, and only when the razor starts to pull or doesnt shave as well. The paste is slightly abrasive, so it removes metal and actually "hones" the razor very slightly and restores the edge.

Eventually the pasted strop wont bring the razor back and thats when you need to send it for honing.

Here are some wiki links on the subject:

Razor Strops - Straight Razor Place Wiki

You can make a pasted strop very easily. ChrisL is selling CrOx powder in the classifieds.

Easily make a pasted balsa strop - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Good luck!

thank you i have been researching all of this stuff and i kinda got confused as to wether i actually needed all of this extra stuff to start. so thank you for your answer