Thread: Do you have to use paste to strop?

I just joined this fine site and wanted to get some feedback about paste. I have two pastes in soft block form. One supposely helps sharpen and the other polishes. Can I spread one on the linen side of my hanging strop and then the other on the leather side or just wait till I get a second strop or just strop without paste??

Pastes are abrasive and are designed to refresh a dulling edge. Providing that your edge is honed and shave ready (which new ones almost never are) you should use the linen and the leather sides without any sort of paste at all. Normally you only need to hone linen first, then leather, usually 30 times up and down on each side before shaving, then possibly afterwards too depending on your personal preference.

Normally the pros recommend pasting bench strops only - not hanging ones - as a pasted hanging strop is a very hard thing to use. Depending on what paste you have, and how expensive they were, you might be better off getting a pre-pasted bench strop (Tony Miller on this site makes some great ones).

What colours are the pastes?

Cheers

Si

Some pastes are conditioning pastes and recommended to keep the leather supple. Any leather conditioner like Mink Oil or Neatsfoot Oil will do the job. As Si said, abrasive pastes are for honing and aren't usually used on a hanging strop. I use my linen free from any conditioning at all. It's starting to build up a little greying from metal particles and I'll probably wash it with soap and water at some point in the future and lay it flat to dry before putting it back into service.

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