Thread: hi am new to straight razors but need an answer please

hi i have a 3inch strop which i bought seperate to make it easier than doing x pattern.but on all the vids i can find on line show the strop and say it has one smoothe side which is right and a slight rough side on rear which it has then they say the canvas bit which mine has looks a bit like cheap made leather which i have seen on a few vids but some have said that the honing paste goes on the canvas rear but the one he showed went side to side with the pattern and stitching were mine goes vertical.can someone please tell me if i can use thr rear of the canvas as some say,but there are so many diffrent makes not sure if you can use this one.will attach some pics so you can see what i mean.dont want to balls any of my stuff cheers chris. hope you can see the pics ok first is rough leather then canvas and then rear of canvas,hope you can help.

You really don't need a pasted strop at this point. Some leather strops have a linen strop attached, some have canvas, some have a cotton web material, some have a synthetic web material, some have no material strop attched at all. You can strop on the material 10 laps and on the smooth side of the leather 40-60 laps before shaving. Follow the directions you find in the wiki and you should be good to go.

Please make sure your razor was honed by someone who knows what they are doing before you shave with it.

^ Ditto!


Mick

The thing that helped me the most with my new strop was getting into the practice of rubbing the smooth side briskly with my hand until it starts to get warm just before I put the razor to it. This made it a lot better to strop with and made it pretty supple.

That and having some sandpaper handy to sand out the nicks. Because you will nick it. Often at first, less so later.

thanks for your replys,been great help,as i said i have not done this for long and have been mostley using a razor i bought that splits in two and you insert the blade into it.did not realise when i got it looked really nice all stainless hande etc with design on handle but did not notice it was a bladed one.to be honest i just put in cutthroat razors and just picked one that looked good for the money.the razor does work brilliant but its not what i would call a proper razor. i have two at the moment but just cant get them sharp enough,takes off arm hairs no problem gave it a strop but tends to tug a bit just dont know what im doing wrong or is it the fact the razors arent expensive and use poor steel,one was sposed to b shave ready,think they were having a laugh wont even cut arm hair.i got a 3 inch strop to help stropping instead of the 2 which had to do x pattern but went bigger to make sure wasent the way i was doing it.the one i have is an imperial razor which looks good steel but cant tell edge with no magnifier.if anybody can help in any way let me know cheers.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean mate. Are you using a proper cut-throat razor or are you trying to strop one of those razors that use throw-away blades? Maybe if you post pictures of your razors to help clarify.


Mick

My advice is don't buy anything else. Stop what you are doing and post a bunch of photos of the strop (I'm a bit confused as to what side the canvas is on) and the razors. My guess is you have disposable blade razors, like a Shavette. I've never used one of those, but I doubt you'd strop the blade. So that means if you ARE using something like a Shavette, and you're not getting a nice shave; then the culprit is technique or lather.

So my advice is post the pics, read the articles in the Library (Wiki) and (actually) get a real straight razor. If you haven't got one you may as well now you've got the strop...

Carl

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

My advice is don't buy anything else. Stop what you are doing and post a bunch of photos of the strop (I'm a bit confused as to what side the canvas is on) and the razors. My guess is you have disposable blade razors, like a Shavette. I've never used one of those, but I doubt you'd strop the blade. So that means if you ARE using something like a Shavette, and you're not getting a nice shave; then the culprit is technique or lather.

So my advice is post the pics, read the articles in the Library (Wiki) and (actually) get a real straight razor. If you haven't got one you may as well now you've got the strop...

Carl

the pics up the top are my strop with the leather smooth and rough side and the shiny black canvas is the other side of the linen picture and dont worry not tryin to sharpen a bladed razor.that was i started with and just chuck the blade each time.sorry meant to say had three one with blades no stroping or anything and then two proper or what i call a proper bladed razor so already have proper razor as you say and have one 2 inch strop like i said and one 3 inch the 3 inch is the one with the pics shown.have collected rare knives for twenty plus years so am not new to sharpening blades and you would av to be nuts to try and sharpen a disposable blade one but i spose there are a few out there.was not mentioned when bought and did not take a real good look so thats why i have that one.then got an imperial which comes with 2 inch strop on e,bay but seems very good steel compared to a cheapish one i got.thanks for reply mate ,chris

Couple questions.

You are currently using a shavette( disposable blade straight razor) ?

If so who makes it?

You have two traditional straight razors?

You are trying to get the shave ready yourself?

If so tell us what stones you are using and how you are using them ( razor honing is different then knife sharpening) ?

Pics of all your equipment would also be helpfully

Your strop looks good as is and would leave it like that for now.

busa1977 you'll need hones starting (as a guideline) at 1000 grit, add a 4000/8000 combo stone and get something along the lines of a 12000. This is the basic set of stones required for razor honing. I haven't named brands, as that is an individual taste thing (or budget based like me). Razor honing is, as mentioned different to knife honing, I, too, am a collector of knives and have sharpened knives for years. It will work in your favour to a point, but there is a whole new skill set in razor honing, that will do more for your knife sharpening skills, than what your knife sharpening skills would have done for your razor honing.
Read the the wiki for your 'how to' guidelines on honing, watch youtube videos...Whatever you need to learn.


Mick