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Pasting a strop--a photo tutorial
When I was starting out, I had lots of questions about pasted strops. I decided to paste one of my hanging strops today, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to put together a quick photo tutorial.
You can paste just about any type of strop. Paddle strops are the most common, but I've come to favor hanging strops. I like to paste one side of the linen on my hanging strops. If you need to touch up your razor, you just take the screw out, flip the linen around and do a few laps.
The advantage of pasted paddles is that the rigid surface makes it less likely that you'll have a mishap and wipe out the edge. Pasted hanging strops, though, are really fast to use. I find that pasted hanging strops are less likely to overhone an edge, and the edges to me seem to last longer than the edges from pasted paddles.
I'll be applying powdered chromium oxide to the horsehide side of my Tony Miller sharpening strop. The medium we'll use to get the powder onto the leather is strop dressing. This bottle came with my strop; I think Tony recommends Lexol. You could use neatsfoot oil or another leather conditoner to achieve the same thing.
Applied to Heirloom Latigo Linen
I have been wanting to start using Chromium Oxide paste as part of my honing procedure. This thread has really helped get me going.
I bought a bottle of the Green Chrome Oxide from Keith at Hand American. I've been thinking about perhaps applying it to a paddle on the leather. I have been using .25 & .5 micron Diamond pastes on leather & balsa wood paddles. I haven't been too crazy about the effects of the diamond pastes on my edges.
I just received a 2-1/2" Red Heirloom Latigo w/Genuine Linen from Tony. I decided I would put the Green Chromium paste on the linen of this new strop. My thinking was that it would just work better than on a paddle. What a great decision this turned out to be! I read Josh's words several times about applying this stuff lightly. - and I did exactly that. This was yesterday.
This morning I pulled out a Puma that I had just received from an Ebay auction. I had polished and sharpened this razor, but was not really satisfied with my 1st shave with it. I figured this would be a great candidate for my trial razor on my new Green pasted linen strop. I gave it 40 laps on the green pasted linen, cleaned the edge with alcohol, and put it through my normal stropping sequence. As I made the1st pass with the razor on the right sideburns, I said, "Oh, my God!" - Yes, I experienced one of the best shaves I have had to date. The Puma was not only extremely sharp, but comfortable and smooth. Absolutely great!
Thanks, Josh! :tu
Steve