Thread: nicks in strop

As I've been shaving for a few weeks now, I'm getting more comfortable with my stropping. However, there are a couple tiny nicks in the strop from my first week. They are all at the end of the stroke, what happened was I flipped the razor over before I stopped moving it, and the edge caught the strop.

Anyway, what's the proper way to treat the nicks? Should I remove the leather that flips up when I go against its cut? Out of 3 or so nicks, only one is an issue, the others seem to lay down fine on their own. I'm just worried that the small difference in the surface will affect my razor.

One thing I haven't done yet is apply any of the strop conditioner that Tony sent with the strop. I figured I wouldn't need to until the strop felt dry or slick. Should I apply some?

Thanks!

I use a pumace stone to sand just that area, then treat just that area with strop dressing. If it is a pretty large flap you have created; you can slice off the flap with a sharp knife before sanding.

That being said different kinds of leather; and how it is made react differently to sanding with a pumace stone. Tony should probably comment on this. If he does not; send him an email or a PM. He is always happy to assist his customers. I would not worry too much about the nick effecting your razor edge. Just try to avoid that section until Tony lets you know what would be the best action to take.

The nicks are all very small, the largest is a thin flap that pops up maybe 1/16th of an inch when rubbed the wrong way, and it's maybe 1/4" long.

Just trim it so that it doesn't catch.

If you trim it and it still catches, try to smooth the edges of the nick (rub with your thumb, possibly with a very small amount of dressing).

A nick this small shouldn't be much of an issue - especially towards the end of the strop.

Some very fine sandpaper will also do the trick.

I would say pretty much the same thing. Trim the little flap and with a tiny bit of sandpaper smooth just the edges of the nick so it is a smooth transition to the rest of thr strop. Avoid sanding or pumicing the entire thing unless you have done this type of thing before.

Tony

Regardless of the nick, should I apply some of your strop dressing, Tony? Or is that only necessary after lots of use? I'm not getting a ton of draw, but I don't think it's underperforming either...

You almost never have to use the strop dressing. I only use it when I nick the strop and that hasn't happened in ages. The palm of your hand should be all the conditioning it needs.

While I do include free dressing with each strop I am not a big fan of actually using it <g>. I have not dressed any of my daily use strops and encourage my buyers to simply use it a few weeks first and see how it works.

I get e-mails weekly saying the "strop is working well, is very effective at sharpening, should I add strop dressing now??" To which I reply, "If it's working well, why add dressing?"

Now, on my latest Red latigo you will get more draw once dressed and less with it used as is. Kind of a variable strop. In another week or two i will have several variations on Latigo, with and without a heavy draw.

Tony