Thread: 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!

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.

Another route would be to get an SRD hard felt/hard felt strop. it's supposed to be good for pastes.

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

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!

1234567890

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.

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

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...

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

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

Anyone? Have an opinion on this.