Thread: New to straight razors stropping advice?

Ok so im looking into strops, i want to get something that would be useful for both my straight razors as well as my chef knives if possible. I use high quality chef knives, and i have natural water stones up to about 20-30k grit.

i was curious if one could just strop on the whetstones to refine the edge or if a strop is really necessary? I know it works with my knives would it work for a razor?

If not which is the best for stropping, lether, felt, balsa, not really into pastes much trying to not spend a lot of money reasoning behind getting into this.

have been looking at these-

Split Leather Strop, magnetic strop, magnetic stropping pad

Rock Hard Felt Pad 11"x 3"

Horse Leather Magnetic Pad 11" x 3"

Yes it works quite well for a razor

I am thinking you are on the right track with a paddle or bench strop if it is going to be dual purpose... Given only one stropping surface I would pick leather...
Personally I like dual stropping surfaces but...

BTW "the not a lot of money" is relative as you can buy the best strops out there for straight razors (Dual component hanging strops) for $30-$100 easily

Ya i was thinking of getting a hanging stop but at the same time i was hoping i could get just one strop for both purposes, i was thinking the horse leather would be the best any insights on this vs regular leather?

also just for the heck of it could you point me in the direction of a good hanging strop thats fairly cheap for reference?

Illinois 827 is a rather inexpensive strop with both linen and leather, I've had mine for about a week, and I like it more and more, you'd be hard pressed to find a better strop for less than $50!
I have a expensive, more fancy strop as well, but I feel the 827 can hang with the big boys on it's own


Edit: duh, Glen beat me to the 827 recommendation.

Thanks for the help guys, im gonna go with a paddle strop i think im gonna try horse leather and see how it works and i can use it for my knives as well, i think i will strop first on my highest grit waterstone and then on the strop itself.

how often do you strop your blades before each use i presume?

and how often do you normally resharpen them? i probably shave about every 2-3 days depending hopefully more if i dont get razor burn as much

Originally Posted by jgraeff

Thanks for the help guys, im gonna go with a paddle strop i think im gonna try horse leather and see how it works and i can use it for my knives as well, i think i will strop first on my highest grit waterstone and then on the strop itself.

how often do you strop your blades before each use i presume?

and how often do you normally resharpen them? i probably shave about every 2-3 days depending hopefully more if i dont get razor burn as much

I have seen you phrase that, the same way twice now..
I honestly believe you need to do some reading about Honing and about Stropping straight razors before you do either, they are NOTHING like knives in fact being good at sharping knives might be more of a hindrance then a benefit in this sport...
I am not doubting your prowess I am just telling you what we have seen in the past... There are good Honing Vids and Stropping Vids on here too that will show and explain the process...

i have been watching a few on here as well as youtube, i know you normally hone on a whetstone, but i know with knives you can also "strop" or stoke backwards to help align the egde without removing metal, is this also true for a straight razor? i assumed it would be however i could be entirely wrong here. still doing lots of reading and learning.

I do appreciate any advice available!

I dont want to ruin my razor by trying to use it like a knife lol

Originally Posted by jgraeff

but i know with knives you can also "strop" or stoke backwards to help align the edge without removing metal, is this also true for a straight razor? i assumed it would be however i could be entirely wrong here. still doing lots of reading and learning.

Boy that just stepped off into a deeper discussion

In general No we don't "strop" the blade we use a edge forward honing stroke on stones/hones and a stropping stroke on strops..

BUT

In specialized cases to achieve a very narrow goal we sometimes use a "stropping" stroke or Spine leading stroke on a stone or hone..

Haha i really need to do some more reading on here!

Im gonna poke around on here this week before my razor arrives and try to learn some more, any articles that you particularly like on the forum?

'Just a 'kudo' for asking here and doing all the reading you can. I've shaved w/ my own edges for about a year, but I'm not worth a darn with sharpening knives by hand.