Thread: Concern with my paddle strop.

Fairly new to straight razor shaving, about two months now. My first strop has been a new SRD 3 inch hanging strop that has been working out very well. About a month ago I also picked up a SRD 3 inch two sided paddle strop. I've treated the rough side with chromium oxide paste and have left the smooth side as is.

Here is my concern: Last night I was using the smooth side on the paddle strop and noticed something odd. My blade edge was not making full contact across the width of the strop. The center of the blade edge was in contact while the heel and toe portions of the edge had a very slight gap between the blade edge and the strop. This was apparent with several razors. This morning I laid a machinist flat edge across the width of the strop and the strop has a very slight hump in the center running the length of the strop.

What can I do about correcting this? The strop has been used and also treated with paste so returning it I feel is not in order. Is there anything that I can do to flatten the smooth side in order the have full contact with the blade edge?

I have been very careful in storage and the leather has not been subjected to any moisture. HELP

I'm not sure how to flatten the leather so I would use a rolling X stroke with the blade to contact all points of the blade on the strop. You could also replace the leather with balsa and sand it flat.

bj

You can lap the paddlestrop much like a hone but keep it dry. I think I've lapped a benchstrop I made to 400 grit sanding paper, some of the strop experts will be able to tell you which grit is best for finishing. Nothing to worry about, it will turn out fine after a decent amount of sanding

I have sanded leather, but if you go too far and/or use too coarse a grit, you will end up into the flesh side and it may (or maybe not - depends on the leather) get very fibrous and rough.

A lot of the old vintage paddles were made with very thin leather over a cotton wadding layer which was purposely raised in the middle, so the paddle is "humped" in cross-section. Like 2sharp says, an X stroke was the norm with this type of paddle so maybe try it on yours before sanding it.

Regards,
Neil.

Gentlemen, thank you for your reply's. I will try using the x-stroke on this paddle, however that sort of defeats the benifit of having a 3 inch paddle. I'm not comfortable with sanding this paddle at this time, maybe if I learn more about that technique.

Disclaimer: In mentioning where I purchased this paddle I in no way meant to discredt SRD. I only mentioned SRD in order to inform members of the type of paddle in question.

After reading Miller's reply I realize that if the leather is raised by the wood not being flat or because of a (cotton) layer, sanding may not be the best solution and (too much) sanding may lead to other problems.

Could you take some pictures of the strop for illustration?

When I first got into the Straight Razor thing I made my own paddle strop out of leather and noticed I did not get full contact with the blade so I took the leather off and replaced it with balsa. Balsa is easy to refurbish with a sanding block or sand paper on a flat surface. I think if I did it today I would use hard felt for the paddle strop. For me leather would be my last choice for a paddle.

bj

I used this paddle strop again today. Using only the smooth leather side, (as the flesh side is coated with CrOx) it again was apparent how humped up it is in the middle down the length of the strop it is. Even switching to using an X-pattern I'm losing so much area of the leather surface. And even using the X-pattern really dosen't work all that well unless I "rock the blade from side to side as I'm sliding the blade down the length of the strop. As I stated earlier I don't wish to sand the surface. But is there anything else that I can do? Since its a 3 inch width I would sure like to be able to use all of the surface area.

Thanks, Jim

Maybe you've got a defective paddle. I just received two SRD paddles myself and one of them is being sent back for an exchange tomorrow because, like yours, it has a hump. Actually in my case it has a lump. It's a spot the size of a quater in the middle of the paddle and you can tell it's that the wood was not properly sanded / cut flat before gluing the leather. I love my paddles, always have, and the SRD is the best I've seen in a long time but maybe they need to do a little better on QC as I have heard others express concerns with their paddles.

i would contact srd and see what they say and or recomend, bassed on all my dealings and everyone elses recomendations i think they would help sort you out, its just good business to do that.