Thread: Pasted Balsa Strop Question (eBay seller)

So, I was an eBay and looking for a strop, I have two paddle strops, one is a latigo/smooth and the other a smooth(chromium oxide)/smooth. Tony Miller goodness all the way. Great way to start.

Anyway, after using a few professionally honed razors I've come to appreciate the kind of finish beyond the chromium oxide paste. Granted, it's good, but the diamond or whatever is beyond that which the professional honers are finishing with is even better and I like the awesomeness. I found a deal that seems too good to be true, and the writing in the description isn't exactly the best. The enthusiasm is there, which is understandable. Anyway, Star Shaving Supplies with no spaces is the seller, and I'm primarily interested in the balsa wood felt wool with free diamond spray, or the plain balsa with diamond spray.

Does this guy look legit? I know it's just having a flat balsa, I could do without the feet but I don't think it would be a problem. I want the diamond, it's all about the diamond and I don't want to put abrasives on my TM paddles, just the one side is good enough. These prices... they make me wonder if it's too good to be true.

Does anyone have experience with this guy? Anyone know someone who's got experience with this guy?

It ain't bad but...... I bought aircraft balsa 36"x3"x1/8" for three dollars and change. I glued mine to Plexiglas but any reasonably flat board or surface will do. I used paste on mine in a few grits but spray is fine too. If it was me I would buy the balsa locally at any hobby store and order paste or spray from one of the vendors. You'll have enough to last a lifetime and probably won't be spending much more. Just IMHO.

Okay, so balsa is easy. I really should visit my local hobby supply store, I know one nearby.. I need to pick up another stock of airplane glue, anyway (man, awesome stuff!, it even comes with a free paper bag! whoopee!) and this would be the perfect excuse. I just have to remember not to use immediately before hand, the nosebleeds are a dead giveaway.

So I would have to get a solid substance to glue it to? That makes sense, I guess balsa is pretty flimsy. I'd probably have to employ someone else's services for this, as I'm apparently not enough of a man to have this stuff laying about or the experience to put it together with any confidence.

What about the felt/wool lined balsa? I had my hopes up for that. I'd seen the video with the megastar of the straight-razor world: Lynn Abrams, giving a big thumbs up to using that kind of surface for the highest finishing polishes. I think it's the video with the modular strop thingamawhatzit. It looks like a bit of a project. I don't have the cutting tools to make the base for my balsa, maybe I could cut the balsa myself with a box-cutting knife, the kind with the blade sections in the handle that are meant to break off. I don't have the vocabulary, the words to describe this stuff, it's all too manly for me.

I have a piece of glass, square, that I used for the sandpaper before I got a DMT8C for lapping. I think it would be about long enough for a short paddle strop setup, but thin. I'd probably end up getting some wood cut to order (more $) and glue it to that. See? I wonder how much it would end up costing. But you're right, because the spray/paste would last me a lifetime of shaving use.