Thread: Beginners mistakes

Nicks on a strop are a sign of character...My relatively new strop has character. Sand out the nicks with an emery board, relax, go slow and don't overthink. I have noticed that the multi-tasking of keeping the strop taught and the blade correctly positioned at the same time is a challenge. Just requires concentration and knowing that people have done this for generations. I used to watch my late grandfather, and was amazed.

I've been using a Kanayama #70000 for the last 7 months. Lovely stropping experience. Nicks in strops are what I try very hard not to get. You call it character I call it disaster. So far I've not nicked it, and I can certainly do without character if that is its definition..

Eh, my very first strop has a few mishandling marks on it. Not the end of the world, it still strops very nicely.

The only nick in my buffalo strop is the one I intentionally put in it. When I was a boy my neighbor told me when you buy something like a car, or strop in this case, you ought to put the first scratch in it yourself. Get it over with, and as a bonus you get to choose the placement. So it got a little nibble on the left side where I don't strop.

I admire the good humoured nature regarding nicking or cutting a new strop. I travel back in time to my 1st strop. It was a 2 inch supposedly 'Russian' strop made in Germany. Didn't cost me a fortune, and at that stage of my development I had little idea of potential damage to it through bad technique. So the inevitable happened and I cut it, nicked it, and cut it some more. I guess after two weeks it had 'Character'. After 4 weeks it had it's own personality, and if strops bled when you cut them, this strop needed a transfusion. I was a little downhearted at this, bought a new one, and my journey re-commenced. Now as I mentioned I have lovely Kanayama strops, and I have learnt from the earlier dismay. No nicks no cuts, no heart burn or anxiety disorders, and when I give it a palm rub before stropping, I still check it over for what the fairies might have done whilst I was asleep! Happy stropping fellas!

Originally Posted by nalob

I made the mistake of going in with the blade facing the strop the other day n made my first nick in my strop... Luckily it was on the top edge of the strop where the blade doesn't touch. Now I go in with the spine facing down.

I've heard of that before, it's a quick way for the strop to meet it's demise. Like others, I've put nicks in my strop before by flipping the razor too quick at the end of the pass. The nicks usually sand out quite well with a nail file.