Strop Backing Material Comparison?

Howdy! I'm very new to straight shaving and currently have a very basic strop with smooth leather on one side and unfinished leather on the back. I'm looking at getting a better strop eventually once I get all of my practice nicks out of the way (none yet, knock on wood) but I'm confused on the differences in backing materials.

Some have linen, canvas, synthetic webbing, felt, etc. I know you can get by with something as basic as old blue jeans, but what are the differences between some of the materials above in regard to results?

Also, should I ever use the unfinished side of my current leather strop?

Thanks in advance for the information.
Josh

Based on my experiences do not use the unfinished side of the leather.

As to the other question, it becomes a personal preference. Some shavers don't use the linen, etc at all. If you get a vintage strop it will most likely have old linen with it. A good scrubbing with a household brush and cleaner will give more years of life to it. Some like linen, some like canvas, others the synthetic and still others just the felt. In my instance my daily stropping included both vintage linen and felt before leather. As you can see your choice, your experience. As you progress and get to try the different surfaces you will find what suits you, and only you.

And above all, it's the quality of your stropping that counts the most in these equations.

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Originally Posted by Razorfeld

And above all, it's the quality of your stropping that counts the most in these equations.

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Sorry total newbie here- What is Quality stroping?

Quality stropping is getting muscle memory to keep you from nicking and cutting your strop. Developing the optimum pressure on the razor (basically as light as a feather is optimum). As example, when I first started stropping I was ruining a lot of edges right off the bat because I was using a heavy pressure on the razor in its contact with the strop. That's when I realized that I have a natural tendency to have a heavy hand. It took a lot of super awareness of how heavy my hand was to retrain myself to use a feather light touch when using a strop. It has now become muscle memory and I barely think about pressure level any more. That lapped over to shaving where I adopted someone's maxim of pressure control on a razor, "Shave the lather, not the face".

People use all kinds of materials for the cloth component but historically linen was really considered the best material to use. I've seen mentioned a knobby silk material that was used in very high end strops and was very expensive. It was considered to be the best you can get. I've never actually seen one though and was rare even back in the day.

I remember our local Barbershop (west side San Antonio) used "a Firehose strop". As a kid that was fascinating to me...

It wasn't the thick heavy hose like on Firetrucks. It was that thin Firehose we had in schools hallways back in the 60's.

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Originally Posted by Hthomas

Sorry total newbie here- What is Quality stroping?

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I would describe "quality stropping" as doing 40 to 100 strokes on the strop after which the razor edge shaves sharper and smoother than it did before you stropped it.

Improper stropping technique can literally destroy your razor edge. Solicit more descriptions on the forum for a better understanding of the process.................. :gl:

Take a peek at this post and video: http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...ing-video.html

OP here. Any opinions on Felt? I've been looking at the OVB strips at Star Shaving that use this as a backer.

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Originally Posted by joshf128

OP here. Any opinions on Felt? I've been looking at the OVB strips at Star Shaving that use this as a backer.

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Felt isn't all that expensive. Give it a try. My felt strop is hanging in the closet unused. I prefer linen and polyester.

Well, I won't be testing out felt any time soon. I came across an opportunity to buy a Walkin Horse Split Side 3" strop with a woven cotton secondary for a deal too good to pass up. Anybody used one of these?

have the Star Big Daddy English Bridle with felt
I think it works well but & have no other linen etc to compare it to.
I think i read the Walkin horse were pretty good quality strops so you may be onto a good thing already

Gentlemen,

For the second component to the leather strop, I prefer genuine linen. In my experience, the genuine linen also has some sharpening tendencies. Nothing major, but some.

+1 Genuine linen

I'm sure there's a reason linen was the historical first choice for second stop component. I've always used bare linen and with cordovan as a first component get fantastic results maintaining my edge between honing.

The linen strop is used to clean your bevel and edge, realign the edge and polishing the bevel and edge, depending on the material.

The rough leather back is not designed for stropping and can damage the edge, unless it has been prepared to a suede finish like the Nakayama strops.

The Linen strop can be real linen, nylon, polyester canvas, cotton canvas, cloth, nylon or polyester weave strapping or any other weaved fabric.

While felt can be use, it is not as abrasive as above and is better for paste and polishing.

In my experience linen, nylon strapping and Polyester Canvas are the best materials, though all will work, just more laps.

All of the above make great paste substrates as the paste is held by the weave and the top threads polish as the paste cuts.

I prefer linen - but I used synthetic webbing for a long time without issue. I think the linen is a bit more aggressive than the synthetic materials, tends to be a more loose weave making it more pliable and is often thinner making it more flexible which tends to keep it on the edge better.

I think the softer and more pliable the leather the better - cordovan is my newest favorite. Pricey but strops last forever if used properly - especially cordovan strops.

John

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Originally Posted by joshf128

OP here. Any opinions on Felt? I've been looking at the OVB strips at Star Shaving that use this as a backer.

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In my opinion, felt is only used to hold compound (CROx, Dianond spray) for stroping.

That may be, but I've found a few laps on felt after linen takes care if my OCD for cleanliness of blade. Like they say, YMMV.