My advice to you is to get a 3 inch strop From any of the vendors here that cary them. I prefer SRD and Vintage blades. I have had mine since october and sure I nicked it a couple times but that can be dealt with easily. Recently I sanded out the nic's with some 1500 grit sand paper, gave it a slathering of lather, let it sit for a minute, wiped it down with a warm towel then a dry one. I hung it up to dry for a day and gave it a good rubbing with my hands. Once it was ready it seemed to strop better than ever and I did not have to spend any more money.