Thread: wide horsehide/cowhide paddle strop from Well Shaved Gentleman

Hello all,

I had a pretty simple, basic question but figured I'd throw it on here before I moved on with my current plan. I have an older (not really old but not the newest model) wide paddle strop from The Well Shaved Gentleman with horsehide on one side and unpasted cowhide on the other. I also own some HandAmerican dry honing chromium oxide compound for their honing system which has been great and some FROMM strop dressing.

Ok, now for the 2 questions. Would the HA dry honing CO be a good choice for the unpasted cowhide side? I'm not seeing any reason why it wouldn't be but again, I'm just throwing this out there. Question 2: would the FROMM strop dressing be a good choice for the horsehide side.

Thanks

You might want to email Tony directly at his store. He has been terrific about customer support and answering questions. A true gentleman...

I have the exact same strop and the answer to your questions is yes to both.

I pasted mine with with a mixture of Lexol and the HA. I prefer just a little more draw on the horsehide so I sanded it with 400 grit and treated it with Lexol...but Fromm would work just as well.

Thanks,

I was looking at the strop pasting tutorial and it uses the same CO compound I've got so that works out great. It also looks like I'll need to get Lexol or neatsfoot oil anyway so I was wondering if there is a preference for the FROMM dressing or the Lexol or neatsfoot oil on the daily stropping unpasted horsehide side.

Originally Posted by saladbar2000

Thanks,

I was looking at the strop pasting tutorial and it uses the same CO compound I've got so that works out great. It also looks like I'll need to get Lexol or neatsfoot oil anyway so I was wondering if there is a preference for the FROMM dressing or the Lexol or neatsfoot oil on the daily stropping unpasted horsehide side.

No need to get anything else. The Fromm is perfectly good stuff...and you can use it for both the pasting and the other side.

The reason I use Lexol (other than that I've been using it for decades and like it) is because you can pick up a half liter bottle at your local auto parts store for the same price as a little 4 oz bottle of Fromm's. They also sell a leather cleaner (same size and price) and I use both products on pretty much all my leather stuff. When it comes time to clean and renew the pasted side of your strop you might want to check out the Lexol cleaner.

sounds good.
On the pasted side, I will be making a paste with the fromm and the HA CO powder and on the darker side, I'm just applying a small amount of fromm, correct?

Would it be a good idea to clean the cowhide surface before applying the paste?

Sounds like you were given pretty accurate advice. My older paddles were typically a golden color, natural cowhide and a deep reddish brown latigo type cowhide. The deep colored side is for daily use and because of the oils in the leather probably best for daily use. But....many have found they work well with keith's powdered chromium as it bonds nicely with the oils and satys put. Amplex and other diamond pastes are typically water based and may not bond quite as well on the dark side but it has been done by many.

I would paste the light side, and use either a light dab of Fromms or even better Lexol on the dark. I treat each dark side with Lexol myself before shipping and it should not need much in the way of care after that.

Thanks,
Tony

Looking forward to getting mine Tony. Ordered some CrO paste from Don and Lynn. I'm in dire need of the strop and paste.

Originally Posted by saladbar2000

sounds good.
On the pasted side, I will be making a paste with the fromm and the HA CO powder and on the darker side, I'm just applying a small amount of fromm, correct?

Would it be a good idea to clean the cowhide surface before applying the paste?

Unless you've stored your paddle somewhere REALLY dusty or somehow got it dirty it shouldn't be necessary to clean it before pasting.

I cleaned mine just because I'm anal but it was more of a "whisking" the surface with a barely damp lintless cloth with Lexol cleaner on it. I seriously doubt if that added anything to the process but it made me feel better.

The main reason I cleaned the other (non-pasted) side is because I sanded it to get the amount of draw I wanted.

As it was delivered the strop could have been used right out of the box.

If you have never pasted anything be aware that Chromium powder is messier than chimney soot and it's used as a dye in paints and stuff. The tutorial on this site (Wiki?) shows doing it bare handed but I've always used a rubber glove and a rag dipped in the paste mix as I seem to get a more even distribution that way rather than doing the X thing and trying to smear it around with a finger. I then let it dry overnight and vigorously rub it with a dry cloth to get off the excess. In both the pasting and the dry rub I put the strop on top of an old newspaper which makes cleanup a LOT easier.

I've pasted a few strops before but I'm no expert. I pasted the lighter colored leather for the scary sharp system with the CO powder we are talking about and I pasted another of tony's strops with diamond pastes (.5 and .25) on both sides (light colored on both sides). I haven't been doing it quite the way that was shown in the tutorial so I figure I'll give that a try.

The wide horsehide/cowhide strop has been fantastic for daily use. I've been using the dark side for 30-40 strokes and finishing on the light side. I've been using my norton 4k/8k and my naniwa 10k when I need to hit the stones but I've been using the HA scary sharp system with the CO powder to keep them shaving sharp and the powder has grown on me. I travel sometimes and was using my feather for a while but it is very hard to go to the feather after using the real straights everyday. I figure I could paste the back of tony's strop and I can use my favorite strop and my favorite honing compound at home and abroad. Thanks for all the input everybody. I will probably paste it tomorrow and I'll let everybody know how that goes.