Thread: Any Info On This: "The Griffon Strop Aide" ??? See Pictures:

Thanks for the tips, Mike! Interesting the fabric turns white! This, I gotta see!
How about the leather? These cheap strops are not too bad, yet the milling process has them a bit 'wavy' .
Perhaps the lead will smooth that out some? Initially, just how much do you recommend rubbing it?

(I cleared out my inbox, BTW!)

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Thanks for the tips, Mike! Interesting the fabric turns white! This, I gotta see!
How about the leather? These cheap strops are not too bad, yet the milling process has them a bit 'wavy' .
Perhaps the lead will smooth that out some? Initially, just how much do you recommend rubbing it?

(I cleared out my inbox, BTW!)

LOL! ...Yeah...I was hoping you would clean it out since I couldn't get back to you! You're a popular guy my friend!

As to the leather strop...first, DON'T treat it with any Neetsfoot or similar dressing. That will tend to gum up and grease the surface of the lead tool. Just plain leather rubbed very well with a bottle to flatten the waves will work great. I found this out the hard way... as in 'leaping before I look', IYKWIM! And yes over time the rubbing with the lead will soften and smooth out the leather nicely. I use an old Illinois #127 strop and it works great.

Rub each strop with the lead until it turns black. It doesn't take much really. You'll see what I mean as you do it. After that you can strop a razor right away. The next day the linen strop will be white, and the more times you do it the more the strops gets loaded with lead oxide, which has about the same micron rating as CroX, and the softer it will get. Same with the leather, although it won't turn white, but the surface really turns slick and soft.

Every so often sand the surface of the lead with fine sand paper lightly to clean and refresh it, because the natural oils in the leather will tend to discolor it at first.

Keep us posted Tom...

Here are a couple of pics of the linen strop freshly pasted with the Strop Aide to give you an idea Tom. Tomorrow I will post pics of the strop after it tuns white again. I wish I could take better pics but these should show the effect...

Had a nice SOTD with 50 laps on the lead linen strop using the frameback razor - very smooth - but I don't know whether I've done enough laps on the linen, and I don't think my frameback is the way to go.

I've decided to go with this razor for the experiment, one of my favorites and I know it very well. W&B 8/8 FBU:



So I'm going to treat the linen till it turns black as Wolfpack mentions, then give it 60 laps on the lead treated linen - then leather, and have a shave.

Note: due to using the lead, I'm making sure the razor is properly rinsed before using it.

So, I'll open with trying 60 laps on the treated lead linen - is that enough? Too much?

So unless you use a razor which needs a bit, how will you know it works, Phrank?
I imagine that chopper shaved a treat before you stropped it?

Laid my cheap strop flat on the table and began rubbing it with a smooth jar.

Smoothing out super already!

Now, after a pile of rubbing with the lead, it looks so;



I see what you mean, Mike, about a bit of light sanding on the lead. As it smoothed out, it was not laying it down much anymore it seemed. I will sand it and give it another shot tonight.

I will take it home and give it a go on my victim, which is my experimental barber hone finished Novelty. It shaves decent, yet could be much better. A bit tuggy.
I shall report back tomorrow!

Thanks Tom - I will get the strip that colour with the lead bar.

The chopper is about ready where I would hit it with the linen crox board I have - it's due for a touch up - so will use the linen instead once I get it darkened up like that.

My strop obviously needs a lot more work with the lead.

Just make sure you wipe the blade after the lead strop. The symptoms of excessive lead are.... Umm..... Yeah.... Memory loss.... Umm... and.... something else... can't remember....

Originally Posted by Phrank

Thanks Tom - I will get the strip that colour with the lead bar.

The chopper is about ready where I would hit it with the linen crox board I have - it's due for a touch up - so will use the linen instead once I get it darkened up like that.

My strop obviously needs a lot more work with the lead.

Originally Posted by Grazor

Just make sure you wipe the blade after the lead strop. The symptoms of excessive lead are.... Umm..... Yeah.... Memory loss.... Umm... and.... something else... can't remember....

Yeah, it seemed it was not doing much after a while. I think lightly sanding the lead will make it lay down the black better.
Indeed, sand over the bin, toss the scrap of sandpaper, wash-up, wipe-off and toss the paper towel.
Lead is hazardous!

I'm actually getting pretty excited! Andrew...if the FBU is tugging a bit I think you will see a 'Big' difference. 50-60 light soft laps on the leaded linen followed by a good stropping on leather will do the trick. Can't wait to hear the results!

Tom...your strop is looking about right my friend. Once you gradually get the strop loaded well it takes less and less to blacken it up and you will need to refresh the lead tool with sand paper much, much less often. I usually only re-freshen my Strop Aide about once a month and mostly because just being exposed to air will darken it up. My strops after 2 years are literally 'chalky' they are so loaded, but very soft and slick.

Using a BH refreshed Novelty is perfect. I just honed a razor last week with nothing but a Frictionite '00' (after a 1K bevel set)and then lapped it on my leaded linen and leather strops (About 30-40 laps on each). Followed that up with a solid progressive stropping...starting with the Lipshaw of course...and the shave was as smooth as any of my razors. Silky!

I can't wait to check this thread out tomorrow....

Originally Posted by Grazor

Just make sure you wipe the blade after the lead strop. The symptoms of excessive lead are.... Umm..... Yeah.... Memory loss.... Umm... and.... something else... can't remember....

Seriously though...I'm not 'anal' about lead exposure...but I do wash my hands and wipe the edge with a towel after stropping. No big deal really...just common sense I think. No lead levels in my blood tests on my twice yearly check-ups, and that's after 2 years of doing this not to mention handling and making lead wedges for ever, which IMO is way more hazardous.