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

Originally Posted by sharptonn

So how did the shave go, Phrank?

The shave went well, not quite what it would have been using my normal routine, but I ended up having to shave last night, huge early morning meeting I just got back from.

Since then, I've hit the both sides of the strop again with the lead, and got it a nice dark colour.

Things that did stand out - the razor's bevel is beautifully polished, and I could tell that if I had of hit the strop for another hundred or so laps, it would have made a difference - just not enough saturation with the lead yet.

But the shave was 95% there, and the edge was very nice, much softer, more like the Escher edge I'm used to.

This is good, as lately I've been trying not to use crox, as personally, I feel it defeats the purpose of the stone.

Next shave, I'll have another 100-150 laps and I'm sure it will brighten up and exceed my expectations.

If you're like me...and I know you are Andrew...every shave you're shaving with a new, or rather different razor. You'll find that once you've got the razor the way you want it you'll need less laps on the leaded strops before you shave. Usually my stropping routine is about 10-20 or so light easy laps on the leaded linen and then 10-20 or so on the leaded leather. After that I will go through a moderate progressive stropping routine on 2-3 of my leather strops for 50-60 or so laps.

I haven't had a bad shave in so long I wouldn't know what one felt like!

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

If you're like me...and I know you are Andrew...every shave you're shaving with a new, or rather different razor. You'll find that once you've got the razor the way you want it you'll need less laps on the leaded strops before you shave. Usually my stropping routine is about 10-20 or so light easy laps on the leaded linen and then 10-20 or so on the leaded leather. After that I will go through a moderate progressive stropping routine on 2-3 of my leather strops for 50-60 or so laps.

I haven't had a bad shave in so long I wouldn't know what one felt like!

Thanks - makes sense, very glad Sharpton started this experiment - very useful in terms of experimentation.

I found whenever I touched up a razor on the crox, the nature of the edge changed, it was sharp and "shave ready" but lost it's character if you can say that.

Lately, I've been breaking out my Escher (trying the different one's I have) and doing a refresh with that, then lots of stropping, and that achieved the edge I like.

This seems, at least anecdotally, to preserve the character of the finishing stone - which is very important to me personally.

That is good, Phrank! I will continue to load mine and try it. I agree the CroOx tends to negate the smooth nature of an Escher edge. I don't bother with it unless on my Naniwa 12k edges. Seems to tighten them up and smooth them out a bit.

Nothing like going backwards, eh?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

That is good, Phrank! I will continue to load mine and try it. I agree the CroOx tends to negate the smooth nature of an Escher edge. I don't bother with it unless on my Naniwa 12k edges. Seems to tighten them up and smooth them out a bit.

Nothing like going backwards, eh?

If you like the CrOx after a 12K Nani edge Tom, wait till you see how the leaded strop does! Really 'cools it' out!

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

If you like the CrOx after a 12K Nani edge Tom, wait till you see how the leaded strop does! Really 'cools it' out!

Since my honing skills still leave much to be desired, the way I seem to be getting the best edge, regardless of it's a refresh or the whole shebang, is I finish on the Nani 12k, which seems to always be consistent, then I use my Escher edge as the final stone. If I just use the Escher, seems I can't pull the full edge from it, which is due to my lack of practice, watched many video's, used slurry, just used water, I've hit a few times, but the Nani first seems to be what works for me - and I skip the crox.

The polish the lead strop put on the blade was stunning, didn't expect to see that, and I could really feel that the character of the stone was still there...this is great fun!

Originally Posted by Phrank

.....The polish the lead strop put on the blade was stunning, didn't expect to see that, and I could really feel that the character of the stone was still there...this is great fun!

You're right Andrew...it really polishes up the bevel and the edge, which of course makes for a keener, smoother shave IMO. The more you do it the more the bevel gets polished removing finer and finer scratches on the edge. As a side note: I have been experimenting for sometime now using a leather wheel coated with lead to 'polish' some of the razors I've been restoring, and the results have been fantastic!

Earlier in this thread Neil posted the following (for those that are following this thread but may have not read his post):

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

.....What is not speculative is the almost universal use of the 'lead lap' in Sheffield at one time in finishing the finest razors and cutlery items. It gave an unsurpassed polish. Although polishing materials remove incredibly small amounts of metal that is how they work - removing metal....

Regards,
Neil

***** At the risk of redundancy, as a way of being cautious: proper care should be taken when handling lead for those overly concerned about it's use for anything razor related.

Sharpton Treated Strop Test - Shave #2

After two more loadings of the strop with the lead, I've done in total about another 60 laps on the linen and about 180 laps on the leather with two separate stropping sessions.

Since I just received a Tony Miller 3" Strop, I followed my normal routine of some form of progressive stropping and finished with 20 linen of 60 leather on the Tony Miller.

The shave was fantastic, the difference between the previous shave, which I rated at 95% and this one was more than just 5%. The edge was uber sharp, easily gave the usual BBS shave I always seem to get with the razor. It's one of the strange things with various razors, some just seem to have that magic element where all the elements come together and always deliver and wonderful shaving experience - this is one of them for me. The razor was the best it's been, the edge was so much more noticeably smoother - easily skated South to North over my skin with the ATG pass.

Next step for this experiment for me is to try another razor - which will be one of my W&B, The Celebrated Hollow Ground Razor, For Barbers Use - just have to try and remember which one could use a touch up the most.

The bevel is beautifully polished on the razor as you can see, it's hard to describe the mellow edge of the razor, but the shave was perfect.

Sharpton Treated Leather Strop and linen (pictured)
3" Tony Miller Heirloom Old No.2 Strop
Classic Edge Shaving Scuttle
Morris & Forndran Badger Brush
T&H Grafton Shaving Cream
Givenchy AS

Great follow-up report Andrew! Two thumbs up

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

Great follow-up report Andrew! Two thumbs up

The edge is coming closer to matching the shave with the razors you've restored for me - one of the first things I noticed - that mellow smooth, very clean, crisp edge that always provides a great shave.