Thread: Help me with strop choices please.

My leaded strop is an extra linen piece i got with my kamayama. Ordered an extra one when i bought my 70k. Its been washed and softened up a lot. Hard to get the lead to take to it. Some are not happy with the idea of using lead, but i found it helped calm my edge very nicely lately. I promise i wont lick my razor. Ha.

The Roo is nice for the smiling edge. That is about the only time i use it. Was thinking i might rub a little oil on it. As its pretty dry.

I have two vintage imported shell strops. A Koken & a Jager Barber supply The Koken is thicker & has more draw than the Jager I will do 50 laps on the Koken then 50 on the Jager. The Koken came with a fire hose linen back strop & the Jager with a treated rough out leather strop that I really like. I have treated both the shell strops with Ballistol with fine results. The Jager was very dried out when I paid $5.00 for it at a friends Garage sale.It had hung in his wood shop for 30 years. I slowly treated it with the Ballistol taking about 6 weeks to finish the project. It feels like a new strop no as does the Koken. The secret I have found with dried strops is to take your time. Really take your time!

Dave Huffman

One strop that has a good slick draw is scrupleworks oil tanned torolf describes it has magnetic draw it’s very nice and his linen is lush to use

Originally Posted by gary haywood

One strop that has a good slick draw is scrupleworks oil tanned torolf describes it has magnetic draw it’s very nice and his linen is lush to use

Just received a 3” version with really nice metal handle and a unique clasp to connect to mounting hardware. I find the linen a bit stiff and imagine it will soften up with use, but the leather is gorgeous. The draw on the leather is heavier than on my Japanese shell, but that one is quite slick. Torolf’s strop will fit perfectly into my stropping sequence.

My Scruppleworks horse hide is very slick also, gotta love them

I wonder if he is using a different source of linen . Linen will get better with use.

Jeez-Now I want some more vintage shell strops to add to my whole row of them-I just want to get as many as Tom.

I guess I'm just really discovering this thread. The 1st couple of weeks of school startup before Labor Day is intense but a rush at the same time-suffice to say I've been distracted (and much less stressed than last year!). So if the cool kids are showing off their strop racks, I'll show off mine:

I made it last summer from an old rosewood plank and cup hooks from Home Depot. I'm definitely looking to get some more vintage shell, no kidding. I consider myself a great and experienced stropper (to make up for my mediocre honing skills lol); shell is by far my favorite surface, as it is for many guys. Vintage is much less expensive and has the cool factor to boot (please forget this sentence before going back on ebay!) God-are we old geezers or what?

It would be interesting to have the history of stropping & what made it popular. Going from stone to leather & cloth is a jump that has never really been talked about much.
Any thoughts or ideas out there??

Dave"Slawman"Huffman

Originally Posted by Slawman

It would be interesting to have the history of stropping & what made it popular. Going from stone to leather & cloth is a jump that has never really been talked about much.
Any thoughts or ideas out there??

Dave"Slawman"Huffman

That would be a great idea for a thread-I have no idea, but I would lose a bet if bronze-age or even stone age (with obsidian flaked blades) peoples weren't dragging edged tools backwards across animal hides to extend their utility. Maybe they even used ash from their fires or some other fine abrasive?

Do any of you old guys remember doing this?