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  1. #31
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Norristown, PA
    Posts
    172
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    Default Sotd

    Hot Towel
    Poraso Preshave
    Tweezerman Badger Hair Brush
    Home Made Strop (Hand American Black Leather)
    Genco - Geneva Cutlery 5/8 Round Point
    Classic Shaving Alum Bloc
    Thayers Rose Witch Hazel
    Nivea Sensitive Skin After Shave Balm

    Good Shave, not the best, but good.

  2. #32
    Electric Razor Aficionado
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,396
    Thanked: 346

    Default

    Same setup as yesterday, but I got a mediocre shave this morning, it's smooth but wasn't comfortable. I don't think the edge is going, I think its the stropping. I got a new handamerican strop a few days ago, and haven't been able to get a good draw on it yet, the fromm dressing helped some but not enough. After the shave I rubbed it down vigorously with mink oil and it looks like it might draw ok now, I'll see how it goes tomorrow.

  3. #33
    Senior Member blabbermouth
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    3,063
    Thanked: 9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mparker762
    After the shave I rubbed it down vigorously with mink oil and it looks like it might draw ok now, I'll see how it goes tomorrow.
    Michael,

    I did the same with my strop from Tony. I notice that mink oil does improve the draw significantly! I have to reapply once in a while...

    No shave to report today.

    Cheers
    Ivo

  4. #34
    Electric Razor Aficionado
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    Apr 2006
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    Default

    My old bismark and illinois strops only ever needed the Fromm dressing, but this handamerican strop uses a very hard smooth leather. One other difference is that I used my old strops for years with my knives so they were well broken in by the time I put a razor to them. I love the handle on this strop, its a big steel loop with a leather pad on it for extra comfort while pulling.

  5. #35
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Norristown, PA
    Posts
    172
    Thanked: 2

    Default Hand American Strop

    Michael, I made 3 different strops from Hand American leather. A paddle, and 2 hangers. Two I made with Keith's Red Latigo which came with some kind of lubricant all ready on the leather, so I left it alone, no dressing. It has a decent draw.

    The second I made of black leather which was very smooth and dry. I gave that a rub with Dovo Strop Paste (yellow). That helped, but the leather is stiff.

    I'm just going to use them for awhile and let them break-in slowly. I figure as long as they are not hurting the edge, then the razor and the strop will work together. The razor being aligned by the strop and the strop being bronken in by the razor.

  6. #36
    *usually quiet*
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Kansas City, MO
    Posts
    39
    Thanked: 0

    Default

    Hot Shower
    Vetiver shave soap with old unknown badger brush
    Newly arrived old Il. Razor Strop #835 from ebay
    Dovo Special 5/8 carbon (1st pass)
    R. Stehlo 5/8 rostfri (second pass)

    Great shave, bad strop. I pulled the handle off the strop on the second stroke. I have enough dud strops now to make several 4 sided bar strops! BTW, the leather on this strop was VeRy this...are all #835s really thin?

  7. #37
    Electric Razor Aficionado
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    Apr 2006
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    Update: It wasn't dulling the razors, it just wasn't buffing the edge properly. I put some more conditioner on the strop, and worked it around in my hands for awhile to relax the leather and now it works great! My strop has one side in handamerican leather and the other in red latigo. I'm using the side with the handamerican leather, and it's drawing incredibly well, I'm only needing about 30 laps to get the edge aligned instead of the 40 on my old bismark. I stropped some of the razors I thought had been dulled, and their edge came completely back.

    -------------------- obsolete --------------------
    The mink oil improved the draw to normal levels, but it's still not stropping properly, it's dulling the razors. Looking at the strop, the razor is only rubbing on the edges of the strop, and flipping it over and stropping on the other side indicates it's only touching down the middle of that side. It's looking like the strop is slightly curled. I'm gonna rub it down with an empty wine bottle for 15-20 minutes and see if that straightens it out. If that doesn't work I'll soak it in water and wrap it around a carboy.

    Unfortunately I've already pasted my old strop for use on my knives, so there's no going back :-(
    -------------------- obsolete --------------------
    Last edited by mparker762; 09-26-2006 at 12:19 PM.

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