Thread: why dont we just?

Horses for courses in my opinion, I found that I was using pasted balsa once a week when I started out. It seems to be a once every month or two thing now and even then just to get it dialled in. I have read many a thread that says just do whatever gives you a close comfortable shave and this is what I have been concentrating on. I have not had to do a touch up hone for the last 12 months and am itching to get some new blades to hone.

This is kind of an interesting question. I specifically use flax linen or hemp for my secondary strop because of the more abrasive qualities of those fibers over cotton. I had at times thought that it may make just as much sense to just add a mild abrasive to cotton. Now I have plenty of the former strops around and don't give it much thought.

A few of us have done the same extensive, (6mo – a year) test with the same results, you will have a perfectly savable razor and eventually got bored waiting for he edge to implode.

It will not “round” or damage your edge, if you are stropping properly.

You might want to strop on linen first to clean the razor and keep from contaminating your pasted strop. Ferrous and Cerium Oxides work well as does CBN, all remove microscopic amounts of metal and will eventually remove all the stria from the bevel, at least visible with 400X.

If you do this, you do not need leather.

It is how razors have been maintained for hundreds of years. The obsession with honing is fairly new.

Having just purchased a new strop I can say that I notice a difference stropping on the fabric and then the leather, as opposed to just the leather. It could be psychological on my part, but it seems to improve the edge. I will be stropping my blade on the treated balsa I received from Whipped Dog before my next shave, as well.