Thread: I destroyed my brand new strop in 3 weeks with nicks

I did the same to my Grandfather's Shumate (Austin, Tx pre-1904) strop. 'Thought I was gonna die! I sanded nicks and re-glued a slice at the top of the finish strop and everything was OK again.

EVERY time I strop, the first couple of strokes are in ULTRA SLOW Motion just to get the "feel" of what is happening. I gently increase the speed until it is smooth and automatic. Another very important thing: Keep the mind clear! Turn off all distractions and noises, including thinking about money, sex, politics, and creation of the universe, etc. One nano second of mind drift is all it takes to screw up a strop, honing, or a shave! Keep the mind centered. It finally worked for me (most difficult thing I ever did to date).

Question 'yall: What happend to fellow member whose signature was, "Snick-snack went the vorpal blade"?... I miss his posts. I hope he is still around. I thought about that signature whilst reading these good posts. Keep healthy, and sane if possible, RRR

Originally Posted by timberrr59

I did the same to my Grandfather's Shumate (Austin, Tx pre-1904) strop. 'Thought I was gonna die! I sanded nicks and re-glued a slice at the top of the finish strop and everything was OK again.

EVERY time I strop, the first couple of strokes are in ULTRA SLOW Motion just to get the "feel" of what is happening. I gently increase the speed until it is smooth and automatic. Another very important thing: Keep the mind clear! Turn off all distractions and noises, including thinking about money, sex, politics, and creation of the universe, etc. One nano second of mind drift is all it takes to screw up a strop, honing, or a shave! Keep the mind centered. It finally worked for me (most difficult thing I ever did to date).

I certainly know what you're talking about when you say it's the hardest thing you've ever done. For me, that was learning to sail my old used 22 sailboat on the Potomac River. I learned then that if I let my mind drift more than about 15 seconds, I was risking death.

But that's what I LIKED about it! Total concentration required. The world was shut out. This is what makes straight shaving so great too. Right?