Thread: balsa wood strop?

What paddle strop are you using Kevin?

Sounds like a good system

Originally Posted by nonick

What paddle strop are you using Kevin?

Sounds like a good system

I got the Latigo / Bridal from star shaving in the US.

About how many shaves until you touch them up on the 12k?

Originally Posted by guthriemt

About how many shaves until you touch them up on the 12k?

Some people say every three or four shaves, I find the edge drops off after a week or so for me. I usually wait for a slight pull on my chin hair, then do it but you could avoid this and just do it every three or four shaves and never experience a pull.

I have never used balsa but I've heard mixed reviews about it. I also have heard that you want to make sure that the surface is very smooth, no bumps or little pieces sticking out, many people make their own from hobby shops and such. I use a crox crayon on the inside webbing of my strop

hmmm, sounds like a pretty decent set up...when you say lather, are you using what you use to shave with? also, as it is technically honing, wondering how badly a newbie to honing like me good ruin an edge?
thanks for the advice!

I have a wool strop and a balsa stop, both with chrome ox 0.5, I have to say I haven't really noticed any quality difference between using either one. I do prefer the balsa though because with the wool strop imp worried that ill make a wrong move, use too little or too much pressure or use a bad angle and mess up the edge. I feel the balsa gives you much more consistent results.

I think I am a bit confused. from what i first understood was that you just needed to strop the blade on leather prior or after your shave to maintain the finished edge. From what I gather now, are you guys now stropping with pastes, or the continual hone then to the plain leather or poly? I thought the pastes had more to do with a "refresh" more than anything, but it seems that pre shave stropping using chromox and Feox(on any given material) then to leather seems to be something that is popular, not sure if its the norm though?

With that being said I am leaning towards larry's two strap leather and poly strop just to have the ability to experiment and adding on the balsa wood strop for the refresh(possibly the 12k barbers hone as well), does this make sense to do?.

Does anybody ever only strop with the poly? not even sure I understand its purpose is it just another level of coarseness?

With larry's balsa wood strop, if it was getting used 2 or 3 times a month how long would it last? I've looked up FEox and Chromox on amazon and its tough to find in quantities less than a pound. From what i saw on Lynn's video, seems like a little bit goes a long way, so with what you get from whipped dog you would be set for a while.

While I'm here and thinking about it, if I nicked a strop and there was a tack shop or leather works shop around, what would I ask them for to replace a strop? i have heard the terms bridal and latigo leather, would a decent peice of leather that was gonna make a belt work?

cheers and thanks!

normal the rule of thumb has been you hone on a finishing stone and then strop of a pasted strop fallowed by leather. from that point on you would use just leather until the blade begin to pull or feel dull, you would then refresh on a pasted strop before going back to leather. you would keep doing that until the pasted strop no longer brought the edge back to full, at that point you would go back and rehone on your finishing stone and repeat the whole thing over again.

the pasted strop is just something to put off the need to rehone, its most beneficial to people who don't own a stone of their own and have to pay to sent it away for sharpening. but some people like the sharper edge you get off the pasted strop.

the current belief is your not support to strop on paste every shave as it may create a convex bevel which would make the shave not as good. however there have been a few people on the forums saying they have tried testing this theory and have stropped on paste every shave for years but have never noticed any degrade in quality. so interoperate that as you will.

I personally use my balsa strop maybe one a week so about every 3-4 shaves it's been working for me so far, keeps the edge perpetually sharp. I have a 12k stone so I figer if other people have been able to strop on paste for years and not notice anything I should be fine, maybe rehone on my 12k stone every 2-3 months should negate the so-called convex bevel. but aging in the end it's up to you for find what fits you best.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tried doing the whole hunting for chromium oxide all over the internet for the cheapest product, but in the end I found out most of the stuff you see on eBay, Amazon ect are impure and contain particles larger than .5 microns so it negates the whole point of the paste, you're better off buying from a reputable dealer, its more expensive then the stuff on Amazon and you get a lot less of it but that's irrelevant as any of the options you get will last you forever. there are people on the forums that say theve used the same balsa strop with the same paste for years, that its turned black from all the metal from all the razors they have hones but it still works just the same as the day they first applied the chrome.

for example I have both the wool and balsa strop, iv pasted both with the SRD crayon, so both are fully ready for years of use and the crayon doesn't look like there has been anything taken off. so think of it as an investment.

again I have the crayon ver from SRD, it's good for the wool stopp but its kind of a pain in the ass to apply to the balsa strop because it leaves little bumps of material, it works but you have to spend a bit smoothing it all out flat, so if you going to use balsa I would say get the handamerica chrome oxide that comes in the glue bottle.

Yeah, it was suggested to me to get fine balsa to learn and develop stropping techniques (pressure/motion, etc.). The flatter, solid surface would eliminate some of the variables introduced by a traditional hanging leather strop.