Thread: Pasting a strop--a photo tutorial

Thank you very beaucoup for your tutorial !!

I have a loom strop which I turned in to a two sided/colored biliard table hiding all the leather under a nice layer of Dovo pastes (one side green and one red).

Neither the loom strop or the Dovo pastes came with instructions. I chose to experiment and apply an even coating which looks nice but I never had any satisfactory results using it, and also had the impression that it was dulling my razors.

Any suggestions to undo my loom strop from its billiard table cloth ?

I don't use the paddle to maintain edges very much, so it's hard to compare. But the linen does a great job.

Sometimes I will do my usual daily stropping on the leather, then go to the pasted linen for two or three strokes, then shave. If I do this every day the edge stays at peak sharpness instead of gradually dulling and needing to be refreshed.

It might seem excessive, but you only end up doing 20 laps a week, which isn't really too too bad. I'm sure this wears the razor faster, but for my beard this is sometimes the only way to go...

Anyway, the point is that I can even stick in a couple of laps on the linen after the leather and immediately before shaving and get a great edge.

I haven't tried a pasted hanging leather strop yet, so I'll have to report back on how this horsehide strop compares.

Josh

Originally Posted by Joelski78

Thank you very beaucoup for your tutorial !!

I have a loom strop which I turned in to a two sided/colored biliard table hiding all the leather under a nice layer of Dovo pastes (one side green and one red).

Neither the loom strop or the Dovo pastes came with instructions. I chose to experiment and apply an even coating which looks nice but I never had any satisfactory results using it, and also had the impression that it was dulling my razors.

Any suggestions to undo my loom strop from its billiard table cloth ?

I feel your pain. You might try to use some strop dressing on a rag to scrub off some of the paste. Better yet would be saddle soap or a similar leather cleaner. There's a chance this would change the drag of the leather, but since you're not getting much use out of it now anyway, what's the harm?

Josh

Thank you for your suggestion.

I think that I will try to dilute the paste layer with some kind of oil and try whiping it off with a cloth before, if that won't work I'll clean it completely.

I can't remember where I read this tip, but I've had good luck cleaning gunk off of leather strops using that Fast Orange hand cleaner that mechanics use. It has no petroleum distillates, & it's made for skin. Leather is skin. However, on veg-tanned leather, it changes the color & greatly reduces the draw (my guess is it removes oils from the leather) so you will have to rub in a little mineral oil after it dries to soften it & get it to draw again. The color change is permanent.

Great post, I have a hard time with the "if a little is good then alot must be great concept" This post helps pound that idea into my little head.

good work

Charlie

Josh,
Great tutorial! I get asked these questions daily and you have really put together a nice lesson.

Less is more. When I pre-paste I typically add more than needed as guys tend to think they got shorted if one were to put the optimal amount on a paddle. I do find simply scrubing off the exces chromium with a dry rag works well and one can fine tune fron a medium even coat down to a bare hint of paste with a few scrubbings.

Again, great job here. Maybe this could be made into a sticky?

Tony

Josh,

Thanks for your tutorial.

Tony,

Thanks for your additional comments.

great topic needs a bump

awesome Josh
needs a sticky, not bump