Thread: First Strop Purchase... Assistance required.

Well my first razor (a shave ready wapi) is ordered.. and now I need to sort out a strop.

So I have decided to get one of Tony's strops (and most likely one of the higher-end ones with a practice strop as well.. as I like to buy once and once only)

The only issue I have is picking which one.. do I go horsehide/linen or dual leather, or latigo... 3" or 2"... tbh I have not got a clue.

Also is there a reason to not go with Leather handles.. how do you normally hold yours

Opinions please (Oh and when I get round to honing I'll pickup the norton 4000/8000 as my starting point so thats sorted !)

Cheers

Matt

I prefer 2.5" as it encourages an x-pattern. Latigo gave me great results but left some red on the blades. Linen+Leather did a great job for me. I don't hold a handle. <-- personal experience

Originally Posted by MattUk

Well my first razor (a shave ready wapi) is ordered.. and now I need to sort out a strop.

So I have decided to get one of Tony's strops (and most likely one of the higher-end ones with a practice strop as well.. as I like to buy once and once only)

The only issue I have is picking which one.. do I go horsehide/linen or dual leather, or latigo... 3" or 2"... tbh I have not got a clue.

Also is there a reason to not go with Leather handles.. how do you normally hold yours

Opinions please (Oh and when I get round to honing I'll pickup the norton 4000/8000 as my starting point so thats sorted !)

Cheers

Matt

Matt,

I have no comments on the linen vs. leather/leather. I would buy the dbl leather myself because I don't use the linen, but the guys here are divided on the linen issue.

I would advise you to get the leather handle. Trust me! Not all grip with the leather handle, but most of us use the "D" ring that connects the leather handle and the main body of the strop(you just put two or three fingers thru the "D" ring). It is very convienent, and prefered by most, to grip the bottom of the strop this way (IMO). My neighbor, Eli, bought a 3" strop from Tony w/o the handle, and he regrets not doing so after seeing and useing mine.

Good luck,

Steve

I have bought 3 strops from Tony. First was a #1 2.5" wide in red latigo, which to be honest was perfect in every way. I sold it to a friend when I 'upgraded' to a #1 3" wide red latigo.

However I didn't get on so well with the 3" wide one, and found it started to 'cup' a little, i.e. curl up at the edges. I'm sad to say I destroyed it in a bad attempt to get it flat again, in hindsight I really should have asked Tony's advice before I took a sander to it.

So strop number 3 is now on it's way. This time I went with a Paragon 2.5" in horsehide, I asked Tony to make it without a canvas side as I didn't use that very much anyway, and as a plus it reduced the cost a little.

I can't wait to try it out now!

I would suggest the Honey brown with real linen. This is a very nice leather for finishing well with most razors and the linen when soaped is a marvel.

PuFF

I am very happy with my 3" wide Latigo and real linen strops with D-rings. Basically I have 2 stops: one leather only and one real linen only. No problems with cupping. Did not have to break it in, just using Tony's neatsfoot oil to keep it souple.

What is the linen for.. what does it do differently to the leather ?

thanks..

MattUK,

>>What is the linen for.. what does it do differently to the leather?<<

AHA!!! Therein lies the rub, or the strop. Opinions abound on this matter and since I don't know doodly whoop about the finer points of stropping, I hope to be able to lean back and learn a thing or two.

Other questions worth asking are: how much tension do you use to keep the strop straight, how straight (taut) should it be, and how much pressure do you use holding steel to strop?

Bruce

Good questions.. I'll also sit back and wait for a reply

LOL

You use enough tension to keep the strop straight for any given amount of pressure you apply with the razor. So..light pressure lower tension, heavy pressure high tension, sorta thing, you get my point.
Try not to deflect the strop any more than a fraction but not trying to pull the dam thing off the wall
Razor pressure on the strop is grind related in so much that, with a full hollow a lot of pressure would deform the blade and defeat the objective. So in this case it would be light pressure and enough tension on the strop to keep it taught. As the grind gets heavier you can up the pressure if you so desire and make compensation on the strop tension to accommodate this extra pressure.

You will get the feel of it if you start with Very high tension on the strop( arm ache potential) then gradually slacken the strop but maintaining the same weight on the razor. You should notice that when slack the razor makes more of a "hisssss" than a swoosh and feels like the draw increases more towards the edge than the spine. Very hard to put into words, what is a very subtle set of responses. Practice with an old razor that is sharp till you get the feel of it.
(razor has to have an edge to get the right note of the strop I find) At the point just before the note changes to a hisss is when I find it's just right.

Like I said Practice will show you the best marriage between razor and strop.

PuFF