Thread: Barber's Hold

Every vintage strop I have purchased down under has a handle, so it's not a new thing. Maybe more a regional thing, eg. almost all razors here are round point.

ya my good reason is cause I wouldn't be able to use a Kanayama strop if I had a paddle strop. but to me its not anything nostalgic,, it just does a better job, in my opinion,, I got some really nice paddle strops, from custom makers,, but nothing that matches the stropping results I get from my hanging strops. maybe its just me Tc

Even with 3" strops, I still use an x-stroke. I believe that I get better contact along the entire length of the blade that way.

Originally Posted by Gasman

The handle is a much newer thing. Come on man, do it the old fasion way.

Proof? All the old strops I've seen, and I've seen plenty, had handles. And they were mostly American.

I hold my strops in a similar way like Gasman described, between the thumb and the index finger. It's the most comfortable for me. I haven't used anything else besides my old Japanese strops for the last 8 months. Love them.

my vintage shell from the 1940,s didn't have any handles,, Ton sent me 8-9 shells strops here awhile back to look at all vintage all no handles. never seen an old barbers strop hanging on the chair with handles either

so I guess the proof is that some do some don't the only handle ive ever had on any of mine, I took off Tc

Originally Posted by alex1921

I hold my strops in a similar way like Gasman described, between the thumb and the index finger. It's the most comfortable for me. I haven't used anything else besides my old Japanese strops for the last 8 months. Love them.

I bend the strop over the top of my finger so that the end is pointing down. This keeps it flat. If you just pinch it with the thumb on top is where you start to get the cupping from my understanding.

And thanks TC. I had no proof of my statement so to say. It was from my understanding of strops. And i dont remember any barber shops that had handles on there strops. From pics of looking at old strops. I mean sure, there might have been a handle on some of the olds ones, but i dont think it was as much of a standard as it has been in the last 30 years or so.

Plus, this statement was to encourage a guy to give the handle-less strops a good try and not to just buy ones with handles.

Originally Posted by Gasman

I bend the strop over the top of my finger so that the end is pointing down. This keeps it flat. If you just pinch it with the thumb on top is where you start to get the cupping from my understanding.

Yes sir, I do a similar thing. Once I grab/pinch the strop, which is hanging in the closet at eye level, I pull it towards me which makes it bend over my index finger.

Given what Gasman and tc have said I'm beginning to think there might be something in Grazor's idea about regional differences. Certainly, all the old Australian made strops I've seen had handles. I'm going to keep my eye out for more examples. I'm old enough to remember barbers shaving customers with SRs but I can't remember what their strops looked like.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

my vintage shell from the 1940,s didn't have any handles,, Ton sent me 8-9 shells strops here awhile back to look at all vintage all no handles. never seen an old barbers strop hanging on the chair with handles either

so I guess the proof is that some do some don't the only handle ive ever had on any of mine, I took off Tc

If you look at that old strop, Tc, you can see where Yamamoto's thumb sat on top as he stropped.
He was clearly left-handed as it had to have been his right hand holding the end.

Here is another of his. Not nearly as pronounced/worn as yours.
Yet you can still see it.