Thread: Strops better than hones, TOP 10

Originally Posted by rtaylor61

It said you don't have to soak a hone before use. It now says strop.

RT

lol...I never caught that either. That would make for one soggy strop....

6. Or a barber hone

This strop vs. hone thread reminds me of a clip from Billy Madison.


'Shampoo is better. I go on first and clean the hair. Conditioner is better. I leave the hair silky and smooth.
Oh, really, fool?
Really.
[Notices gold swan on edge of tub]
Stop looking at me, swan.'

-Fred

If you can strop dull razor to shave, at what point do you need to decide a razor needs to be sent for honing? (stupid question maybe)
And before the point of needing to reset the bevel?

Doublewood, if your into paste, maybe a long time. From watching Euclids440 post he gets a lot of mileage from high grit nano thingys, but this much I do know, if you keep the blade sharp instead of letting it degrade, you can go a long time without even seeing the bevel setter. Either a maintainence routine(paste or finish hone) like nod, every 10 or so shaves I do 4-5 laps on a 12k naniwa just to keep it at that level,, I,m sure there are better guys than me that can explain it, but maintain instead of having to refresh. Tc

So years ago when I was taught to maintain a razor, by my barber who I bought my razor, strop and a small finish stone from, (he ordered it all new for me), he instructed to maintain the edge on just a leather and linen strop, occasionally a Translucent Ark to remove small chips or rolled edge.

I did just that for many, many years. I had other stones for woodworking and started collecting, restoring about 10 years later with those stone, long before SRP.

You can still find hundred year plus razors with little or no hone wear, which I suspect they maintained the same way.

Of the 60 or so razors I have in “Rotation”, the vast majority will never be bevel set again, by me. They may see a high grit stone, but there is no need for a 1k bevel set, or go much beyond a 12k stone.

Yes with paste, especially modern Nano grit pastes and sprays one can keep a razor shaving very keenly and smoothly indefinitely, even with just .50 Chrome Oxide on a leather strop, a very nice edge is possible. The trick is learning to strop properly.

Another thing that is not talked about a lot is a strop progression. I collect and restore old vintage strops and not all leathers and strops are alike. With experimentation one can develop a leather strop progression and the same with linen and other substrates. The differences are very subtle but there is a difference.

As with any edge tools, maintenance is always easier and less damaging than restoration.

Euclid - It would be interesting to hear more about your strip progression.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I collect and restore old vintage strops and not all leathers and strops are alike.

Euclid, if you have the time, and the inclination, could you start a separate thread with tips on restoring old strops ? This thread being so old the info would get buried here.

I've got about a dozen vintage pro barber strops, horse or shell, various brands. They are all in good shape and I haven't done more than wash the linen, and palm rub the leather.

I bought some Fromm strop dressing that I read good stuff about on Amazon, but I haven't put it on any of them yet. Have you ever used Fromm dressing, and if so, what do you think about it ?

#10 made made me chuckle, then I thought, hey what's wrong with that. Lol. Good list

Jimmy, depending on how dried out a strop is use the Fromm dressing very lightly. I just restored a shell cordavan 1930's Jager strop that had been hanging in a barn for at least 40 years. It was in great shape except it was REAL DRY!. I used Fromm Dressing & Mink oil I would use one then wait a few days & then the other. I have an old glass rolling pin I would roll the strap with on the off days. Did this for about a month. Sanded a couple of small dings & a month later had a great strop. I just use oils from my hand on it now.For me, if it is a new strop I would just rub it good before you use it.

Slawman