Thread: Starter strop

Hi Gents, I've seen quite a few recommendations on starter strops, I was just wondering your thoughts on this one:

3" Black English Bridle Leather Stropping Board

I don't have a strop yet, due to financial reasons, but I just got a job (yay me) so I am going to buy one. Should I bother with something like this, or just buy a more expensive one and face the wrath of my wife after she looks at our credit card statement (she think this is a fad, I know it's not)?

My first strop was my dads old leather belt. It just has to be a very smooth piece of leather. The old man used to strop on a damn newspaper. You can go 3" Black English Bridle Leather Stropping Board rout or many other routs I guess it depends on what you are comfortable learning on. If you are light on cash there are always 3X10 or so inch scraps of leather at a leather shop, and I just passed a 3 inch board on the way home in the road.......you could easily make that at home for a few bucks. Remember wife aggravation comes with the territory for some reason-
good luck pitrik

Originally Posted by stonebraker

My first strop was my dads old leather belt. It just has to be a very smooth piece of leather. The old man used to strop on a damn newspaper. You can go 3" Black English Bridle Leather Stropping Board rout or many other routs I guess it depends on what you are comfortable learning on. If you are light on cash there are always 3X10 or so inch scraps of leather at a leather shop, and I just passed a 3 inch board on the way home in the road.......you could easily make that at home for a few bucks. Remember wife aggravation comes with the territory for some reason-
good luck pitrik

Probably because they assume it's just another toy, as opposed to a lifestyle change. Maybe she'll understand ten years from now. Thanks for the tips!

Originally Posted by pitrik

Probably because they assume it's just another toy, as opposed to a lifestyle change. Maybe she'll understand ten years from now. Thanks for the tips!

Long-term savings, my friend, play up the long-term savings...

"By paying $X for this strop, brush, etc., now I'll avoid having to keep spending our hard-earned money on massively over-priced little plastic thingies from Gillette." That kind of thing. It makes perfectly good sense in theory.

my SWMBO laughs at fellas who look ratty. She remarks that they do not smell like authentic men. She loves my BBS face. I have support for a new strop or blade or scent when I do decide to change up. Hopefully your SWMBO will eventually like the fact your face is well taken care of. Give it time. There are alot of opinions out there as to what to learn on. Personally we only had hanging stops in the house when I was growing up. I couldnt use any of the hanging stops until I had mastered the one inch belt. Needless to say I cut that poor belt pretty short before I stopped knicking it terribly. To this day I still wound my stopps and now have blanks waiting for when I need to change one out for what ever reason. I have never used a paddle strop, but thats not to say it is not a great way to learn or perhaps strop a blade.

the whipped dog poor man strop is an option. i just nicked mine last night by not moving the bladebefore flipping the razor and its no huge loss, luckily its near the end so i can strop around it.

I heard someone say that the poor man's strop had issues with the balsa wood warping or something of the like?
The Filly was recommended to me and is what I'm getting for my starter strop RupRazor - The Filly

Originally Posted by gunsandbibles

the whipped dog poor man strop is an option. i just nicked mine last night by not moving the bladebefore flipping the razor and its no huge loss, luckily its near the end so i can strop around it.

If one has never stropped before, he will nick the first strop used. The Whipped Dog's strop is a good starter as mentioned above.

can't speak to the balsa. but i imagine if you keep it stored away from moisture i would think the wood would be ok

Originally Posted by LeBois

If one has never stropped before, he will nick the first strop used. The Whipped Dog's strop is a good starter as mentioned above.

I disagree. When you nick a strop, it's from just being careless, plain and simple. It all depends on the person. Some, like myself, are overly careful and extremely attentive to what they are doing, and some are not. When I first started learning about stropping, I couldn't even wrap my head around HOW you could even nick a strop...after all, if the spine is leading and the edge following, how the heck would you manage to nick it?

It was only after asking around that I learned that when you aren't careful, there is the potential to "forget" to flip the razor on it's spine before you start your return stroke.
If you do the proper research, you'll learn that at the end of the "away" stroke during your flip, you should already be starting your return stroke.
Again, it all depends on the person. Some may strop too hard when learning, or, like me, you may be so careful that at times the edge may not even be touching the strop! I prefer the later to the former seeing as air won't damage the edge, but that's just me. I prefer to er on the side of caution.

Just pay attention to what you're doing and don't try to get ahead of yourself.
I think part of the issue is how the media portrays stropping...like in this clip lol
This is how NOT to strop hahaha