Thread: beginner strop? can it be too small?

I'm fed up with the disposable blades quality in my new country of residence, so will switch to straight razor next week.

i'm thinking about a a small paddle strop as my beginner one. more precisely the "Thiers-Issard Deluxe 2-Sided Travel Strop w/ Soft Case" that you can see at the bottom Razor Strops

it seems extremely small. but i think that a paddle one will be harder to damage, is this correct?

also, a small one will make the movement slower, making mistakes more difficult right?

and if i don't damage it, i have a traveling strop instead of an abandoned beginner strop

Am I wrong on any of those assumptions?

Mmm.. kind of right, the 2 sided strop is good, and should be all you need, but you will nick it. Promise you lol leather is leather and blades will slice it as effectively whether its a paddle or a hanging strop.

However, having a narrower strop will force you to learn an X pattern which is never a bad thing. the Size won't affect the speed, but i would recommend going slow to start, to be honest you won't be able to go fast

I personally don't like small strops, but that is probably mostly because I've always used bigger ones.

Probably as a result of my bias, I don't think a small strop would be great to learn on. I think it's easier to learn on a large, non-restrictive surface. Maybe somewhat analogous to learning to drive a car in a big empty parking lot.

I also don't really see a need for two sides (I had just plain leather for maybe three years?) and not everyone will nick their first strop. Allow me to jinx myself again, but I've never nicked one.

But really, if you can get something to work for you, no one can tell you you're doing anything wrong.

I agree more with tekbow than with holli4pirating; the narrower strop will force you to learn the X-stroke. I have a 2 1/2" hanging strop and a 3" paddle strop and am more comfortable using the narrower one. That might be because it's the one I learned on, and I just can't get used to the relatively immobile surface of the paddle strop. Since this will be the one you learn on, it might make everything else seem odd to you later.

However... Because there is so much less working surface area on this strop (1.4" by 8.5"), you'll have to perform many more strokes to achieve a "standard" amount of stropping. Most strops are about as wide and 2 to 3 times as long as most bench hones; the strop you're looking at is half as wide and about as long as a typical bench hone. So where I do 80 strokes on my hanging strop, you might have to do 160 or more for the same effect on this travel strop. For that reason, I'd recommend against this for your daily strop. It would be a very nice second strop, but unless you're someone who really loves stropping you might get tired of using it, or might not be patient enough to strop on it as long as your razor needs. I think my own patience would run thin on such a small surface.

You are correct that it will be a better travel strop. Hanging strops don't travel well.

With the two sides, you can put CrOx (or other) paste on one, for occasional touch-up rather than daily use.

Whatever you get, before you strop a razor on it, practice a while with something like a butter knife, so you build some muscle memory.

I frequently buy from the vendor you linked to; he's a nice guy, has good products, and I'm always impressed at how quickly my order arrives.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

But really, if you can get something to work for you, no one can tell you you're doing anything wrong.

+1

It's all highly personal. great thing about straight shaving, 100 people may have 100 ways of doing the same thing and none are wrong.

I have both a 3" hanging strop and a 2-sided paddle strop from SRD. I started back in December. Over that time, I have gravitated to using the paddle strop most of the time. I find it easier to get more consistent results with the paddle.

The SRD paddle is bigger than the Thiers-Issard travel paddle strop and does not require as many additional laps. However, I love the TI travel paddle strop and have it on my wish list.

You can get good results with either strop.

Happy Stropping!