Thread: Show me your well-used strops!

Not that I use it much any more, but here's what I use to use...many O years ago.

My belt that I grew out of, when I was around 20 years old




The suede side was pasted with red rouge, and Cr/Ox


This is actually my second belt, I diced up the first one..real good. Better than chopping up a new strop when starting out.

I love it, stropping on your belt. Proper old school. Did you get decent results? Love the dual pastes.

You betcha. Wasn't anything called the web or internet when I started shaving. Was lucky enough to stumble across a straight, while cleaning out an old farmhands, house. I did it all on my own, honing, stropping and shaving. Haven't never looked back at cartridge's, since I was 17 years old.

Cool story outback! I have a strop that kind of looked like your belts. Well used in one spot. It took me months to even it out. Now it is my most used strop. Love the feel on that one. Will post a pic later.

Here's one of the first strops I made, I guess about 10 years ago, and it has been my daily driver since. No bolster pieces, just fold-over construction. Cowhide, soaked and compressed, treated with neatsfoot, beeswax, and a dash of linseed oil. D rings were from an old climbing harness I had to condemn on a ship because it was past its expiration date, and I thought hey, these would make a real bad@$$ strop.

Originally Posted by CrescentCityRazors

Here's one of the first strops I made, I guess about 10 years ago, and it has been my daily driver since. No bolster pieces, just fold-over construction. Cowhide, soaked and compressed, treated with neatsfoot, beeswax, and a dash of linseed oil. D rings were from an old climbing harness I had to condemn on a ship because it was past its expiration date, and I thought hey, these would make a real bad@$$ strop.

Whatcha mean soaked and compressed?

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

Whatcha mean soaked and compressed?

Just what it says. I soaked the leather for a couple of days. Then I rolled a beer bottle over it and rubbed it out good with a lot of pressure and repeated as the leather dried, and then introduced the mixture when it was nearly dry and before it could start curling. It makes a very nice surface on ordinary cow or steer leather. I cut to final size after aging the treated leather for a couple of weeks, generally. I don't always do that, of course, but I always do when making a strop for myself or for a gift.

Love the look of a well used vintage strop and those secondaries can be great too! They vary quite a bit but I have saved the ones in good condition. Three of them are double leather, the rest your different kinds of linen.

This is my most used one by me. Only because it is so smooth!
40 laps and I'm done. Good o'le Idian pony shell! Original owner must have loved stroping and was very good at. Must have took a very long time to get it this smooth.

Kanoyama 80000, bought used about 6-7 years ago. It’s well polished and has had no ‘treatment’ - I even stopped hand rubbing it since that seemed to make it dirtier.