Warped strop

Hi guys,

I noticed that my strop tends to warp overtime developing concave in the middle so the razor laid flat only touches its outer edges. It gets easily fixed by "unfolding" it the other way so it becomes "convex", however tends to go back to concave in several weeks. Is it part of normal reaction to the stropping, or I need to do some sort of "preventive maintenance" on it?

Thanks,
Sergei

You are describing what we call cupping. I have only seen it with strops that are too wide for their handles, or otherwise defective design wise. I have not seen it with quality strops.

I have seen it happen on brand new Jemico 2" strops as well. In theory a wider strop is more prone to cupping than narrow but it practice I have seen little difference in how a wide or narrow strop holds up over time so width is not really the deciding factor.

The nature of the leather...the tanning, how it was shipped and stored (rolled skin side in or skin side out), where and from which direction it was cut from the hide, and how it absorbs moisture on each side...skin vs. flesh sides, all are factors in whether it will cup or not. Leathers treated with waxes and oils in tanning (latigo and bridle) seem to resist better as do some that have been dressed well. Plain veg tanned seems to cup faster in my experience but I have pieces here all cut from the same side and some cupped, some did not.

There are many threads here showing various ways to combat or correct cupping, but it is not that unusual of a thing to happen, especially after many months. Right out of the box a strop ought to be pretty close to flat though.

Tony