Thread: Don't drop a lot for your first strop

I've been sharpening knives for a great long time, and have the habit of reversing stroke with the blade edge facing down. Most knife grips are made to facilitate this form of sharpening.

For straight razors, this is not the case, and I always reverse direction with spine side facing down. This reduced the frequency of nicked strops.

I agree 100% with Glen (gssixgun) and Dylan (holli4pirating) here.
Buying cheap and then buying a more expensive one is in the end costlier than buying a good one, and keeping it.

Plus if you nick a strop from SRD or a Tony Miller tri-strop you can get replacement parts.

Go slow and buy once.

Stropping speed increases in direct proportion to the number of correct strokes accomplished.

Total cost to date for cheap strops......$37.

Experience gained by using different types of leather priceless.

As for speed caused mistakes I don't possess good coordination. My first 40 lap stropping would take 4 sessions spread over 15 minutes and would include an occasional miscue resulting in damage to the stropping medium. After a year of practice I can do 60 laps in one session in about 3 minutes and I am preparing to make a purchase of a premium strop based on experience with different leathers and handle arrangements.

GO slow buy cheap buy alot and experience as much diversity as you can afford.

I learned on a 15 year old belt with an Imperial razor.My first buy was an SRD modular paddle strop and a Dovo best quality razor.The key is,go slow and pay attention,and above all have fun with this.You are about to do something that most men would not dare to try.

P.S. The thing is I never damaged the old belt.So I had no qualms about spending $90 dollars on that modular paddle as my first purchase.

Interesting thread - different views - I am new to straight razors and stropping and took the view to buy quality and learn by doing it slowly. That is just me - I find with quality "tools" and being careful and deliberate I develop my skill level quicker. That said my first strop was purchased from SRD - their Roo - and I love it.