Quote Originally Posted by Gasman View Post
...I have an SRD Roo strop. Its nice. And yes, they are a bit noisey. Papery sounding. Congrads on adding a Roo to the collection.
That's a really good description of how kangaroo sounds when stropping - "papery sounding." They're even a little noisy when honing an old Sheffield wedge. On a really hollow ground razor, they're downright loud. Between the noise and the draw and the thinness, I really like them for how odd they are in total - makes me feel like I'm really doing something when stropping, heh.

I'm fortunate enough to have several good strops I've snagged over time, and depending on my mood, I may like smooth and waxy/sticky, smooth and glassy, nappy and rough, or the weird but oddly pleasing kangaroo. The two must-have constants for me are 1) starting with a really well-honed edge in the first place, and 2) doing at least 30 - 40 strokes on quality *flax* linen before anything else. The flax linen is so key that anything after that honestly seems to work equally well, it's down to whatever feel I want when stropping that day.

Since I really started paying attention to the linen phase only last year, any other type of leather strop I follow that with just shines and does better. I can maintain a great starting edge for months, which is really nice after years of not being able to.