Thread: My strop is shedding!!

When I strop my razor, I get faint marks on my stop, where the tip and heel of the, razor pass, but the marks appear to go away with some gentle massaging. However, some of the strop comes off onto my razor, almost like fuzz. I'm attaching a few pictures of said fuzz. Any ideas as to what's happening?

Scratch that, my internet is too slow for the pictures. I'll try that again later.

Your edge is either slightly rolled at either end, you are using too much pressure or you are lifting the spine towards the beginning and end of each pass

Ok, I can believe the edge being rolled as my razor is due for a honing anyway. I don't, however, believe that I'm putting too much pressure on the edge or lifting the spine because the fuzz is also appearing on the spine. Do you think it might just be a rough edge on the spine that could be buffed or lightly sanded?

What strop are you using?

What razor are you using?

How old is the strop?

What is your stropping routine?

These question's answers and the pics will help me give an answer.

-Rob

I have one razor that I purchased through eBay that was causing a similar problem.The area of the spine that lays flat on the hone was fairly wide from years of sharpening. I found that after making the razor shave ready, the leading edge (when stroping) of the worn spine was sharp enough to cause a fine leather dust or powder to collect on the blade during stroping. I used 400 & 1000 grit sandpaper to round out and smooth the edges of the spine and seems to have corrected the problem. Try smoothing out any sharp or rough edges on the spine and see if that helps. Good luck.

I've had some Eboy specials they were in like new shape and the strops had a very nappy surface and when I first used the strop I got some of that fuzz. However once broken in it stopped doing that.

Do you have any fancy spine work that is catching on the strop?

Here are a few pics. I'm using a Dovo 5/8" with pearlex scales and the SRD 3" strop, both of which can be found at SRD.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Do you have any fancy spine work that is catching on the strop?

nope. simple and smooth... sort of.