Thread: Pasted Strops

Hey guys was doing some experimenting with pasted strops and got some good results so far so thought I would post it here for others to look over.

Some back round at the moment I don't have the money to buy a good hone so am waiting till christmas to get my norton. But in the mean time I had purchesed some Dovo green, red and black paste as it was inexpensive to maintain my razors edge. So to use it I made a 4 sided paddle strop using some scrap wood that I sanded level and an old belt. I had been reading different things about strops and older strops and how they tended to be skinnier and as I had limited leather and would like to use my paddle strop for travel I decided to make it 16 inches long and only .75 inches in width with a stropping area of 12 inches long and .75 inches wide. I then apllied the paste to 3 of the sides and left the one just leather.

Now I have been going to antique stores looking for a toy wagon to restore for my nephew's birthday and found a pretty nice W. Greaves and Sons razor for $10 dollars so I bought it. After getting it home I tested the bevel as best as I could and found it to be good though the razor it self was very dull. So I decided to to try and sharpen it on the paste.

So as the green is the largest Micron I started there and did 700 strokes at that point it was cuting arm hair just above skin level. I then did 1000 Strokes of Red and was able to cut arm hair allitle higher off skin without any problems. Then did 1200 Strokes on Black and was just cliping the tips of my arm hair. I then stropped it on Denim and then on leather and shaved and got great results. After the shave re stropped on Denim and Leather and did HHT and passed with no problems.

Have shaved a couple more times with this razor and am getting great results ever time.

Not saying this will work on all razors or even most razors but it is something to think about. If anyone else has tried this or does try it any feed back would be nice.


Joe

Good job! If it works for you, then keep doing it..!

I know some of the European sites tend to favour pastes over hones for their sharpening but I've never tried it myself.

Now you've gone and got me all interested to try something new..!

Different strokes as they say. I myself have never used the Dovo pastes, and 2900 total lapps seems a tad excessive, but again, I'm no authority. If your getting a shave ready edge, Good Job....

Oh, and BTW, Nice grab on the Greaves and Sons. I hit Anitique stores and never find anything worth while.....

I actually count each up stroke and down stroke so for laps you would half my totals so its only 1450 laps total.

350 Laps = Green
500 Laps= Red
600 Laps= Black

Thought I had read somewhere on here 2 strokes to make a full lap sorry for the mix up there.