Thread: Options for strops for use with pastes/compounds

After using just a leather strop for quite a while, I have recently experimented with compounds on a homemade cardboard strop, and I've become aware of what can be done with pastes/compounds.

So, I'm looking to acquire another hanging strop with at least two surfaces that I can put two grades of compound on. I could of course buy a leather and canvas strop, which along with my current strop would give me three hanging surfaces, two of which I could apply compound to. But, I'm not sure I need another leather strop just to apply compound to, and I'm very happy with my current leather strop (Solingen-made Herold), and don't want to retire it prematurely.

I'm curious as to what solutions do the members have to this. How feasible is it to come up with an improvised/homemade solution for this application?

A subsidiary question is, I'm assuming that once compound is applied to a strop, it cannot be fully removed, so it is a one-way street, is this correct?

Thanks in advance!

When I only had one hanging strop and wanted to use pastes, I glued a piece of leather to a homemade paddle. It worked well. Then my hanging strop had an accident and had to be replaced, so I salvaged the hard felt second component and used it so a second pasted strop. So I have CrOx on a leather paddle and CeOx on a hanging felt strop. Later when I got more hanging strops I treated on of my leather surfaces with lead. That one I then combined with my cerium on felt. I am told that cardboard, like dense stuff from cereal boxes is a good medium attached to a wood paddle.

https://straightrazorpalace.com/stro...questions.html
You'll have to copy/paste it. I have no idea how to "link" an old thread.

That should be a link to Marty's sail cloth strop he uses for pastes/the sixth post is Marty showing/explaining the stop (Euclid440).
You can find a good linen at any cloth store and use as well.
I've got one with Crox on it that he gifted me during my first honing lesson. Still an awesome strop, and I use the non-pasted side as a post shave cleaning/drying strop.

To answer your question about if it's a permanent deal to paste...yep. Pretty much you're committed once you paste it.

Be sure your cleaning the blade well after using the pasted before you go to your leather. You can contaminant the leather.

Cheers,
Jer

I got a paddle strop years ago that has balsa on one side and felt on the other. I use CrOx on the balsa and diamond spray on the felt. The paddle gets used to tune up a blade between honings.

I also have two homemade paddle strops that I glued leather obtained from a leather worker onto. I use CrOx on one and leave the other plain. I think I prefer the CrOx on balsa to the one on leather. It just seems to provide better feedback and a nicer finish on the edge.

I hear lots of good reports about CBN and CeOx, but have no idea where to get them and I’m not really sure if they would represent a substantial improvement over the diamond spray.

I believe CBN can be had a CKTG.

Anybody found CroX anyplace other than Shave Nation? I know there's Ebay and Maggard's has it but it's been out of stock for ages.

I got a lifetime supply of CroOx and FeOx from a British seller a long time ago.
Great stuff for razors, IMO.
Taylors 1000 if I recall. I should never need any more.
Balsa wood, suspended and loose. Works a treat.
Diamond paste is likely to be toothy, FME.

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

Yup. A length of 3/16 balsa from the hobby store. Pasted with CroOx.
End rested on the table. A few bucks.
A pasted strop which is firm helps keep things in alignment of the honing.
Floppy materials heavily-pasted gives us old wedges that are a pain to hone!
My imagination...

I have made quite a few DIY pasted strops.

1. You can find 3" wide balsa and basswood at you local hobby/craft store (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.) The 1/4" thick stuff works great, but I have even used 1/8" basswood. Sand the wood until it is flat and then apply pastes or sprays or glue on cloth or leather as noted below.

2. I purchased a microfiber screen cleaning cloth and glued it to balsa using Elmer's glue sticks. This makes a great substrate for pastes and sprays.

3. You can purchase pieces of vegetable tanned "tooling" leather from hobby shops as well. You can glue the leather to balsa or basswood. You can make some strops with plain leather and some with pastes. You can try some with the smooth side up and others with the suede side up. It only costs a few $ to make a strop, so experiment and see what you like best.

4. I found a plastic cutting board with a lightly textured surface. I coated it with CBN paste. It worked fine.

5. I made a strop by purchasing some Chinese flax linen fabric from JoAnn's Fabric and then ironed on some Pellon backing to make it stiffer. You can either trim it to size and punch holes to make it a hanging strop, or glue it to wood backing as per item 2 above. I currently use mine as a clean linen hanging strop, but am considering making a paddle strop for comparison to the microfiber cloth.

It is fun making DIY strops. Use your imagination. The strops do work.

If you are not into DIY, you can always purchase a strop base from CKTG. This is also a source of Ken Schwartz CBN sprays. I use one of their kangaroo leather strop base for my 0.1 micron CBN spray.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/strops.html
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/cbnsprays.html

Mmm... lots of food for thought there. I think I'm going to start the experiments by going the homemade fabric hanging strop route.

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?