Dedicated Paste Strop - Linen or Cotton

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07-19-2009, 03:08 PM
rick54

Dedicated Paste Strop - Linen or Cotton

I'm thinking I'd like to get a dedicated TM strop for paste. The paste I'm considering is a combination of one side being .5 CrO and the other side a 1 CrO. Or one side a .5 CrO and the other a 1 Diamond. Which do you feel is the more popular combination?

I believe Tony offers a cotton or linen material. Which material do you feel is the best to use for the application of paste? Thank you!
07-19-2009, 03:30 PM
ben.mid

I'm not sure if one is better than the other, but it may be worth asking Tony himself. He may have developed a preference, or identified the better material for this application.
It's worth considering that if you paste both sides with different grades, there's likely to be cross contamination as the stropping forces the pastes into the fabric.
07-19-2009, 04:03 PM
loueedacat

Another route would be to get an SRD hard felt/hard felt strop. it's supposed to be good for pastes.
07-19-2009, 04:08 PM
hi_bud_gl

I would say go with paddle strop if you are planning to use pastes. it just lastes longer and you don't have to use a lot pastes. GL
07-20-2009, 03:45 AM
Ben325e

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick54

I'm thinking I'd like to get a dedicated TM strop for paste.

Sounds Good!

The paste I'm considering is a combination of one side being .5 CrO and the other side a 1 CrO. Or one side a .5 CrO and the other a 1 Diamond. Which do you feel is the more popular combination?

I'd say the .5 Cro and the 1 diamond is the most popular combination. (1.0 micron Chromium oxide isn't really available to my knowledge...)

I believe Tony offers a cotton or linen material. Which material do you feel is the best to use for the application of paste?

Here is an excerpt straight from Tony's website:

Smooth cotton is my daily choice as it has a firm, stiff temper but a fine weave making for a smooth surface for daily stropping or the application of fine abrasives. Genuine Linen, being a less processed fiber and the traditional choce for years, is thought to be more abrasive than cotton and may be the choice for those wanting the ultimate material but I feel it would be a waste to then apply pastes over this material.

Go with the cotton. I might also look into the felt strops offered by SRD as well. Lots of good stuff has been said about them, and I like felt myself. Cotton will do it just fine though.

Thank you!

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07-24-2009, 10:40 PM
dward

Quote:

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

I would say go with paddle strop if you are planning to use pastes. it just lastes longer and you don't have to use a lot pastes. GL

+1. Great advice. I have one and it's really great.
07-25-2009, 02:48 AM
Pabster

Tony Miller made mine and its a great quality product. Three sides are labeled .50/1.0/3.0 to keep me straight with the pastes. Starting out, this is considered the best purchase I made as it allowed me to keep my straights sharp which resulted in consistent great BBS shaves.

Pabster
07-25-2009, 03:15 AM
Leighton

My rationale has nothing to do with which is better as I think they are both superb materials and both will work perfectly fine with whatever application you ask of them.

However, I think it would be a waste to have such nice linen used solely for pasting and not for stropping. Like sham said, a pasted paddle strop is pretty cheap. You can make one yourself using balsa wood and apparently a shingle? You can also purchase the hard felt and glue it to the wood. Pretty cheap and inexpensive DIY. I use an old hanging strop I got in an ebay lot. But thats what I had lying around so... :shrug:
07-25-2009, 05:08 PM
richmondesi

Along the same lines, what about using one of the TM practice strops for pastes? I'm asking for my benefit, that's not a suggestion:D
07-27-2009, 12:18 AM
richmondesi

Quote:

Originally Posted by richmondesi

Along the same lines, what about using one of the TM practice strops for pastes? I'm asking for my benefit, that's not a suggestion:D

Anyone? Have an opinion on this.
08-01-2009, 03:38 PM
Ben325e

There's not a thing wrong with that. I think using a hanging pasted strop is easy as pie, but others have had the experience that they can wreck an edge pretty quickly. So, I guess the only thing that would be stopping you from doing it or not is you. :)
08-03-2009, 12:40 AM
Pabster

I have a dedicated paddle strop .50/1.0/3.0 diamond paste. The last side is left open for a future decision.

This is used along with my nice 3" latigo leather/canvass strop. Great decision to have this set up and it works very well for keeping all of my straights sharply tuned.

Pabster