Thread: Nicked my new strop three times on my first try. Humbug.

try holding it taut not tight, go slow to start, and also try angling the strop slightly (as in along the direction of draw looking down the strop), some guys find this makes it easier to contact the blade properly. concentrate on the spine as others have said, and i wouldn't use any pressure other than the weight of the blade to begin. also blade contact in stropping is just as important as in honing, you can risk dulling the blade otherwise.

Hi All, I bought a strop off ebay a cheap and not cheerful thing, very short, almost like cardboard, thoroughly disappointed for 3 days, right up to the point where i forgot to turn the razor and took a ruddy great chunk out of the strop.

i too find the narrow strop twists whilst stropping so will go for a 3" wide strop, very little pressure used, sounds the same on the up and down stroke, very even, Blades were just kinda heading in the right direction.

i know the theory but the practice is a right pain.

The razor that did this is my practice razor not shave ready.

So now i will buy a decent strop and a 8k stone.