Thread: Why not use leather as the coarser strop with abrasive?

I've used leather bench strops with up to 28 micron diamond paste to polish knife edge bevels that are still a little scratchy looking. I've also used a kangaroo bench strop with no abrasive to put a very smooth edge on knives. Razor edges are much more fragile than knives so I don't know if what I'm thinking will work with razors. I've been using a SRD 3" roo with webbing strop for a month or two now and I like it. I'm still a newbie so I'm asking you guys about instead of using a webbing, linen or felt strop as the "second" strop why not use another leather or roo strop with a coarser abrasive past or spray? Kangaroo, I'm thinking with some .5 to 1 micron spray or paste might make a good second strop for refreshing a razor.

This thought came to me because I don't like the feel of webbing or linen as much as I do the kangaroo I got from SRD. I have a 3"x8" roo strop mounted on glass. I may put some coarser abrasive on it to see how it works at refreshing the edge. I think I have some 1 micron DMT paste I could put on it just to see. I seldom use strops for knives any more.

I'm getting used to the webbing some but I haven't used the linen strop because it's too stiff feeling. I washed it and it's softer but still stiff. I already love the "feel" of stropping with the kangaroo strop. If the significance of the refurbishing strop is it's a little coarser than leather but not as coarse as the stones, I don't see why coarser abrasive on kangaroo wouldn't work very well.

Anyone tried leather or roo as the refurbishing strop?

I'm sure many have used pasted leather to refresh with, give it a try and see how you like it. I believe some of the reasons for using other products for pasted surfaces are cost and consistency of surface. However, stropping is as personal as shaving for many. Experimenting is part of the fun!

I think the more porous material would hold paste better. Felt is softer yet still very porous. I have a couple of pasted strops Marty gave me. Canvas and dang if I can remember what the other is but it looks and feels like a cotton. Now my antique linen I would never use for paste because it merely cleans the blade before I take it to the horse hide. In a round about way I am saying, use what ever you like with paste but the linen before leather is mostly to clean the blade to save the leather.

Originally Posted by Jack0458

I've used leather bench strops with up to 28 micron diamond paste to polish knife edge bevels that are still a little scratchy looking. I've also used a kangaroo bench strop with no abrasive to put a very smooth edge on knives. Razor edges are much more fragile than knives so I don't know if what I'm thinking will work with razors. I've been using a SRD 3" roo with webbing strop for a month or two now and I like it. I'm still a newbie so I'm asking you guys about instead of using a webbing, linen or felt strop as the "second" strop why not use another leather or roo strop with a coarser abrasive past or spray? Kangaroo, I'm thinking with some .5 to 1 micron spray or paste might make a good second strop for refreshing a razor.

Here's my two bit's worth (25 cents) First and foremost the cloth is for helping start the process of 'Smoothing' the edge, it does help remove particles especially after honing.. It's only 'minisculy' Abrasive, the UNTREATED Leather isn't abrasive.

An abrasive shouldn't be used 'Daily' only when needed. With proper stropping the edge will last a very long time. Only then would you need to use a strop sprayed with the diamond and then only a hard felt.

I can't imagine using a fairly expensive imported Kangaroo leather stop and wasting it by using either a diamond spray or paste on it.

If you want to use an abrasive stick with either the hard felt, scrub leather or the back of the synthetic strop and only use it on rare occasions.

I hope this has been of some help.

i have a nice handmade leather bench strop that i sanded with 220 grit till i removed the epidermis and left a nice soft feeling pasted with .5 micron cro that leaves an edge that is smooth as any I've tried from anywhere .give it a try friend and make your own mind up.
Ymmv of course.

If you were going to paste a strop, the best results come from a substrate with enough open space to hold the paste, yet as smooth as possible so just the paste does the polishing.

Stropping knives and tools are one thing, razors quite another.

Razors are stropped for smoothness and to refresh, by polishing at much higher grits than stones. Slapping high grit abrasives on any old piece of leather will probably have results proportional to the quality and smoothness of the substrate.

As said linen and the equivalent are used to clean and polish the razor prior to stropping on good leather, if you strop a dirty razor on a pasted strop or good leather you will contaminate the strop, eventually ruining the strop and at least chipping the edge of your razor.

If you want a pasted strop, buy a quality strop of linen, canvas, nylon or cloth and experiment with the many paste available. Just remember the same grit size and type of paste/spray will perform differently depending on the substrate.

Also if you are having issues stropping, a pasted strop (An Abrasive Strop) is a dangerous proposition, for your razors edge.

1um Diamond is far too aggressive for a razor, you will most probably not like the shave off that edge and need at least Chromium Oxide, to smooth out the Diamond. Diamond is not used for comfort, it is used for sharpness or refreshing.

First, perfect you stropping, using the “Linen” component to clean the razor.

I have three roo leather paddle strops pasted with 0.5 and 0.3 CrOx and one with 0.1 iron oxide paste and they work a treat

I will share what I did. When I first got into SR shaving I bought a low end leather strop from SRD called the natural. Later when I felt I was ready for a good strop I bought a Tony Miller and converted the natural to a cro ox paste strop. I never felt like the blade gained anything from it. When I would get a blade that needed a little extra I would try the pasted leather and nothing. Recently I purchased two of the hard pressed wool strops from SRD. I sprayed one with diamond and pasted the other with the green cro ox crayon. Now I am pushing my blades over the top to a best ever performance by stropping 10 times on the crayon pasted wool.Just an incredible difference.
I purchased a few NOS razors. Filly 8/8 Doble Temple, Revisor 8/8 & 15/16 all three of which were not shave ready IMO. I had trouble dialing them in and in all three cases after going back to the stones three times I finished with the cro ox on wool and they all ended up with a wonderful sharp and smooth edge

I have two bench strops pasted with diamond and they are both leather. They are cowhide but they work fine.

Whoops read the OP wrong

I use linen before the leather every shave,, just do because it works and it keeps the leather clean

I have never used pastes et all to "Re-fresh" or "Sharpen" only to "Smooth" after honing I have a pressed Felt for .50 and .25 Diamond spray but for actual pastes they are all on leather,