Thread: impovised strop

Dear friends,

My first straight razor is on the way (thank you "shaved zombie") and I am starting to worry about stropping. Currently my budget won't allow for the purchase of strop and I am looking for ways to improvise a strop.

I've heard several things and I am wondering what your experiences are and what you can recommend and what not.

1) Cardboard
2) Newspaper folder several times to form a strop
3) Jeans.

So what else could I use and are any of the above suggestions worth trying and how would I go about it.

Gr. TheSkyer

Do you have a nice pliable leather belt? I would think that would work due to both of them being made of leather.

I do but it's old and broken up, it's a really rough belt very much unlike a strop :P

do you have a scrap yard close?

seatbelts are one of the better replacements for a fabric strop

Leather suede or smooth can be used as long as theres no abrasive in the finish

i would recomend you look at a starter strop at http://www.strop-shop.co.uk/category...lphabeticalAsc

Originally Posted by janivar123

do you have a scrap yard close?

seatbelts are one of the better replacements for a fabric strop

Leather suede or smooth can be used as long as theres no abrasive in the finish

i would recomend you look at a starter strop at Quality Razor Strops & Paddles Individually Hand Made in the UK

A seatbelt shouldn't be hard to come by, got 2 scrapyards in the neighborhood. Is a fabric strop enough to keep your razor sharp? I thought you needed leather to keep your razor up to shape and the fabric once where just a touch up if you want it ridiculously sharp.

yes if you got a good leather strop it may be possible to skip the fabric.

yet most prefer using both in progression

and good leather replacements isnt so easy to come up with (closest may be the discussed palm stropping, but for obvous reasons thats not a much recomended approach)

Indeed, I know the human body can do wonders when it comes to stropping knives but with a razor I am not gonna risk it :P

I just cut up a pair of really old jeans but I can't be to thrilled about the effect. After a 100 laps or so the edge still doesn't really improve.

Originally Posted by TheSkyer

Indeed, I know the human body can do wonders when it comes to stropping knives but with a razor I am not gonna risk it :P

I just cut up a pair of really old jeans but I can't be to thrilled about the effect. After a 100 laps or so the edge still doesn't really improve.

One thing to note: If you are stropping a razor that is not yet honed fully, stropping really won't do much (there are some instances where this isn't the case, but that's not applicable here) Especially if you are only stropping on a fabric.

As was said before, seatbelts and denim jeans make for fantastic fabric components (just make sure there are absolutely NO scraps or slivers of any material but the fabric in them, or the razor's edge will be, pretty much instantly, destroyed)

For leather, try to find a local tannery and ask if they have a scrap bin... Take a decent strip of (preferably Vegetable tanned) leather and punch holes in the top to secure it... Voila.

High end strops (Like SRD, Tony Miller, etc) have a unique blends of waxes and oils that make them better for stropping, but, if you're in a bind, a generic piece of smooth leather will work... I would strongly advise avoiding a belt... There are some horror stories on this forum about people who stropped with belts that /felt/ smooth... And destroyed the razor's edge...

If you must use a belt, sand it thoroughly (from 400 grit to 2000 grit) and then rub it with your palm and a glass bottle thoroughly.

However, the scrap-bin-strop is still your best bet.

Good Luck!

(Also, for what it's worth, I'm shave testing your razor in about an hour, and then giving it a long stropping session, packaging it, and taking it to the post office... Hope it serves you well! Cheers.)

Jeremy