Like many people here I bought my first strop from Tony Miller, a 3" latigo and canvas artisan strop. it's a beautiful piece of work. However, although bought on my recommendation it was bought by someone else as a present for me so I didn't make the order myself.

The upshot of this is that I forgot to mention to them to order the practice strop. Now, you might be thinking that you don't need this when you're buying a lovely new artisan strop. You'll be careful with it, you know you will, you won't go too fast, you won't stop concentrating for a second and you're not going to get a single nick in it.

Ahem!

Yes you will, you'll take it slowly to start with but after a little while you'll get complacent, you'll get that little bit too fast and then you'll find yourself with nicks in it and you'll stare with horror at the damage.

Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I have just a few little nicks in my strop. I've rubbed them out with pumice and they don't affect it, they're not very deep and I'm sure over time they'll fade into the strop and I won't notice them. Much.

So, just a small word of advice if you're buying your first strop from Tony, buy the practice strop, you'll be grateful you did when you see the nicks you put in it that won't go in your main strop.

Cheers,

J.