Thread: Does the pasted strop really reduce wear?

Brad:

Of course I use a plain strop. I also have a barbed wire beard. It took much experimentation & plenty of fixed mistakes to get my honing down to once a month. Even so, my beard eats steel & my razors are pretty soft. If I don't use the pasted strop, by the 3rd shave I can feel the deterioration.

Bart:

Yes, that makes perfect sense. That explains why I need to hone so much to get the bevel back. It also explains why the first shave after honing isn't the best one: I don't yet have that nice, polished, slightly convex edge that comes from working it down on the pasted strop. (I think a slightly convex edge might be better for very tough beards)

Yesterday I verified once again that the first shave after honing is not the best. (If my best shave is 100% BBS, that first one is maybe 80% BBS). So maybe I'll keep the pasted strop just because of that. And even with all that honing on the first of every month, it is still saving me 100 strokes/month on the hone.