Thread: did I just kill my strop?

well I just received my .5 micron and .25 micron sharpening pastes today and applied them to my 2 sided paddle strop

http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.c...4&categoryId=4

and holy jesus it looks ugly. I thought I watched lynn's video several times and read the instructions from thewellshavedgentleman but this just doesn't look right. Is it possible that I just destroyed my strop or is there a way for me to recover from this?

any help would be greatly appreciated

There is a way to recover. Pretty isn't a criteria for shaving perfection. What exactly is the problem?

where to begin?

well, I started out trying to do this with disposable latex gloves (don't judge me!) and I used lynn's method from the video. So I applied a generous amount (hopefully not to generous). I tried to spread it evenly but I also tried not to apply too much. when I couldn't get it to spread around anymore I applied some more to try and cover the entire surface and then applied a small amount of water and rubbed it in to create the kind of pasty surface lynn was talking about but I think the powder from the gloves changed the color of the paste so I took those off quick like in a hurry (luckily I only made that mistake on the .5 surface). In the end neither side looks very consistent or uniform. I don't want to add more paste to make the matter worse but I also don't want to throw down another $50 for another strop.

I just ordered a paddle strop from TM with 1.0 on one side, and 0.5 on the other. I'm currious to see what it will look like.

I'll be looking at this post to see what to expect when I need to re-charge the strop...

I think I'm visualizing your problem pretty well, but . . . weeeeeeellllll. What I might suggest is to dab a little more in the spots that are way not covered at all and use a little moist thumb with pressure action to smudge it all into an even coat. A smearing action should get it all over. You want it to be thin coated.

Failing that, you can apply Goop or GOJO waterless cleaner and remove most of it and start over again, this time applying it better. Since this stuff is expensive, in my book, I'd try and fix what you've got.

I like it to be very lightly applied myself, assuming you start over again.

All right, I'm going to give this another go! Wish me luck!

Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

I just ordered a paddle strop from TM with 1.0 on one side, and 0.5 on the other. I'm currious to see what it will look like.

I'll be looking at this post to see what to expect when I need to re-charge the strop...

Umm, slightly ugly <g>. None of them paste beautifully but I try to get a fairly even coat on them. It does take a bit of practice and a few tricks. I take a damp sponge and make one quick swipe down the length of the paddle then apply paste very quickly rubbing it out as evenly and quickly as possible. The plain eather will suck the moisture right out of the paste leaving a very uneven coat. the wetting helps buy you time. I then let them dry a day or two before shipping but they will still show a somewhat mottled look.

Less is better but guys do like to see what they paid for so I slightly over pate these. of course I still get the same two comments " Looks like you used too much paste" or " Looks like you didn't use enough paste" <g> Can't please'em all!

I have been using diamond sparys on my own strops and it goes on much easier and does not seem to attract moisture (humidity) in the summer, a short coming with pastes. Once applied it looks like you have nothing on the strops so the numbers indicating grit size are important. I do think they need application more often than pastes but one or two quick spritzes and you are fully recharged. Crystalite is a good commercial brand at $18-20 a bottle and I will have my own on July 1st (more or less).

Tony

I probably should have read that before I applied the paste. Oh well, too late now. would you recommend using the sponge now that I've all ready applied a coat? BTW, it probably would have been 10,000 x easier if I would have ordered it with paste applied but I wanted to learn all the ins and outs of this stuff.

I don't think I would use the sponge now and you certainly didn't ruin anything yet! Use Lynn's wet you finger and smear it around method, get a halfway even coat and you will be fine.....no worries.

Tony

just used a little more water and a little more paste and it looks like I've got a pretty even coat. I should have another one of your strops coming in (for daily stropping)

http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.c...4&categoryId=4

so I think we will test my pasting abilities when that comes in the mail. Until then, I guess I'll keep using the feather RG