Has anyone else here found they get better results with smaller strops?

I've been thinking this over for a while now, and I'm really glad I've always stuck to 2" strops. When I use them it really feels like I'm making good contact with the blade, and I swear I can even see it while I'm stropping. I've tried 2.5" width and the blade definitely still makes contact, although if it was a blade with a severe smile I can see applications where the 2.5" will not make contact as well as a 2" strop. The one time I tried a 3" strop, I was in the middle of making some DIY paddles and I tried a diy 3" belt for about 30 seconds before I came to the conclusion that it felt all wrong. The blade didn't make contact nearly as well on a 3" strop as a 2 or 2.5" strop.

Do I just suck with a 3" strop, or is something else at play here (convenience, speed, etc)?

Interesting. I have never used a strop that wasn't at least 2 1/2. For some time I've used the 3" and I like it. I do go back and forth between the two sometimes but that is more because I like to use some of the vintage strops that I have for the nostalgia factor. Good to know that the 2" works that well for you. I had always wondered how guys could get by with the thinner strops. I don't know why you would have had a problem with the wider strop. An SRD, a HandAmerican or a Tony Miller are good and flat and work great for me.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Interesting. I have never used a strop that wasn't at least 2 1/2. For some time I've used the 3" and I like it. I do go back and forth between the two sometimes but that is more because I like to use some of the vintage strops that I have for the nostalgia factor. Good to know that the 2" works that well for you. I had always wondered how guys could get by with the thinner strops. I don't know why you would have had a problem with the wider strop. An SRD, a HandAmerican or a Tony Miller are good and flat and work great for me.

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Just doing a few extra passes lets us get by :). It is easier to nick a 2" strop though IMO as you are moving the blade around a lot more on the surface of the strop .

I like a less then wide strop sometimes. I like it for the same reason I enjoy honing smiling blades, there is a bit of finesse and movement involved. I do not get better results with a thinner strop. I get the about the same results regardless of width. I enjoy paying attention and doing the X stroke.

At other times I like a 3" get'er done strop, no muss, no fuss.

Variety is the spice of life.

Charlie

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Originally Posted by SavantStrike

The blade didn't make contact nearly as well on a 3" strop as a 2 or 2.5" strop.

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This has been my experience also. I have a couple of nice 3" strops that I started with, but I'm finding more and more that my 2" and 2 1/2" strops are easier to use in terms of maintaining proper contact between blade and strop. If I could have only one strop, it would be 2 1/2."

I prefer the narrower strops. 85% of my stropping is on a latigo 1.5" hanger,

I don't think the results are any better.

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Originally Posted by Sticky

I prefer the narrower strops. 85% of my stropping is on a latigo 1.5" hanger,

I don't think the results are any better.

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That sounds a bit narrow even for my taste... although....


I shall have to try that now :rofl2:. I think I've got some scrap something or other about that dimension.

A 2 1/2" is my favorite and I use a 2" occasionally................but, 90% of what I sell is still a 3". To me it is overkill but I suppose many like the straight up and back without the x-pattern. Or maybe it is that old USA, bigger is better thing.

Tony

I also prefer the 2-inch strops. I feel I have better control over making contact with the full length of the blade and there is no trouble with cupping -- well much less trouble, anyway.

I sent a note to SRD asking if they would make their higher-end or custom strops available in 2-inch versions and they said no.

Not sure which is the more appropriate smiley:

:banghead:

:boohoo:

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Originally Posted by TexasBob

I also prefer the 2-inch strops. I feel I have better control over making contact with the full length of the blade and there is no trouble with cupping -- well much less trouble, anyway.

I sent a note to SRD asking if they would make their higher-end or custom strops available in 2-inch versions and they said no.

Not sure which is the more appropriate smiley:

:banghead:

:boohoo:

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I didn't really need to be forced in to it because I wanted one any way, but when I went for horse, I got a TM because he sells them in 2". A 2" premium II would have been a nice option though, but I guess most guys who want that just get the 3". So far it sounds like there would be very few guys interested :shrug:.

i watched a Dovo manufacturing video on youtube and the woman that was stroping the finished products was stropping like a pro but she looked to be using about three to four inches of the strop only, then they show a guy doing the same but slower than the woman for sure! i'm no pro and wouldn't know the differance but, it would seem these people strop all F'ing day so using the whole thing slow or fast probably doesn't make to much of a differance!

Wulfgar

I will admit that I should give it some time before drawing too many conclusions but my experience has been the opposite.
I was slowly killing my edges with my strop technique (NOT the strop) on the Tony Miller 2" travel strop. I just received a 3" latigo and gave it a whurl and most of those edges saw an improvement after 20 or 30 passes, just now. I couldn't perform a shave test yet, I don't know for sure BUT I've calibrated my girlfriend's hair to a pretty useful HHT and those peckers were falling left and right.
I am not used to the straight up and down pass though, and found myself going X pattern by habit.
Like I said, we'll see. But I may be selling my Tony Miller Travel strop, comes with cotton, latigo, and horsehide in 2".