Thread: 2" vs. 3" strop

Like hones: there's nothing you can do on a narrow hone that you can't do on a wider hone...
There's nothing you can do on a narrow strop that you can't do on a wider strop.

I really like stropping on a 3" strop.

I own both and prefer the 3 inch strop. I feel I get a more even stroke.

Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

I'm still a poor stropper, even without having to criss cross. The idea of holding the tang (or shank) with two fingers alone and flipping back and forth without bending my wrist and going fast enough to extract a benefit, man I still haven't gotten it very well. I can do a good job and do it faster and get the "zing" sound but the wrist moves. Occasionally I get out of rhythm and put a nick in it. I have never cut through the leather though. That's why I'm still using the beat up strop I started with. I have a new one but nothing would gripe me more than to mark that baby up. I'm still in training as far as I'm concerned.

It's kind of like honing. I can do a better job on some razors than others.

Straight shaving is one of those carrot and stick hobbies, always something new to improve on.

Someone more experiennced let me know if this is wrong but I thought the 'zing' was te sound of the spine lifting off the strop and is actually something you do not want because that is how you round the edge?

I never really liked the idea of the standard x that most people do because the heel of the razor is only being stropped for a fraction of the time that the center and the toe of the edge are so I started doing the windshield wiper motion, good to hear Lynn does that and it isn't a bad idea.

I've only got (and had) a 2" strop, but I don't use an x stroke, I go up an down; up heel end, down heel end, up toe end, down toe end, etc, 30/70, it work for me...

I have a 2" (dovo russian leather) a 2.5 inch (heirloom latigo) and a 3 inch (heirloom steerhide).
I like the 3" best. but I find that doing x strokes works better than going straight up and down but YMMV

I have a 3" Black Latigo Strop from Fendrihan. I had a smaller 2" strop when I started and I prefer the 3". That being said the 2" was cheaply made, not inexpensive, cheap, and I think I could have done better. I might have liked the 2" if it was a better strop.

I tend to do a slight x stropping motion on it. I'll have to try the windshield wiper move and see if I like it.

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