Thread: My strop has curled at the edges and bowed towards the center

I had the same problem with a 3" strop and didn't notice it until killing a couple of edges. I applied a small amount of Neatsfoot oil and massaged/bent it in the opposite direction of the curl. Also ran a bottle over it. It seems the oil and warmth really helped in the reshaping. It was successful but I think I would not go with such a wide strop in the future, just seem like curling is inevitable.

Originally Posted by MandoRob

I had the same problem with a 3" strop and didn't notice it until killing a couple of edges. I applied a small amount of Neatsfoot oil and massaged/bent it in the opposite direction of the curl. Also ran a bottle over it. It seems the oil and warmth really helped in the reshaping. It was successful but I think I would not go with such a wide strop in the future, just seem like curling is inevitable.

My strop is also 3". Hmmm. It was fine until I went against the advice of those who told me not to treat it with Neatsfoot, or anything else. I put a thin coat of Neatsfoot on the business side and darned if it didn't curl overnight. My remedy was to put more Neatsfoot on the 'backside' of the strop and then hang a 5lb. weight on the "D" ring handle. It's now flattening out considerably, but not all the way there, yet. My thinking is that the light coat of oil expanded the fibers on the top side, causing them to expand while the fibers down deeper remained un-affected by the oil/expansion of fibers. Adding oil to the backside should 'logically' expand those fibers too making for equal/opposite expansion, on both sides, which I'm hoping will work. With all of that speculative 'blurbage' being said... I've already purchased another 3" strop, just in case! I won't be touching the new strop with anything but my hands and a blade!

If oiling both sides does not work, I'll be laminating a piece of 20 gauge stainless steel to the backside via contact cement. Damned thing will 'never' curl again, after that! (I hope)

Being of a heavy, heavy hand and ruining a couple of edges stropping. To encourage lighter pressure I cut 1/4" pressed wood the width of my strops and about 2" shorter than the length and secured them between the linen and the leather with Velcro straps, top and bottom. In essence, hanging bench strops. It has made me, now, get to using feather light pressure, if any, to strop my edges. Have had great edges since. Only treatment is rubbing the leather with my palm before using.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Being of a heavy, heavy hand and ruining a couple of edges stropping. To encourage lighter pressure I cut 1/4" pressed wood the width of my strops and about 2" shorter than the length and secured them between the linen and the leather with Velcro straps, top and bottom. In essence, hanging bench strops. It has made me, now, get to using feather light pressure, if any, to strop my edges. Have had great edges since. Only treatment is rubbing the leather with my palm before using.

It's funny that you say that. As green as I am, I have already considered the ramifications of accidentally using too much pressure while stropping, as well as sometimes catching myself letting the hanging strop get a bit slack while mostly concentrating on not putting any pressure on my blade while stropping it. That's where the stainless backing came to mind. It kills two birds with one stone. Since my strop has bowed, I've resorted to stropping in a somewhat different manner that I am liking. After shaving I clean/dry my blade. After that I give it a few laps on the felt to insure it is dry and micro fibers are somewhat straight. After the felt I put the blades to a piece of 'glass'! I start of with a few stropping laps to further straighten micro shards, then I give the blades a few 'honing' laps with the edge leading, followed by a few more 'stropping laps with the spine leading. I'm getting some really crazy crisp/sharp/smooth edges by doing this. I'm almost afraid to put my blades to the leather, anymore, for fear of accidentally curling the edge due to a slightly bowed strop, under tension, while being stropped correctly. I'm beginning to love my 'glass' strop!

TMJudd, As is true in life, so it is true in how to get where you want to go. You have found a way to keep the edge on your razor that alleviated your concern of ruining it. Another path to traverse to the finish line. Again, the adage YMMV. It's not how you got there, it's the fact you got there.

I've used various 3" strops when I first started shaving and inevitably they all had a little bit of cup. I then made a horse butt strop (from a butt strip) that was close to 3" wide and it cupped. I cut it back to just over 2" two years ago, and I have never used a better strop of any type or had better shaves, and I have bought everything from horween shell to the kanayama 80k. My go-to is a strop that probably cost me $15 in leather, and a vintage stiff treated linen that cost me $30.

That may not be helpful if you want to keep using your strop.

When I was using 3" strops, I would run my hand the length of the strop each morning bending the edges down so as to crown it, but you run into the opposite issue then, where you can develop a ridge in the middle.

This kind of stuff is the same reason vintage stones used to be 2" wide instead of 3", as when the strop, stone, whatever is not wider than the tool on it, deviation develops only in the length and not in the width.

If you want the strop to not cup at all, you have to work the entire width of what you have, and then it will stretch in length, but we obviously don't care about that at all.

Originally Posted by TMJudd

My strop is also 3". Hmmm. It was fine until I went against the advice of those who told me not to treat it with Neatsfoot, or anything else. I put a thin coat of Neatsfoot on the business side and darned if it didn't curl overnight. My remedy was to put more Neatsfoot on the 'backside' of the strop and then hang a 5lb. weight on the "D" ring handle. It's now flattening out considerably, but not all the way there, yet. My thinking is that the light coat of oil expanded the fibers on the top side, causing them to expand while the fibers down deeper remained un-affected by the oil/expansion of fibers. Adding oil to the backside should 'logically' expand those fibers too making for equal/opposite expansion, on both sides, which I'm hoping will work. With all of that speculative 'blurbage' being said... I've already purchased another 3" strop, just in case! I won't be touching the new strop with anything but my hands and a blade!

use glycerine soap on your strops friend .it works rather well.salute .