Thread: Thiers-issard 4-sided paddle strop/ pastes.

Hey everyone,

Ever since I started, I've just been using my razors and a two-sided dovo strop (canvas/ leather).
Now that I have more time, and hopefully money, I'm looking to get more involved with straights, whilst keeping my equipment to a minimum.
So I've decided that I'll get a Keen Kutter Barber's hone (will fit into my razor box, along with the brush), and I'm going to replace my current 2-sided hanging strop with a 4-sided paddle strop, so that I can use strop pastes without needed multiple strops lying around.

My questions are:
. What owners of TI 4-sided paddle strops think of it?
. Which sides will be needed for daily stropping, and which can be pasted?
. What kinds of grit would you recommend for someone who only has strops, pastes, and a barber's hone?

I don't have one like the TI 4 sided, buy if I did I would be scared of cross contamination, if your not careful they all will be of the coarsest grit after a while.

Originally Posted by Lemur

I don't have one like the TI 4 sided, buy if I did I would be scared of cross contamination, if your not careful they all will be of the coarsest grit after a while.

Wouldn't the wood between the strops act as a barrier to prevent it running through?

And how do you know how the TI paste (Aluminium and diamond equivalent to 10k) compares to Chromium oxide? I'll just use my barber's hone for touch-ups, and then run it through some ChOx, or TI paste if it's suitable, for finishing.

As soon as you got paste on all 4 sides you have to be careful where you put it down and you can't just put it in a plastic bag like you can with a 1 paste paddle.
I like the looks of TIs 4 sided but I have ruined pasted strops before by getting some "dirt" on them, hard enough to keep one side away from everything.

I find the TI paste to be fine, fast but gives a more aggressive edge than crox.

Ok, thanks. I'll just get a 2-sided one instead, so there are less sides to worry about. It comes with a leather sheath, so I'll only really need to make sure that I put it in the right way round every time.

Put some markings on it!