Thread: I knicked my strop...

Glad I got the starter strop.

I knicked mine the first time I used it
but it was very minor. How bad is
yours?

John

How deep does it need to be before it impacts on the stropping? I've put one into my strop by moving my first stroke edge first. That was pretty stupid, lol!

lol sheisst, this is what I'm afraid I'm gonna do my first time!
How much knicking can occurr before a strop is toast?

mine has a couple of good size nicks on the side near the edges. Just sanded them down to smooth them out and never notice them when stroping.

Use a pumice stone if the flap isn't too big...if it is, I've heard of people gluing the flap back down with good success...for minor nicking though, a pumice stone will work well...just be sure to give it a really good rub with your hand when you're done to get all the grit off the leather.

As for how bad can a strop get before it's toast...well, I got a Dovo strop off ebay that looked like the pocked surface of the moon, and is now smooth as glass (although half as thick!) - so depending on how much work you want to put into it, and how deep the cuts are, I think most are salvageable given some patience and elbow grease.

Mark

This may sound really naive, but how exactly do you nick the strop, and how do you avoid it? Is it a result of turning the blade the wrong way?

Originally Posted by RayG

Is it a result of turning the blade the wrong way?

Essentially, yes. Before developing the technique, sometimes it's all too easy to turn the blade a bit prematurely at the end of a stroke, or accidentally start with the edge facing the wrong direction.

I sliced my thumb restoring a razor the night before and tried stropping wrong handed. I shaved a very clean piece of the edge of the strop. No impact to stropping just cosmetic.

Still I clearly need to spend a few months with my starter strop before I get all excited about a more pretty finish.

-Bob

I'm a little worried that I'm going to slice mine when I get it, but...you gotta start somewhere. I'm glad to hear that you can sand them down if it isn't to bad.