Two strops or one?

[Andrew_D]

I've recently started using two strops before each shave (thought I'd give it a go). for the first stropping I use one of tony's strops (linen first, leather second). This gives a good feeling of draw. For the second stropping, I use a dovo juchtens stropp (I don't use the canvas side), which has a very smooth and dense surface. I'm convinced that this produces better results than either stropp alone, and the shaves have been very good .

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has experienced something simillar, or if anyone has ideas on why this might be.

[AFDavis11]

You'd have to discuss number of passes on each and number total to make it a pertinent discussion. Some say more is better. Using two strops is more. I find that some feel and experience are needed to strop correctly, and using two types of strops would probably help a tad.

[Tony Miller]

Andrew,
I have done this with great sucess. A while back when I first started selling strops I made a "Tri-Strop" for sale and quite a few group members snapped them up. Mine was a linen, a coarse Illinois #827 Russian leather and a smooth Illinois #127 leather in a single strop. used in order, linen, rough, smooth, it was very effective.

I now manufacture all of my strops in house and occasionally do them as a 2 part strop with my Red Latigo on one side and Hand American Smooth Red Honing leather on the reverse. I make up the linen as a separate component if someone wants a 3 component strop. These work very well too just as you have discovered.
Keith's smooth red leather makes a nice finish strop after an inital set of passes on my latigo which has far more draw. The high silica content in the HA leather adds a final polish so both materials compliment each other well.
I also do any of my strops with HA leather in place of my Latigo if desired.

I don't have these on my site yet but did just make one up to photograph.

Best,
Tony

[randydance062449]

I like using two strops. Seems to work for me.

[Lynn]

For daily shaving, I use one hanging strop the majority of the time and only use the leather side. It has been working well for years. When I use another strop, I use the Maestro Loom strop and only the leather side on that one as well. There really is no need to use two different strops on a daily basis. Lynn

[Andrew_D]

Thanks for the replies. The three component strop sounds like a really neat idea. The two strops seem to be working well so I think I will stick with them for now. It really doesn't add much time to my stropping. I used to do 30 passes on the linen and then the same on the leather. I now do 30 passes on all three components (linen -> coarser leather -> finer leather). I know that some guys do upwards of 50 passes on each side of a two component strop (linen and leather), so I guess i'm not spending much more time stropping than they are. I've never used a loom type and always thought they looked neat - what are they like to use?

[Tony Miller]

In an earlier post I mentioned I used to make a Tri-Strop from Illinois strops. Oddly one just turned up unused on eBay, probably from a past customer.

Item number is, 6632957335

I also do a new super version based on my Best #1 strops.


Tony