Thread: Cleaning my linen strop

Wasn't posing that question to you Roger, I was just questioning this other stuff the guy wants to use instead of CRoX.and why he needs anything on his linen if he's got a 50,000k hone, I haven't used anything on a strop in a long time other than fresh linen and leather,

Most of my blades are fine after 12k and that 20k is really as far as I need to go. Tc

Are there any places which have 12K and 20K hones that don't cost over $100? Forty years of straight razor use does not qualify expertise in SR's, that is why I am asking. I have had a long rugged road. I have a Fran Swaty stone, a Chinese 12K I had to flatten (using an engineers straight edge to approximate flat, measuring vertical, horizontal and diagonal). I also have a Krystolo stone (antique) which the instructions say to stroke the SR 5 times, using it like a hone. I also have the Tormex PA 70 past rated at 3 microns which I have not used, however, I have read numerous reviews of it as a stropping compound. Hel-l-l-l-l-lp! Forty years of SR use does not make one an expert, it's why I am asking.

Originally Posted by Glock27

Are there any places which have 12K and 20K hones that don't cost over $100? Forty years of straight razor use does not qualify expertise in SR's, that is why I am asking. I have had a long rugged road. I have a Fran Swaty stone, a Chinese 12K I had to flatten (using an engineers straight edge to approximate flat, measuring vertical, horizontal and diagonal). I also have a Krystolo stone (antique) which the instructions say to stroke the SR 5 times, using it like a hone. I also have the Tormex PA 70 past rated at 3 microns which I have not used, however, I have read numerous reviews of it as a stropping compound. Hel-l-l-l-l-lp! Forty years of SR use does not make one an expert, it's why I am asking.

Well from what you are used to a Naniwa 12k and some Crox pasted on linen or whatever, and it will make you feel like your in straight razor heaven.

Which is more than $100?

Originally Posted by Glock27

Which is more than $100?

No the Naniwa 12k is about 80-90 dollars...

Being retired and on a limited income, ouch! Awful close. You don't think the Chinese 15K would work? Or how about the Franz Swaty. That thing is smooth as glass, but I have never been sure whether it is to be used like a strop or a hone.

Originally Posted by Glock27

Being retired and on a limited income, ouch! Awful close. You don't think the Chinese 15K would work? Or how about the Franz Swaty. That thing is smooth as glass, but I have never been sure whether it is to be used like a strop or a hone.

The Swaty will work for sure on a razor that needs refreshing. That tormek compound is for knifes really. The Krystolo should work like the Swaty. Your Chinese 12 k should work as well, sometimes you dont need another stone to the regiment but learn how to use one. So the next question is do you know how to hone a razor?

The Swaty is used as a hone 5 to 7 strokes and your done.

Originally Posted by Glock27

Are there any places which have 12K and 20K hones that don't cost over $100? Forty years of straight razor use does not qualify expertise in SR's, that is why I am asking. I have had a long rugged road. I have a Fran Swaty stone, a Chinese 12K I had to flatten (using an engineers straight edge to approximate flat, measuring vertical, horizontal and diagonal). I also have a Krystolo stone (antique) which the instructions say to stroke the SR 5 times, using it like a hone. I also have the Tormex PA 70 past rated at 3 microns which I have not used, however, I have read numerous reviews of it as a stropping compound. Hel-l-l-l-l-lp! Forty years of SR use does not make one an expert, it's why I am asking.

The Franz swaty would be used like the Krystolo. If you feel the razor tugging during a shave, stop and do 4 or 5 strokes, and see if it isn't better. Strop and enjoy the shave.

The Chinese 12k is hit or miss. Some of them are good for razor finishing. Others not so much.

You should be able to get a really good edge off that Swaty with very few strokes using just that, linen, and leather unless your blade needs work on a coarser grit stone.

Thanks Marshal. I appreciate the reply. Just because I have spent nigh on 40 years using an SR does not qualify me to knowing what I am doing. I have been learning a lot here which I was never aware of.

Just a few things, re washing linen strops, kanayama suggest on their literature a method, (Quite lengthy) telling of how to soften or break in the canvas piece, it involved scrubbing, soap etc, hitting the canvas with a mallet, then putting it through the washing machine a few times....Dead set true. I followed those guidelines fairly well, and my canvas piece is lovely and receptive to a razor, so Honedright mate, water isn't a problem for the cordovan strop makers who use linen. (Including Horween). Just a small bit of advice re pasted strops. IMHO I would never put any paste or anything on the canvas portion of my primary strop/s. I had a couple of mates, who wanted some balsa based leather, so we chucked in and bought a few strops, cut back the leather to glue on to the balsa to use as a bench strop, so i was left with three linen pieces from a 3 inch strop, and I have put crox on one in powder for as mention back a page, and some Cerium on another. I also messed around with using chamois, synthetic window cleaning fine grained cloth, gluing it to balsa 10 x 3 block and put crox on it as well and used it as Dr matt did with his nano-cloth. So just keep your pastes and potions away from you regular strop/s, at the end of the day, you don't go to the crox every day. You need clean primary linen to prep your blade for stropping on your leather. I don't as I mentioned use crayons, too much mystery as to whats in it for me, and oil on linen is a bad thing. Also the Kanyama strops as great as they are at 68mm wide, their canvas is very average, stiff as a board new and are 65mm wide, yeah only 3mm, but it seems dumb to me, and it does irritate me a tad, when I have to whack in a tiny x on the canvas in the morning, when you go to the leather the blade at say 2 3/4 sits just nice. Kanayama great strop, poor canvas, (Great suede piece though!)