Thread: SRD or TM?

TM!


Richard

Originally Posted by cybrok

Question about both strops:

Is the non-finished side of the leather suitable for CrOx? Or am I ok only with the cotton/webbed fabric?

If it was me I wouldn't put chrom ox on either the leather or the fabric. I like to have a clean surface to strop on and an additional pasted surface for special occasions. You could do the chrome ox on balsa wood or on a paddle strop. I have never tried pasting the back side of a strop so I can't speak from personal experience but it seems to me it would be messy and maybe awkward to use.

I have a TM and an SRD. To me an ideal combination is a TM horsehide with linen and an SRD Premium 1 with the nylon fabric. If you want icing on the cake get the SRD felt hanging strop and the .5 diamond spray. When I strop I do 60 and 60 and as crazy as it may seem I do 30 on the Premium and 30 on the horse. Works really well for me. The nylon webbing is turning out to be better than any linen I have tried either vintage or current production.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If it was me I wouldn't put chrom ox on either the leather or the fabric.

I recently pasted my old TM starter strop with some .5 CrO. Wanted something at my honing station.

I dont know about using the backside unless you somehow sand it smooth and condition it?

It is working out pretty well for me so far....

Right now I'm using Kenrup's starter's strop with the back pasted, I was thinking doing something similar.

Originally Posted by gingahippy

I bought an SRD and wish I'd bought a TM.

The leather came with a big kink in it that looked like it got shut in a door. I emailed them about it and they sent me a replacement leather part without question, as it haven't gotten to the address it arrived at yet I can't say whether it is any good or not.

I'm not sure if it was shipped this way, I find that hard to believe, but the box was not damaged enough to cause that kind of problem when it arrived.

As for the nylon webbing it had similar marks and didn't give a flat surface when pulled tight, it even had ridges between along it's length from where the screws held it in place. It was this that inspired me to test out a car safety belt as an alternative and I have to say I am very happy with that, I have replaced the Nylon webbing with an old car seat belt for the linen part of the strop.

I have tried soaking the leather and drying it out, which got the kink out ok, but I can't get the surface right. Several attempts with lather and glass bottle have gotten me a good smooth strop but there are ridges, tiny ones, that you can't feel with your hand but make a small jump/ when stropping, I've sandpapered, relathered and smoothed with a bottle, rubbed daily with my hand, repleced the waxes and oils that came out in the soak by scraping them off the top if the water, once cooled, and gently massaging them back in.

I've tried a lot and sometimes I get a good smooth strop but after 10 or 20 passes there is that jump again, a bit like a piece of dirt is embedded in the surface or teh very edge of the strop has raised up and is scratching somehow.

It's close, after much work, but not close enough. I was worried this might happen which is why I am very thankful that SRD supplied me with a new peice.

I am praying that I really can just hook it up and start stropping, my whole shaving expereince is being held back from failure to get a decent strop surface.

I am sure this is not a normal expereince as everyone else seems to agree that SRD strops are great, but that was my expereince. I only got an SRD because I was in a hurry and TM were not selling at the time.

Well................................

We try to provide, as Tony does, the very best quality materials out there. We package each strop in a sealed plastic envelope and ship in a flat box to prevent any damage in shipping. However, we cannot control what happens during shipping and as was mentioned as soon as we found out, we immediately sent a replacement.

I guess you can't please all the people, but we will continue to do the very best we can to do just that.

Thanks,

Lynn