the difinative answer to stropping

hi all this is my first post and ive been trying to read all of your posts with regards to stropping but find conflicting info everywhere. i have a strop which is rough leather on one side and smooth leather on the other and i need to sharpen my razor. i have had it for a while and thought that the strop paste that i bought was to aid sharpening but it was a conditioning agent and thus had no grit. as a newbi i have recently realised that if i had a grit paste then this would of helped me to sharpen it. so i have bought some but have now read another post which tells me not to use a gritted paste on a strop.
so the big queston is what do i do. can io sharpen a razor using my hanging strop? if so do i apply grit to rough or smoth side? i really should of bought a book really but hey im just falling into the trap that so many others obviously do when they want to do proper manly shaving (yes i bought a cheep razor from ebay which again ive found is a peice of toss like so many others, but have bought a singing razor now!)
sorry its so long but many questions to be asked. :o

Pete,
Okay, here is the deal. A hanging strop, without pastes and only a conditioning agent or dressing actually aligns the edge making it seem sharper but is not actually sharpening......at least not in the tradional sense where sharpening means removing metal. It works like a chef's steel aligning the fin or teeth on the edge.
If your razor is already sharp the hanging strop will keep it that was a long time. If it is dull stropping will develop wonderful coordination in you stropping arm as well as a few muscles, but the razor, alas will remain dull.

Pastes, the abrasive kind, do remove metal and will really sharpen. They can be applied to a hanging strop and some guys do it every day but it is a quick way to round the edge and get a razor even more dull. The best way to use pastes is on a rigid surface strop like a paddle strop ( my Heirloom Paddle Strops, Dovo or TI paddle strops, or Hand American bench Strops). these are all rigid wood or similar substrate with a softer leather applied over them. The leather holds the abrasive and the wood keeps it rigid so the edge does not round over. To make and keep a reasonably dull razor sharp pastes are fine.

To sharpen a really dull razor, like many eBay finds you need something more....a hone. First choice there is a Norton 4K/8K but this gets more coimlicated and has a longer learning curve.

So, your hanging strop with two surfaces is either a combination strop with a "sharpen" and finish side or a regular strop missing the linen. I suggest not putting abrasive paste on the hanging strop. With a skilled stropper it may work just fine but for a beginner it will be a problem for you.

Step one, even before all this is to send your razor to one of the HoneMeisters here to sharpen so you know what a truly sharp razor really is.

Tony Miller

Tony,

Do you now see the lightbulb over my head? Very well said!

Cornish-take a look at Tony's strops. Very well made and a first class gentleman to do business with.

RT

ok thanks for your help. i have bought a Norton "Waterstone" 4000/8000 along with my new singing razor which i have bought from classic shaving. so im hopeing that this new razor will be able to help me out. but would you sugest that i buy a tension strop then? if so i wish i had asked you guys before i ordered. bugger. :o

oooh i ment to add if you do recomend that i buy one which would you recomend?

and are there any honemisters in the uk?

May I suggest you purchase a paddle strop and some abrasive pastes to use on your new razor. The pastes should be 1.0 micron, 0.5 micron and 0.25 micron sized. You will need at least the 1.0 and the 0.5 micron.
Paddle strops come in two flavors. A two sided paddle strop and a 4 sided paddle strop. Either Tony Miller www.thewellshavedgentleman.com or Ray at www.classicshaving.com can provide those. Ray has the abrasive pastes.

Hope this helps,

Randy,
Thanks for the mention but there is an error with the link. It is spelled correctly in your post but points to an incorrectly spelled target so the page does not open in my browser.

I am adding several more paddles ove rthe next day or two.

Try this one, www.thewellshavedgentleman.com

Tony

Sorry Tony. At first I had misspelled the link so I went back and changed it. But, it seems that editing a post does not change a link?