Thread: Well I cut my new strop !

Originally Posted by MattCastle

That sucks! I hope I don't cut my new strop, it's in the mail on its way. How do people usually cut them? Just rolling it on the edge instead of the spine?

My nicks come from flipping the blade over, while it's still moving toward the (new) leading edge.

The "right" sequence is something like this:

. . . Slow down the blade;

. . . keep the spine down, and lift the edge

. . . while the edge is off the leather, reverse the blade direction while
. . . you continue to rotate the blade around the spine;

. . . After the blade direction is reversed, bring the (new) edge down to the
. . . strop.

There's lots of opportunity to screw it up! <g>

Charles

Well I took LOU G's advice and used a 220 grit sanding sponge. It worked out great, and finished with 600 paper. Then I rubbed some neats foot oil on my hands and worked it into the leather. I think it is better than new. Thanks again guys.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Speak for yourself!

I have to agee with the others, if you can, glue the flap down and make sure its smooth and let that be a lesson to ya!

Some of us have cut strops so bad, we had other members make them into paddles for us......

+1 on the glue, if you can glue the flap down, go for it...I was able to do that on an old paddle, and you can't even tell where it's fixed anymore...

The more you strop, the better you get. Never, ever strop distracted....

+1 on the steps to fix a nick.

I recently had an experience documented here in which because of my procrastination tendencies, I wound up stropping on my leather travel strop laid flat on the counter top for about a month. What I noticed when I went back to my hanging strop was a big improvement in my stropping technique. I found that I had to strop more slowly with the strop laid on a hard surface. This time spent on what I guess essentially amounted to a paddle strop really helped me cement the muscle memory, timing, and the flip. In retrospect, I think if I had started stropping this way back in May when I was brand-new to this, I probably wouldn't have dinged that strop up like I have. Maybe we ought to advise newbies to go this route starting out. Thoughts?

I made the same mistake last weekend. The forward motion did not stop after I rotated the blade. Ouch

Originally Posted by cpcohen1945

My nicks come from flipping the blade over, while it's still moving toward the (new) leading edge.

The "right" sequence is something like this:

. . . Slow down the blade;

. . . keep the spine down, and lift the edge

. . . while the edge is off the leather, reverse the blade direction while
. . . you continue to rotate the blade around the spine;

. . . After the blade direction is reversed, bring the (new) edge down to the
. . . strop.

There's lots of opportunity to screw it up! <g>

Charles

Just be thankful you weren't experimenting with the palm strop ala Mastro Livi.

Originally Posted by RML

Well I took LOU G's advice and used a 220 grit sanding sponge. It worked out great, and finished with 600 paper. Then I rubbed some neats foot oil on my hands and worked it into the leather. I think it is better than new. Thanks again guys.

Another thing you can do for minor nicks and cuts,is to buy a multi sided nail file and buffer.You just file using each progressively finer grit till you get to the polishing board/buffer and it smooths everything out very nicely.Plus you get better control of where and how your sanding. It's worked for me anyway.

well i made a small cut in my strop as I was watching Spartacus and off came one of gladiators sword and my angle went from up n down to a 75 degree angle (inside to out) ....and nicked a small part.

I just put strop cream/ointment before i give good 200 strokes, blade really glides. I have seen no messup on my blade.

::: worse worse thing that i ever did...was dropped my razor while horn-ing and luckly it landed on the back part and not the sharp edge. I was lookin at my blade my magnifying lens.
::: my advice would be if the leather is new which i think in your case it is; use cement as commented by a SM. Its it few years old think its better to just replace the leather. Depends on your p.o.v. if puttin new leather strop runs you cheaper go for it.

By all means, repair it. Whether the nick will damage the razor or not, repeated stropping over it is likely to make the nick worse. I recommend Wilson Leather adhesive. I used it on the nicks I've made with great results.

Well I'm going to have to join the club! My first time stropping today and I thought I was doing fine. 50 laps later I'm putting my strop away and noticed a small nick along the edge. I have no idea how it happened, but I guess some things are inevitable :P