A Gift From My Wife.

A Gift From My Wife.

I love her, and her frugal ways. ESPECIALLY when it comes to grocery shopping!

So I mentioned being interested in SR shaving all of two or three times, and she got the ball rolling from there. Probably has something to do with my impending birthday.

And then she was smacked with the same sticker shock I first was. Though, she didn't logic her way past that towards "well how much will be spent on cartridges over time?"

She first came back from a grocery trip with a puck of Van Der Hagen soap with a clearance tag on it. +5 wifey points since I hadn't even said I was gonna actually use a straight razor.

About 2 weeks later, she let me in on the kit she was assembling on the 'bay, "since your so fricken picky!"

1: Stainless steel bowl and badger brush w/stand (my family raised hogs, no bore bristle for my face).

2: A no-name 2 sided strop. "Leather on one, suede on the other."

Both were fairly inexpensive. $14 & $11, respectively.

Only received the strop so far. I was hopefully optimistic. And, well... I guess... just check out the pics.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...206-172615.jpg

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...206-172902.jpg

My heart sank when the only words on the clear plastic sleeve that was the packaging was a sticker that read Pakistan. And I'm not sure if you can make it out in the pic, but the loop to hang it on something is literally a nail bent into a circle. Can y'all see the bumps in the leather? I also see metal flecks on it.

How much use is it? Should I even bother using it in my amateur restoration attempt of a slightly rusted ERN & a chipped Tufpug?
If it turns out to be just "ugly, but usable", that's perfect. I had already planned on a good 3" when I get my Dovo from SRD... for after I taught myself proper technique on the sacrificial cheap-o.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Sincerely,
Crawler.

You know what Crawler, in terms of a strop for the long term, that one probably won't do, but in terms of learning stropping, and putting your razor on some leather it will do fine for awhile I'm sure.

Most inevitably nick and cut their strops when they start out, I did, and having a strop like that to learn stropping is probably perfectly suited to it's task - no problem.

While your waiting, grab a kitchen knife, one with a relatively straight spine, watch some stropping video's, and practice with the knife, keeping the spine on the strop, back and forth, getting a fluid motion - speed kills and will damage your "shave ready" razor if you roll the edge, another common mistake we've all had happen.

Any good piece of leather, denim, even newspaper can serve as a strop, but if the strop has leather, it should do for a couple of months until you've done some research around a strop that you'll want as a keeper.

Hope this helps...and you have a very considerate wife, good on her!

I don't see why that wouldn't work to start out with. Phrank 's right - good learning strop.
I'm not a fan of 3" strops I would go with a 2.5" or 2" but to each their own.

ahhh the ol'wife buttering up story ..lol..

very nice !! it used to amaze me how much my wife actually paid attention to things I liked ..lol.. I remember mine buying me some Drake Waterfowl bibs and a nice duck call one time !!

Thanks for the responses. It will definitely be my trainer strop. I ideally want a 3" because using a strop less wide than the blade is long feels awkward. And I just know trying to compensate for that is gonna cause me to screw something up. Likely the edge, probably the strop as well!

He there crawler - where abouts in NE Indiana are you. Grew up in Sidney and Ft Wayne, still have lots of family there

Yea, I'm in the Fort. I'm originally from down 'round, & in, Evansville. Spent a few years just north of Indy, before meeting my wife who is from FW.

Before using give it a really good wipe down with a damp cloth to make sure that you get rid of all the metal flecks