Thread: Dovo XL Strop, Russian leather

Originally Posted by bobski

It is a nice strop for beginners as it's better than 3 inches wide, so no x strokes needed.

Other than the width, what qualities make a strop "for beginners"? Also, can you give a little info on what the difference between a good strop and a great strop? I would guess as quality and price increase, you hit the law of diminishing returns, paying more and more for smaller increases in quality. Can you give some input on what qualifies as a great value in a strop?

This is a topic very well covered in this 'STROPS' forum. From having a quick look there are a dozen or more threads on this and related strops threads that are appropriate for beginners, check there for tons of reading. Welcome to the forum.

You don't want to use a pasted strop as your daily strop. A velvety (Russian finish) is a nice way to start as a beginner. It cleans the blade better and even corrects for marginal mistakes in the level of pressure. Personallly, I'd buy another strop and only use the pasted strop for touch-ups on freaquently used razors.

Strops are simple creatures hardly brutes. As long as you have a quality piece of leather with no mars or imperfections and quality finishing it will do it's job. The critter it comes from makes no difference.

Depending on the finishing and the animal derived from it will look different, smell different, feel different and strop differently (meaning draw) but the razor will be blind to it all and shave the same.

When folks talk about differing results with different strops I think the differences in feel just cause them to use the strop differently. Also when you pay a mint for a strop you just know it has to do a better job than a mere basic strop.

I imagine these days somewhere between $40 and $60 will get you a strop that will get the job done. Pay more and you get fancy leather and hardware and longer, wider and thicker leather. You also get prettier leather and leather with more or specialized finishing and tanning.

Makes you wonder how people justify their expensive hones, based on your logic that they all do the same job? I saw a Nakayama Hatahoshi on hone of the day, recently, for which you could have bought a car with the money it was worth....lol....maybe a motor bike

For vintage Japanese natural hones you pay a premium because they are no longer mined. Price is an add-up of performance, size, looks, stamps and rarity.

Hones are not strops.

In Japan vintage natural hones are collectible items and people pay astronomic sums to acquire them. Most of them aren't even used for honing rather they sit in a collectors cabinet.