Thread: Dual material strops.

I have been doing some reading, and cant find anything on strops that come with both leather and cloth (canvas/linen) What is the advantage to stropping with the cloth side after the leather. If there is one. If anyone could clarify this for me that would be great.

Still waiting on everything to come in the mail, then I can get to shaving. Slowing but surely.

Thanks,
Mike

Fabric first. Leather second.

The fabric component serves to both straighten and clean the edge, and the leather provides the final refinement before shaving.

Thanks for the quick and informative response!!

**EDIT**

One quick question, since i will be stropping twice, should i cut the number of strokes in half? and do ~25-30 per material; or still give it a solid ~40-60 per material?

Thanks,
Mike

With _my_ hands on _my_ blades on _my_ strop, there's an improvement going from {30 strokes canvas + 30 strokes leather} to {30 strokes canvas + 60 strokes leather}.

You'll have to try it with your own setup, to find out where the "point of diminishing returns" is. Stropping pressure, and the particular leather and cloth used, make a difference.

Charles

I was just looking for a ball park, and then just get a feel for my blade. The best way to learn is to fail...and fail again. hahaha Hopefully Ill find a solid count that works for my blade/strop

For me my SRD IV has the canvas second. I also have a HPF dual with two types of paste for refreshing an edge. Plus one strop set with another plain HPF(hard pressed felt). My normal routine is 20-30 on the canvas, then 60ish on the leather prior to the shave. After I shave and rinse the blade then wipe it on a soft towel then proceed to do 10 passes on the clean HPF prior to oiling the blade. The 10 pass HPF is to remove any last bits of crud on the edge prior to putting up to prevent any rust or water spots on the blade/edge.

So you do strop post shaving on a clean strop, and then again after you oil then blade. Good to know. Also what oil would you recommend?

Originally Posted by Mikepirrello

So you do strop post shaving on a clean strop, and then again after you oil then blade. Good to know. Also what oil would you recommend?

I only do 10 passes on HPF after the shave. I do that just to get any little bit of gunk I may have missed with rinsing off and a towel. I prefer that to possibly hooking the edge with a towel . Once I put oil on it I let it rest open for awhile to make sure it's dry prior to putting away. Then it gets put back in the rotation case. about 44 razors.
It gets a gentle wipe off with tissue prior to stropping up when it is due on the next rotation. Oh and I use Camillia oil for general storage but if they get stored for a longer time I have a thicker synthetic grease that I also use for gun storage.
You might want to also look into Rennisance wax. great stuff.

I only have one "Shave ready" razor Just picked up two more and am waiting to restore them, then get em honed. Even in a rotation of 3 i think oil would get excessive if i was using it twice a week? Or is it just good practice, to take care of things that take care of you.

I always(and I do mean always) put a couple of gtts on a square of tp and do a wipe down of the blade and between the scales. It takes a very short period of time and a very small amount of moisture to start the oxidation process. Better safe then sorry.