Thread: Viraro and bovine leather strop

First post. Hello everyone.
I did this one for a friend. Measures: 40 x 10 x 3.8 cm.
My question is: Should he use Chromium Oxide or not?
Thanks.

Welcome!

Wow, that's a monster of a strop. Beautiful craftsmanship, too.

It's so pretty, it would be a shame to "deface" it with Chromium Oxide... but depending on what other strops and tools he has in his arsenal, that might perhaps be the best use for it. If it were mine, I'd keep it unpasted. (I've got other pasted strops.)

Mike

I'd turn it into a two sided strop and put CrO on one side and leave the other alone.

The main requirement is that a person has a plain leather strop to use just before each and every shave.

The abrasive pasted paddle strops are only to be used infrequently. They are used when the razor starts to pull a bit..... not everyday.

Thanks for the replays. I will advice him not to load it.

Thanks to the Administrators to move this Theme to Strops. I mistakenly posted in Hones.
Well, the strop is not working. Neither unloaded nor loaded. My friend (I suggested him to register here so i can stop being an intermediate) tried everything until 100 passes per side without success.
A piece of balsa wood that I sent him (i use balsa wood to strop my kitchen knives) did it better so I was tempted to replace the leather with balsa. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Ordo

Thanks to the Administrators to move this Theme to Strops. I mistakenly posted in Hones.
Well, the strop is not working. Neither unloaded nor loaded. My friend (I suggested him to register here so i can stop being an intermediate) tried everything until 100 passes per side without success.
A piece of balsa wood that I sent him (i use balsa wood to strop my kitchen knives) did it better so I was tempted to replace the leather with balsa. What do you think?

Hi Ordo, I moved your post into the appropriate forum where I think you will get more exposure for the specific topic. In my experience balsa with diamond paste or chrom-ox is very effective. I don't see why your leather isn't working. It ought to be effective too. Could it be a lack of skill on your friend's part , or perhaps the razor isn't quite up to snuff ? Good looking blade BTW.

That is nice work, I've made paddles, and had some made for me by other members.
The leather looks like Tandy to me, but I could be wrong...

Normally, Paddles and the one you made are really designed for pastes, etc...it's like a bench hone. A daily use strop is normally hanging, like you'd see in an old Barber shop, I think the hanging strops are much faster to use on a daily basis. Of course, to each his own. Many members are using paddles these days for their daily use strop....

Thanks Jimmy and zib.
Well, he's a skilled guy, son of a carpenter. The last time he used the razor successfully i did a previous work on it: Naniwa SS 5000 and balsa strop. A lot of work indeed. Maybe he needs to buy a good stone. What about the classic Norton 4000-8000? Good enough?
His pursue of a perfect edge for shaving is turning me mad. I thought i was a proficient sharpener until I found this world of straight razors. Man, i feel miserable know. I can't shave myself even with my best Japanese knives.

A Norton 4/8 is a good one to have, especially if you're only going to have one. IMHO.