Thread: Advice on strop

I have a strop. It has leather and wool felt. My question is, do I need another felt strop for CrO or diamond?

My understanding is that I use the felt then the leather for stroping. For touching up a strop with some sort of paste is good.

Do you need seperate strops, or can you clean off the paste, or should I use the back side of my existing felt strop?

What kind should I buy if I should for the paste?

I would recommend against any paste or spray on your daily strop.
Instead, get a separate strop of linen, hardpressed wool or cotton for that.
IMO, that leaves you with a great daily stropper, and a Touch-up/finishing strop for use when needed.

I have strops with 0,5 CrO, 0,25 and 0,5 Diamond spray, and I must say that to me the CrO is the one I use the most.
Diamond sprays are great as well, but there are those who feel that they can leave the edge a bit on the harsh side.

I always keep two strops: One for everyday and one for refreshing the razor. You will only need one for now in any case as you shouldn't really have to refresh the edge for a couple of dozen shaves.

+1.

Your daily driver should be plain.

Your touch up strop can have some paste of some sort. It's also very important to wipe your blade very well after using your pasted strop. You want to avoid impregnating your other linen/felt and leather with the abrasives that are contained in the pastes.

Like Birnando, I have the CrOx and the 0.5 Diamond. Unlike him I prefer the diamond.

I'm only fairly new to str8 razor shaving but I recently made a balsa strop that I pasted with some CrO paste. I find that works well for me and was really cheap to make. After the balsa you would move onto your hanging linen and leather strop. The more experience guys might have an opinion on this method, would be happy to refine the process if I am off the mark.

There are a number of tutorials on the forum dealing with diy balsa strops.

Originally Posted by Str8Raz0r

I'm only fairly new to str8 razor shaving but I recently made a balsa strop that I pasted with some CrO paste. I find that works well for me and was really cheap to make. After the balsa you would move onto your hanging linen and leather strop. The more experience guys might have an opinion on this method, would be happy to refine the process if I am off the mark.

There are a number of tutorials on the forum dealing with diy balsa strops.

I think it sounds like an excellent idea. I really should get the hang of making things, it would save me a fortune!

Originally Posted by alexanderdurham

I think it sounds like an excellent idea. I really should get the hang of making things, it would save me a fortune!

Yes, after you cover the TADs (tool acquisition disorders) that seem to plague this community, your savings will be unimaginable! But, the joy is in the process, as you must know.

Best wishes.