Thread: Is this normal for a strop?

My strop has a curve along it's width, such that the razor never sits flat on it without a lot of pressure to flatten out the curve in the strop. When I take my credit card and stand it up on it's edge across the width of the strop, I can see that the edges of the strop are the only thing the credit card sits on. So there's a curve in the strop which leaves a huge gap between the strop's surface and the credit card (or razor) in the middle. The crest of the gap is about 1/32 in some places, and 1/64 in others if I run the credit card down the length of the strop.

I have never stropped in an x pattern which I realize is likely the fatal flaw in methods. I will be from now on, but I still wonder if it is ok for a strop to be in this condition as long as you use an x stroke.

I haven't used the strop much. It's a black leather strop from Straight Razor Designs. Everytime I stropped (more like butchered) my razor, I would rub my hand pretty aggressively up and down the strop to get it warm. When I look at the light's reflection off the leather, I can see a lot of dullish wear in some spots where the razor was making contact, while it's still bright and reflective where is wasn't touching. There's also 1 or 2 small nicks in the edge of the strop I wish to somehow repair or get rid of.

I am going to guess that you have a 3" strop. This isn't to uncommon for 3" strops as there is a lot of material there.

What you can do is mix up a pretty dry batch of lather and spread it on the strop. You then take a smooth glass bottle and roll it up and down the strop till you get the strop even again. Then clean the strop off.

As to the nicks if there not deep the some 800 grit or higher wet dry sand paper will take care of them.

It's deep you probably will have to live with it for the time being.

If you have flaps of leather you can glue them back down. Then once the glue dries sand it down so everything is even and smooth.

Brand new leather is stored rolled up. Sounds like your strop has some memory of that left in it. Lots of ways to fix it and many may gasp at what I say but if you get it slightly wet and roll it the opposite way and work it a little you can get it out. Moisten it with a damp towel. Put it in a press it is another way ( clamp it between 2 flat boards. I hope you get the idea here. You just have to teach it to straighten out.

Didn't I read somewhere that this cupping can happen if the strop is stored around humidity (like in your bathroom)? It's for this reason I keep my strop in my clothes closet and bring it to the bathroom when I'm ready to strop.

I have that on a few of my strops, and I simply deal with it by holding the strop a little higher and forcing a "convex" into the leather while I strop. Of course, you still need to use the x pattern, but the results are a marked improvement over stropping on a concave surface. (and after a while, the strop starts getting flatter)

I used to get that with one of my strops when I stored it in the bathroom. As soon as I stored it in a room with constant (and lower) humidity, it stopped happening.

To get rid of the cupping, I laid my strop on a clean, flat table, and piled text books on top of it (this was during college) and let it sit for a while. The cupping went away, and the strop served me well.