Thread: Cheap or Budget Strop Alternatives

Speed is not required at any point. I think you will be happy with stropping at a steady and very controlled speed. Some strop a little faster than others but it seems to mostly about rhythm and control for me. I expect everyone just finds their comfort speed no matter what they use for a stropping surface.

>HERE< is the good stuff. Been using it for a year. Super super super fine .3 micron.

SRD, Hand America or Kremer pigments for powder. Most from other vendors come from Hand America or Kremer.

Look up old Kremer pigments, Chrome Oxide post for the order numbers from Kremer. You can mix with a couple drops of mineral oil and apply with a finger.


It's cheap you dont need much

Originally Posted by RezDog

Speed is not required at any point. I think you will be happy with stropping at a steady and very controlled speed. Some strop a little faster than others but it seems to mostly about rhythm and control for me. I expect everyone just finds their comfort speed no matter what they use for a stropping surface.

Agreed. I strop pretty fast on linen and leather, but I strop much MUCH slower on a pasted strop. It really doesn't take a lot of strokes to get where you want to be, and I favor control because a bad stroke on linen or leather and you just set yourself back a few strokes on the strop. No big deal. A bad stroke on an abrasive and you're likely to be going back to the hones.

10 slow strokes on SRD's Chrome Ox puts my razor in the way too **** sharp category anyway. Still fun to play with, so I do it anyway. Might invest in some CBN to play with even though I know I'm going to have trouble keeping the razor on top of the skin with a .25 Mic edge.

Easiest and cheapest strop in the world is the heel of your palm....just need a couple of strokes and you'd be surprised at the results.

Palm stropping is one of the oldest tricks in the barber trade.

Alternatively, denim and newspaper also works....

I was under the assumption the OP was looking for a base for paste experiments.

You get funny looks for palm stropping things in public. Especially if you can do it relatively quickly. I think I almost gave my co-worker a heart attack last week doing that with a razor blade I touched up.