Thread: Strop Advice

I'm anxiously awaiting for my razor to return from being honed by our SRP founder which I expect to arrive some time this coming week. It dawned on me I still have yet to purchase a strop. I've been troubled by which one to purchase. I have had a few I tried to aquire through ebay but no luck. So I figured what the hell I'll just anty up and buy one from SRD. My only concern is the horror stories I hear about people ruining their first strops with all the knicks and cuts that come along with the initial learning of the technique. So I guess my question is should I just go ahead and get one of the SRD strops and hope I don't ruin it or should I find a less expensive one to get me through these early days anfd if so any suggestions.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give, you are all great about heelping us rooks!

I would go ahead with one of SRD's fine strops. Even if you do nick it up, you can buy replacement leather from SRD for about the same price as a cheap strop.

I always recommend practising on & with something other than your fresh honed razor & new strop just to to develop the skills.
I believe you shouldn't use your razor till you can strop it without damage.

A cheap razor & a single strip of newspaper secured by a bulldog clip are useful learning aids.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I always recommend practising on & with something other than your fresh honed razor & new strop just to to develop the skills.
I believe you shouldn't use your razor till you can strop it without damage.

A cheap razor & a single strip of newspaper secured by a bulldog clip are useful learning aids.

So will I be okay shaving with it until I have aquired more proficiant skills stroping, also do you recomend this due to possible damage to the blades edge or damaging the strop?

You are on the right path, having a razor pro-honed and buying a nice strop. Here's my advice... Buy a lesser expensive strop to practice with, you WILL nick and cut your first strop. Just accept that as a fact. It is also possible that if you could possibly dull your razor from shave-ready to almost shave-ready but not quite by improper stropping... I was overly cautious about stropping when I first started, but I never rolled my edge either, so I would recommend taking it very easy on your freshly honed razor when you start stropping.

We recommend starting with a lesser expensive strop and razor because you can do damage to the very fine razor edge (rolling/dulling) AND you can and will nick and cut your strop the first few weeks of this new routine.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by bottomfeeder

So will I be okay shaving with it until I have aquired more proficiant skills stroping, also do you recomend this due to possible damage to the blades edge or damaging the strop?

Yes to all of the above. You can shave without having strop skills but not too many times before you need to strop so its best to get the skills early. It will save the edge & the strop.

The best advice I got as a newbi was to practice stropping with a butter knife. This allowed me to develop my stropping skills without ruining my blade or strop.

If you're looking for an inexpensive but serviceable strop to learn on, you might want to check out Larry Andreassen's website, WhippedDog.com. He's got a beginner's strop kit that's very reasonably priced.

One thing I wish I'd done when just starting out is to learn how to strop with the strop lying flat on the edge of a countertop or table at waist height. I wound up having to do this for several weeks after I'd been shaving and stropping for several months, because I nicked my hanging strop really badly and took a long time to get around to replacing it. What I found was that stropping on a flat piece of leather made me slow down, helped me master the flip, and learn what just keeping the lightest possible pressure--just enough to keep the edge in constant contact with the strop--really felt like. When I finally went back to using a hanging strop, I couldn't believe how much improved my stropping was--and I haven't nicked my strop since then.

Originally Posted by Durhampiper

One thing I wish I'd done when just starting out is to learn how to strop with the strop lying flat on the edge of a countertop or table at waist height. I wound up having to do this for several weeks after I'd been shaving and stropping for several months, because I nicked my hanging strop really badly and took a long time to get around to replacing it. What I found was that stropping on a flat piece of leather made me slow down, helped me master the flip, and learn what just keeping the lightest possible pressure--just enough to keep the edge in constant contact with the strop--really felt like. When I finally went back to using a hanging strop, I couldn't believe how much improved my stropping was--and I haven't nicked my strop since then.

There ya go, that is great advice..


http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ch-2011-a.html

Go to Tandy leather and get a 3" wide leather blank. They're about $15. Cut it in half and cut a handle on one end and a hole is already punched in one end for a tie. It actually makes a decent beginner's strop. Rub in some kind of leather treatment on the surface to soften it and then press it with the side of a coffee mug to smooth it. If you nick this one, so what!