Thread: Options for strops for use with pastes/compounds

A couple more thoughts... is the rough side of a leather strop useful for anything? Can compound be applied to both sides of a fabric strop?

The rough side of leather is often, “rough”. So, depending on what you plan to paste it with, yes you can smooth it, but a separate smooth substrate will produce a finer finish, especially with, nano grit paste.

Yes, I paste both sides of paper strops with nano grit Diamond and CBN for years. The problem with a nano grit strop, is contamination. Once contaminated with airborne dust larger than the sub-micron grit/paste, you are imbeding stria to the bevel and edge instead of polishing the bevel and straightening the edge further.

A lot depends on what your intent is, at what level, you want to polish.

Good to hear from you Marty!

I somehow think I work below that level!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Another option for paste is newspaper. It's easy to make a hanging or paddle strop with newspaper.

Anyone looking at this post should also know that newspaper works ,really beyond belief, for what it is, also makes for a great training tool...used it on both my sons.

Newspaper is my all time favorite thing for CrOx. We all have 5 lifetimes' worth of CrOx so why not make it as easy as possible? That said, I do have a bench strop of leather that I coat with CrOx, as well as other strops (leather) that I keep various grits of diamond paste on. They get little use, but when they're needed it's a breeze to find them all.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Another option for paste is newspaper. It's easy to make a hanging or paddle strop with newspaper.

How do you make a hanging strop with newspaper?

Originally Posted by Montgomery

How do you make a hanging strop with newspaper?

It would be quite difficult to make a hanging strop from newsprint, it is too thin. However, you can lay it on a table top and counter and use it that way. It might be possible to make a hanging strop from thicker paper like Index card stock or coated poster board. One advantage of using newsprint is that the ink on the newspaper contains minute particles of pigments that help to polish the edge of the razor, so going to unprinted paperboard stock defeats the purpose. If your posterboard is clay coated, the clay particles in the coating will help polish the edge. BTW, I spent 41 years as an engineer in the paper industry, so I learned a few things about paper during that time.

Originally Posted by RayClem

It would be quite difficult to make a hanging strop from newsprint, it is too thin.

I would have thought so! So I'm interested in how Utopian does it:

Originally Posted by Utopian

Another option for paste is newspaper. It's easy to make a hanging or paddle strop with newspaper.