Thread: Leather, Suede or Cotton

Hi guys,

I have been thinking about strops for a while now and I have a question.

I know why we strop obviously and I know why we use fabric. I have a rough fabric that makes a zip zip noise that I don't like much but i also have some lovey soft cotton that I use all the time.

My question is, what does suede do that cotton doesn't?

Would a person benefit from cotton, suede and leather or does cotton and leather make suede unnecessary?

Would suede and then the leather make cotton superfluous?

I know a lot of you use several different strops, I'm still hankering for a Tony Miller steer hide but the whole suede thing is a bit confusing to me.

I like to use all three. Canvas especially after honing or shaving to clean the edge. As for suede, I like to use it before hitting the smooth leather when I feel the edge can use an extra polish.

Maybe it is just in my head, but I feel that suede has a mild polishing effect that can increase sharpness a touch.

So in sum, it’s nice to have both. I especially like the leather of the Kanayama strops.

There is a stropping progression, even from different leathers, how they were tanned and the way they were finished, they can produce very different levels of polish.

Linen is quite different from Cotton and both finish different from leather. The trick is you must have perfected your stropping technique to appreciate the difference.

Buy a vintage linen strop, wash it thoroughly then try that, you will be amazed. All of this assumes the razor was properly honed.

I like the suede after shaving, it really dries the blade well

Zippy stuff can be your friend. Just saying!

The stuff on some Illinois strops are a bit much. Don't use that except in the workshop some.

I'm kind of with Bagister. I have no science behind it. It's all anecdotal with me but what I have found is that suede seems to be the step between linen, canvas, suede then smooth leather. Also like TC said, the most common place I use suede is after the shave. It cleans off and dries out the blade better from my observation.
Another place I use suede is between the steps in honing. I will use the suede for about 20 to 30 laps between stones then try the hanging hair test. That just kind of lets me know where I am in the process.
The best thing to do is to get them all and then play around with it. That's how I have sort of settled on what I use.I didn't like the zippiness of the cotton canvas either but there is a place for it in the progression.