Thread: Felt Or Balsa For CrOx?

Originally Posted by Ryan82

That's funny Jimmy, I was thinking the same thing, except the other way around - it's worked well enough for me on balsa lol...

I think the appeal of balsa is that it is harder to duff an edge on a non-flexible surface compared to a hanging strop loaded with paste. And it works well too, I might add. Since I've never used felt myself I'll leave it to those more experienced than myself to comment on both



I'm curious as to why you would think this. With a balsa strop a user is using gentle spine-leading strokes, so I'm not sure why it would get dented or be otherwise mishandled?

I'm speaking of mishandling when not in use as a strop. Balsa makes a great strop, but it requires a bit more care for storage because it is soft. In use, I think it is among the easiest to use perhaps because the light delicate feel seems to remind the user to be gentle

I have dinged many chunks of balsa when traveling. Perhaps some guys have nice cases for them? Perhaps I should look into this...but for the added cost I'd prefer leather hones (abrasive loaded leather stretched over hard wood or granite). YMMV

Originally Posted by unit

I'm speaking of mishandling when not in use as a strop. Balsa makes a great strop, but it requires a bit more care for storage because it is soft. In use, I think it is among the easiest to use perhaps because the light delicate feel seems to remind the user to be gentle

I have dinged many chunks of balsa when traveling. Perhaps some guys have nice cases for them? Perhaps I should look into this...but for the added cost I'd prefer leather hones (abrasive loaded leather stretched over hard wood or granite). YMMV

Fair enough. To be honest I'd never considered travelling with my balsa strop but you're right, it could get dinged up (and messy too!) without some form of protective case. It seems pretty safe at home though, at least at my house

Each medium that the Pastes are applied to impart a different level of effectiveness..


I can only tell you what the history has been on SRP with razors

With Straight Razors there was never any issue with harsh edges from pastes until people started using Balsa as a test medium, and that was what it was first used as..

Several years back people started saying if you just want to try a paste, try it on a piece of Balsa before you commit an expensive strop to it.. That changed to using it exclusively, to people getting harsh edges..

Please do not take my word for this just look back in the archives and read it for yourself the progression is easy to find.. Also the "Convex the edge" guys started adding to the fire which just really should not happen unless you just don't understand stropping a razor.. Again don't take my word for it go read the archives..

IME I personally like a Leather bench strop for pasted use or the Hard felt, but try it all and decide for yourself...