Thread: Recommend a strop

Hi

Getting piece of leather is the way to go.
Cheapest and best if you glue the leather to a piece of wood.
A firm strop is better because you will be less likely to round the edge over as you would with a slack traditional strop.
Get a second piece of leather and do the same thing glue it down.
get some 300 grit sand paper and sand the surface shine off.
Treat one with some corx green abrasive paste. or white car polish. I use turtle wax polish. it is finer than the green.
Good luck.
You dont have to spend a ton of money to get a good SR shave.

All strops do the same exact thing. A $500 Strop won't give one lick more benefit than a $60 one.

The more expensive one might make you feel better and it might be longer and thicker and a better piece of leather.

So the question you have to ask yourself is, do you just want something that gets the job done for a reasonable price or do you want something more?

The answer will guide you to what you buy. The usual vendors have plenty of choices for you.

Fendrihan has kanayama strops cheaper that Aframes Tokyo I would go there an definitely get a kanayama their cheapest one is 89$

Fendrihan has kanayama strops cheaper that Aframes Tokyo I would go there an definitely get a kanayama their cheapest one is 89$

If you could go outside the US, Scrupleworks makes a superior strop for 850 NOK, or about $100 even plus shipping from Norway, which is not too expensive... A beautiful strop!

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I have used newspaper, belts, leather strips, etc. It DOES work, but I enjoy using a proper strop, I will not be making one.

The Kanayamas are praised all around but I think I will pass in this case because I like to have done sort of handle our D-ring termination to hold on to. The Scrupleworks are beautiful! Seriously beautiful. They're also borderline at the top end of my price range, so I'll have to think about it. SRD is looking like a good option so far!

You could always buy a nice vintage one off of eBay with a handle there are quite a few on there now that are cheap an nice with handles. There's always an Illinois strop new or vintage you will pay a bit more for some of the vintage Illinois strops.

Originally Posted by wxc1006

I have used newspaper, belts, leather strips, etc. It DOES work, but I enjoy using a proper strop, I will not be making one.

The Kanayamas are praised all around but I think I will pass in this case because I like to have done sort of handle our D-ring termination to hold on to. The Scrupleworks are beautiful! Seriously beautiful. They're also borderline at the top end of my price range, so I'll have to think about it. SRD is looking like a good option so far!

Honestly, I don't believe you can get a *better* strop than an SRD.... Yes, it would be trivial to get a *nicer looking* strop than the SRD offerings, if you had an unlimited budget, but you would not be able to improve the edge of your razor after a proper stropping on an SRD strop.... I'm sure, if you owned a $1000 strop, you might be able to convince yourself it's better... After all, look at all those "speaker wires" at $20.000.00 a set and the list goes way beyond that... heck, I saw a silver plated fuse being sold with the claims that it would improve the sound...<sigh> But, in blind testing.... nope, not gonna happen.

As for thin vs thick leather.... It's all what the individual prefers and learns to use. Liam Finnegan from the Waldorf Barbershop Dublin, Ireland, has a stropping method that scares the daylights out of me, yet I would not hesitate to have him give me a shave and I'm confident the razor would be keen and comfortable. I'll add the link here, for the Youtube video, but it probably wont play directly, but rather you'll need to click it to go to Youtube and watch it there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h1GC34yyKE

I'm relatively new to this, but the technique used in that video is the complete opposite of what I have learned from SRP and Lynn's videos.

I'm not saying it doesn't work, I don't know that, but it is a different method, that's for sure. Thanks for the video link.

Agree with the recommendation for the SRD strops. The natural was my first and any nicks were easily sanded out while I learnt. Many years later I still use this often and its worn in perfectly.