Thread: Strop Question

I bought a leather strop from the classifieds on this web site, but to my surprise it was only leather. My question is, do I need to now buy a strop with just the canvas side? What do I use the canvas side for anyway?

I would, but I don't believe it is absolutely necessary!
If you do though, you will likely not want to go without a canvas/linen strop!

Mike,

After a couple hundred years of straight razors, the jury is still out on how beneficial the canvas side is. I use a canvas, but only because I have one. There have been plenty of times when I have stropped on leather alone and had great results.

Don't worry about the canvas side right now; at this point in your straight razor "career" , having a canvas strop or not isn't going to be the biggest issue for you probably.

You're good to go, and if you ever feel that the smooth side isn't doing it like it should, you can try stropping on the rough side of the leather, which is often recommended as a suitable substitute for a linen or canvas strop anyway.

Good luck,

Hi Mike you bought the strop from me I believe, I can tell you I know of several people and myself who don't use a linen strop as most of them contain a sharpening paste that is not needed every day. And I I use a chrome oxide paste on the back of my strop I hope this helps. It's a some do some don't thing.

Feel free to contact me any time PM me if you like.

Here is a thread with some info on stropping that might be helpful in deciding if you want a linen strop to go with the leather. I agree with Ben that the leather alone will do for now.

I always love this question because of the controversy of the linen, as you can see there are people on either side on the fence on this.... I side with the use the linen people....
I guess you could qualify it somewhat this way, the linen cleans the micro rust and abrasions from the edge, before the leather realigns and tweaks the edge....
Now if I had only 1 maybe 2 razors and I was shaving that razor everyday I guess I would consider the linen less important in the grand scheme of things, since the razor would really never get any rust on the edge (this is microscopic not visible)..
Now since I don't do that, and a razor might very well sit unused for a month before I go back to it I want the edge gleaming before I put it on the leather so I do 25 laps on linen and 50 on leather before every shave...
I absolutely believe in the old saying "It is easier to maintain an edge than to create one" so I keep my edges as sharp as possible and as clean as possible by using the linen every shave..

As too the linen having an abasive paste on it ??? I don't use paste on my linen strops, they just get a stiff brushing every 6 months or so to clean them up...

Another option to look at is the HA Felt strop that SRD is selling, so you could paste one side and use the other as the cleaning side...

Tons of options out there, and even more choices on how to use them...

Thank you for all your replies!

I have two more questions though...

1. When do you strop a razor, before or after a shave?
2. Is it safe to keep a strop hanging off the back of the bathroom door? I am unsure if the steam from the shower will have an effect on the leather or canvas strop.

Thanks again!

I strop before I shave, and I leave my strops hanging in the bathroom!

I strop before I shave and I always like to hit mine an additional ten laps on the horse after I wipe it dry following the shave. I think it will remove any micro skin or moisture from the striations in the cutting edge. My strops hang on a bedroom doorknob. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.