Thread: Worth having?

Selective Strop For Straight Razors SPECIAL FREE SHIP - eBay (item 370254363788 end time Sep-09-09 02:41:20 PDT)

I would say "no".

That's what I was sure I'd get.

May I know why? I mean, for my future reference...

Say if I were to see a strop for sale at an estate sale, what do you look for? How you know if it is good or bad?

What makes it bad and what can it do to your blade?

A few things-
A seller who uses terminology like "hone" or "sharpen" in relation to a strop has no idea what the tool is used for. If they aren't familiar with what they're selling, do you really want to buy from them?

1. You get what you pay for. If they can sell this for $15, AND that includes the cost of shipping, the materials are poor at best, and it can't be well put together.

1b. A quick look will show this seller to be peddling a vast array of cheap pakistani surgical steel. That pretty well scraps any reputation.

2. The brackets are smaller than the width of the strop. This will put uneven tension across it, and the outside edges will probably cup up.

3. I would highly recommend buying a strop (or two) NEW- this is the best way to see what you should be looking for in a used strop.

4. A bad strop is going to wreck the honed edge on your blade at worst, at best it will simply be ineffectual for all practical purposes.

exceptional advice. thank you.

No problem! Here to help.

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

I would say "no".

You're not alone. There was a thread about those strops here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...nal-strop.html

Someone who had one suggested it might work for a pasted strop, but if the original poster is looking to buy one then they should check out KenRup or Tony Miller. Ken has a good starter strop called The Filly. I have a Tony Miller strop but it looks like he's not selling them until later this month.

i SECOND who says NO

The width of the hardware used would not bother me much if the strop ends are well constructed. Mine, SRDs and I think Hand American's all use a 2" metal snap/swivel but it is supportd by a full width leather cap.

Strop length is something to watch for though. The strop shown is 21" long...including th handle and top metal clip/clamp. That probably leaves 12" or so of usable strop.

I'm not making comment on the quality of th eBay item but just wanted to to put generalizations on width, etc....into proper light. Length, width, type of leather/linen or construction in general all need to be weighed for their application and who is making them, not just narrow hardware, or short lngth is bad. It all depends.

Tony

Tony makes a great point about the hardware- the bracket itself doesn't necessarily need to be the full width, but there should be supporting structure that acts as a transfer bridge between the handle and the strop.

AND, Rick, if you have the money I'd highly, highly recommend getting your hands on one of Tony's fine strops when they are next available. Functionally impeccable, and beautiful examples of fine craftsmanship.