Thread: Which side to use?

I'm new to straight razors. I am getting the hang of it, but have a new guy question. I bought a Zeepk strop on line. I know it isn't good quality, but i still have a question. One side is obviously leather. The other strap on the strop looks like vinyl on one side and some type of material on the other. Which is for stropping? They vinyl side doesn't seem like it is the right side. Help!

I would suggest using both sides of the vinyl and getting rid of the leather part

when the felt side start to clump(about a week or too)its time to buy a real strop

What is a good strop to buy? Also, what is a good hone to get and in what finish or smoothnes?

a illinois or filly strop if you want to start cheap

Is that 12,000 or 1200?

Originally Posted by hawkeye1

Is that 12,000 or 1200?

12000.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Just a couple of things:

I wouldnt start getting into hones and honing yet. If you have a shave ready razor, that should keep you going for a good couple of months and then you can start thinking about hones once you've learnt how to shave.

The danger is if you've got the hone, you'll be tempted to use it. There are loads of threads here from guys saying "I've got this shave ready razor and I tried to touch it up some more on my hone and now it wont shave" because they've damaged the edge on the hone or used to much pressure and rolled the edge or something.

Until you're happy with the shaving aspects (the shave, stropping and lathering), dont worry about hones. Right now, your money would be much better spent on a good quality strop, which leade me on to...

... The strop! The Filly is one way to go, and an SRD strop is another. The benefit of the SRD strops is that they are modular, so if you nick the leather you can replace that component for a fairly minimal outlay. Definately a good way to go..!

I really do think you should leave the hones for the time being, and spend the money on a good quality strop. You'll get much more benefit out of a good strop for sure.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Welcome to SRP. Stubear is giving you some great advice there AFAIC. Check my sig line below for more good advice and links to more great info.