New Strop for Xmas

I wanted to share my experience with my new strop. It is a black 3" latigo strop purchased by my wife for me for Xmas (I told her which one I liked). I have only had a small stropping board thus far and the difference is quite noticeable. After palming the new strop to warm it up I gave my razor 40 passes or so and then shaved with it. It felt much nicer than it had previously. I'm not sure if it is the leather material of the strop, the length of stroke or the technique but it was a noticeable improvement. I think now I'll convert my old board strop to a pasted strop.

P.S Happy New Year everyone

Yea, probably just more mileage (time on the strop), my personal opinion is most folks do not strop enough and the benefits of stropping are under rated for edge maintenance.

Just be careful not to add too much pressure.

One of the benefits of a paddle strop for novice stropper, is the strop is flat, if excessive pressure is not used, it will strop fine.

When converting to a hanging stop, the strop will deflect more. If not taught AND pressure is applied to the EDGE, as opposed to the SPINE the strop curls over the edge and wipes it, a common issue for novice hanging stroppers. If lite pressure is applied to the spine, the strop under the spine to the edge will be flatter and less likely to curl around the edge.

The trick is to use lite pressure when stropping.

It would be interesting to see, with all the new strops given for Christmas how many new edge issues occur.

Thanks for the advice. I will be sure to keep light pressure while stropping.

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Originally Posted by JosephHoffer

I wanted to share my experience with my new strop. It is a black 3" latigo strop purchased by my wife for me for Xmas (I told her which one I liked). I have only had a small stropping board thus far and the difference is quite noticeable. After palming the new strop to warm it up I gave my razor 40 passes or so and then shaved with it. It felt much nicer than it had previously. I'm not sure if it is the leather material of the strop, the length of stroke or the technique but it was a noticeable improvement. I think now I'll convert my old board strop to a pasted strop.

P.S Happy New Year everyone

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Of all the things that come with straight shaving, the strop was the hardest thing to learn for me. Stropping success is a big thing to me, and I'm really glad you're doing well with your new strop.

I'm in exactly the same boat. I received a 2.5" strop for Xmas. Previously I had been using a RupRazor strop. While the RupRazor is an excellent starter strop, the width and flatness (mostly due to the presence of end fittings) of the new strop makes for a far easier time. I'm finding a whole new level of comfort and closeness to my shaves. I certainly underestimated the importance of a good strop before now.

edit: it probably doesn't hurt that I have a proper linen side now as well.