I put a cut near the bottom ( near the "D" ring) of my strop. The cut is in the center about 1/2" across. Will this affect the blade if I strop over this area when stroping?
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I put a cut near the bottom ( near the "D" ring) of my strop. The cut is in the center about 1/2" across. Will this affect the blade if I strop over this area when stroping?
Welcome to the club. I'm been doing some reading recently on nick repair as I'm on strop number 2 and don't feel like going to number 3 yet.
As to your question, I'm sorry I can't answer that.
What I can share however is just buying replacement leather from a vendor is a much cheaper soloution then purchasing a new strop.
In the past I've sliced two different strops in multiple places. Some more nicks than cuts and a couple where really cut! Ouch - once nearly all the way through on one of the strop edges. In all cases I was able to fix them. The cleaner/bigger cuts were a bit easier to repair than the small nicks. I used contact cement. Open the cut up or flap it back or what have you. Carefully put contact cement on both surfaces of cut with toothpick or some such thing and let dry about 5 minutes or so. Firmly press cut back together. You can then use the strop with no ill effects to your razors. If a bunch of small nicks that actually removed bits of leather (nothing to glue back) then I've actually taken sand paper and sanded down the nicks starting with about a 200 grit and going down to about 600 grit. Apply a little neats foot oil or other leather conditioner and strop is like new. BTW, as noted you can opt to just replace the leather and it is much less expensive than a whole new strop.
+1, on the fix LouG said IME. After awhile strop nicks or cuts will be few to none. Hang in there, we've all done it and will probably do it again. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
Speak for yourself!:w
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! :)
I am two months in and haven't nicked or cut my strop in about a month (knock on wood). I put about three nicks and a bad cut in mine during the first month. After reading several of the threads here I used rubber cement to repair the cut and a whet stone (for knives) to smooth out the nicks.
I have not had a problem with the smoothed nicks and repaired cut hurting my blade. I am that I can go six months without hurting my strop and then maybe I will by the SRD paddle strop for travel and paste.
+1, on the fix LouG posted. I spent my weekend sanding two deep cuts on a strop. Lessons learned to be sure. Take your time practicing with a strop. The best advice I got from this site was to practice with a butter knife. That way I wont hurt either myself or, better yet, the strop.:gl:
Thanks for the replies guys, no this cut is not very deep, I am going to try some neatsfoot oil and a lot of rubbing. Thanks again.
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?
I devoured 3 while learning - make that 4. Bought my own leather & hacked that up also. 'Switched from latigo to horse hide - like it better. 'Haven't eaten a good strop in months, but for quite a while, I thought the destruction would never stop.
Hang in there. It will get better.
My nicks come from flipping the blade over, while it's still moving toward the (new) leading edge.Quote:
Originally Posted by MattCastle
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nun2sharp
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
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpcohen1945
:dropjaw: Just be thankful you weren't experimenting with the palm strop ala Mastro Livi.
;)
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by RML
well i made a small cut in my strop as I was watching Spartacus and off came one of gladiators sword :tameshigiri: 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 :dropjaw: 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