Thread: looking for a strop

I am looking for a cheap strop its my first attempt at this so i don't want to drop a lot if dough. I cant find any store with a selection of them. It seams where i have looked they sell only one brand. If its a leather strop will any leather due or should i stay away from any particular manufacture? I saw one 3" with a leather strip and a canvas strip for $40 made from English bridal on ebay but there is no manufacture listed. Is this good enough?

You may want to place an ad in the Classifieds under "Want to Buy/Trade." Who knows, maybe some member here has a extra strop hanging around they could part with. As for buying a new strop without spending a lot of cash, you might want to check out RupRazor or some of the other vendors here. I'm sure you'll be able to find one to fit your budget if you don't mind waiting a few days for USPS to deliver it to you.

You may want to take a look at Straight Razor Designs strop offerings online. I think you may well find exactly what you need among their offerings of strops not only as a beginner but as you become a seasoned straight shaver and want to try different leathers as your skills mature.

I have a Tony Miller that I love, but I think on his website there is an inexpensive one for travel or beginners available.

There's a couple places to look. You can check out the vendors corner. A couple other good choices ruprazor's filly strop, star shaving has a bunch, whippeddog has the poor mans strop bonus you get a balsa strop with crox/ ferox, and amazon look up illinois strop I recommend the imperial Russian

Star Shaving also makes some excellent strops for beginners. They have a nice draw, come with stainless steel hardware, and are rather inexpensive (starting out at $14 plus shipping). I had their 2" English bridle strop before upgrading to their 3" Big Daddy black latigo strop.

For new guys starting out, you don't want to spend a lot of money. Stropping takes time to learn, like most things in this hobby. A lot of new guys wind up cutting their strops first time out. If you have a Tandy leather by you, You can strips of leather, and make your own. You just need to secure one end to a door or something. Check this link: Tandy Leather Factory - Natural Cowhide Leather Strips

I bought a 50" x 3" piece to make some paddles at the store. They do have a scrap bin, and you can get a piece of leather to make a strop for next to nothing.

P.S. Just reading the post above about Star Shaving, That's hard to beat....

I have a nice older leather strop that I leave in my shop to touch up carving tools. It's nothing special, but it IS good leather. If you want it it send me your address via PM and I will long term loan it to you for the cost of shipping until you decide what you want to buy; then you can send it back. If you decide you like it, keep it as a gift from me.

How would deer leather work? I just got 3 razors to use and restore. My father-in-law has a bunch of tanned deer hides I would like to use for money saving!

That is really cool of you to offer the strop up like that. I already orderd the big daddy from star shaving it was only $43 with shipping off of ebay so I am going to give it a try but I really thank you for your offer.