Originally Posted by
bottomfeeder
I'll try to make this brief. Could a poor quality strop do more damage than good? Brief answer ~ Yes.
I have serious doubts about the quality of the strop I purchased. It has two straps one being a thick and very hard leather practically like a piece of varnished wood. When stroping I feel little to no draw at all. Not necessarily the problem. Hard thick strops with little draw are preferred by some. It does however need to be flat & free of irregularities in the surface.
The razor seems to just slip across the surface and doesn't seem to be making full contact. Contact is your responsibility providing the strop is reasonably flat
The other is a softer leather which seems to have a bit more draw to it however it's not even pure leather, it's more like leather adhered to a material backing, and no it's definitely not canvas backing.
I purchased it off ebay and paid very little for it,yeah I know big mistake, but since it was my first I figured it would do to get me through the learning period. It wasn't a matter of being cheap I just didn't want to ruin a quality strop with the usual rookie mistakes. At this point though I'd rather pluck down a few bucks if it means I won't be ruining my freshly honed razor. I'd hate to be damaging it as it's the only razor I have until my other one gets honed. I can post pictures if it helps.