Hey Gents,

I figured because of the fact I'm a beginner this is where I should post this? If not let me know and I'll head to the strop forum. Perhaps it will be some good information for my fellow beginners.

I have 2 strops:

1. SRD 3" Rock Hard Wool & 3" Black Webbed Fabric
2. Tony Miller 2 1/2" Heirloom Horsehide "Old No.2" Strop

I began learning to strop without an X pattern on the SRD strop, its larger and enabled me to first learn to hold my blade flat. Recently its occured to me I'm not sure what part of the strop to use first? Should I be using the wool side or the webbed fabric? As some of you might know already I'm the type of person who jumps right into things without a clue on how to begin. So after 3 months of shaving, my stroping method has improved but I have no idea what side of the strop I should be using first?

Now at this point in my short SRS career I've begun doing an X pattern. So far its going quite well. BUT, I decided it was time to break out the Tony Miller. Its been hanging for about 2 months behind my SRD, untouched, unused, for fear of damaging such a nice strop. I decided to try it out last night and noticed that it was cupping near the top, which made it impossible for me to keep my razor flat. So I'm wondering, is this because its so new and unused? or How do I fix this? The leather feels quite stiff, is there some sort of care or treatment I need to do here?

Thanks for reading & Regards

HigherFasterNow