Thread: Must the strop be perfectly flat?

I've been working the bottle on the strop for about 30 minutes, which removed a lot of the cupping. The worst part is right by the handle, and it seems to be more resistant to the bottle than the rest of the strop. I'd say when I started, it was almost entirely cupped, and now probably only the 1/5 closest to the handle.

I can really see the difference a good stropping makes. I'll stop with the bottle and try with the razor, looking for shadow under the blade indicating the cupping. I'd also practice some stropping for awhile during this time and my god has the heal and toe become sharp! When I do the HHT, the hair snaps cleanly in two on the heal and toe ends the second it touches the blade. The center of the blade still won't even grab the hair, let alone cut it. There are inbetween areas where the hair will grab but not cut, and some where the hair will slice down the center (which I find fascinating).

So, gonna work the bottle some more. I'm also going to lather it up, as some of the barber guides suggest, since it is still quite waxy from the manufacturer.

Oh, and it is an Illinois Razor Strop Co. 127. Does anyone know if this is a decent strop, or did I pick up a piece of junk?

Edit: Did a quick search and found this thread, seems like this often needs a lot of breaking in. If I were to use a bit of sandpaper on it, would 325 be fine enough? Seems like 325 would be a bit coarse. Is there an alternative to strop dressing I could use? I seem to be buying a lot more stuff than I thought I would be.

Originally Posted by markevens

I've been working the bottle on the strop for about 30 minutes, which removed a lot of the cupping. The worst part is right by the handle, and it seems to be more resistant to the bottle than the rest of the strop. I'd say when I started, it was almost entirely cupped, and now probably only the 1/5 closest to the handle.

I can really see the difference a good stropping makes. I'll stop with the bottle and try with the razor, looking for shadow under the blade indicating the cupping. I'd also practice some stropping for awhile during this time and my god has the heal and toe become sharp! When I do the HHT, the hair snaps cleanly in two on the heal and toe ends the second it touches the blade. The center of the blade still won't even grab the hair, let alone cut it. There are inbetween areas where the hair will grab but not cut, and some where the hair will slice down the center (which I find fascinating).

So, gonna work the bottle some more. I'm also going to lather it up, as some of the barber guides suggest, since it is still quite waxy from the manufacturer.

Oh, and it is an Illinois Razor Strop Co. 127. Does anyone know if this is a decent strop, or did I pick up a piece of junk?

Edit: Did a quick search and found this thread, seems like this often needs a lot of breaking in. If I were to use a bit of sandpaper on it, would 325 be fine enough? Seems like 325 would be a bit coarse. Is there an alternative to strop dressing I could use? I seem to be buying a lot more stuff than I thought I would be.

To answer all your questions fairly quickly: Illinois strops are, in general, great quality and price, so their cheap enough to start with and nick, but good enough to keep using no matter how "veteran" you are.

If you're going to lather on your strop, that will make it more supple BUT it will also give it more draw... With your slick strop, that may not be a bad thing... Use Glycerine soap, get the strop nice and caked, then LEAVE IT OVERNIGHT. Let the strop/lather dry COMPLETELY, then brush it away with your hand or a towel... Then do some palm/bottle stropping and see where that leaves you.

I would not use sandpaper yet (but that's up to you) however I'd use somethign much finer than 325. Also, for strop dressing, there are a lot of things, but they all give the strop more draw... Most common is Neatsfoot oil.... However, I'd recommend lathering on the strop, letting it dry, brushing it away, and see what you get.

Also, don't put too much heart into the HHt... The only real test is the shave test... HHT can be useful for evaluation, but it's never the final word in sharpness... Some of my best shaving razors won't pass the HHT sometimes, but will literally wipe the hair away.

Good luck!

Jeremy

Well, I gave it the lather treatment and that did indeed soften it up a bit as well as give it more grab. I was really surprised how easy the dry lather came off, it just flaked away with the slightest touch.

It was still pretty cupped, so I bottle stropped it until my arm got tired 4-5 times. It was still showing some cupping, so I tried turning down the edges by hand and that helped a lot. Now its by and large flat, just a little warped near the top that came with the bottle stropping.