Thread: balsa strop? good or no?

Originally Posted by jaswarb

No intention towards contention, but didn't gssixgun address this issue by trying to over strop an edge with pasted strops? .5 micron paste IMVHO might on a balsa block be capable (stress might be) of producing a harsh edge(according to some faces) but it would seem stropping or using the crox on canvas or felt lessens the effect and smoothes an otherwise "harsh" edge according to Lyn's advice.

Unless one is pressing the edge with spine off the strop I don't see the harm.

I have been known to be wrong.

Yes he did do a whole thread where his intention was to over use paste. He found that doing so at least for him really wasn't possible. However what is being said here:

"My usual warning to new users. Anything that involves abrasives will usually magnify your stropping faults 10x. Get your linen & leather stropping down pat first then consider harsher media."

Is not about over using paste. This is talking about if your stropping technique is not good. Paste will show the error quicker and usually with much more damage to the blade edge do to the bad stropping.

Now to the original op the set up you are asking about is how I started as well and is a good setup. My suggestion would be if you get this set up to put the balsa aside for at least a month and really put the effort into keeping your blade shaving sharp on the leather strop. After that you can start using the balsa strop. Also before you use the leather strip search YouTube for hanging newspaper strop. Give that a try for at least 3 days to a week and it will greatly help your stropping technique as it is real easy to cut a newspaper strop but it won't hurt the blade edge to much ( normally not enough to destroy your edge) this will show you if you are torqueing the blade into the strop at any point in your stroke.

Try it, a balsa strop is inexpensive, a couple of bucks from any hobby shop. All Onimaru is saying, is it is not a panacea, it may put you off Chrome Ox and search for another magic bullet, when you don’t need more bullets, you just need to learn sight picture and trigger squeeze. Maybe not, I don’t know.

Stropping technique is more important than the material you are stropping on. Balsa is not forgiving, much less than leather and if you are nicking or cutting leather you will do worst with balsa and then may cause more harm to the edge, than good.

So try it, but continue to work on stropping technique. Good stropping is underrated. It is how you maintain a good keen edge.

Castle33 does the newspaper strop have any stropping benifits, or is it the veritable "wooden sword" of the stropping world? I am going to use it either way but I don't want to over strop (which I hear can damage the razor) basically I am starting out having sharpened blades 2 different ways, knife sharpening and sword/ axe sharpening and they are very different techniques, but neither are as precise as razor sharpening and both are much more forgiving (the way it's been explained to me) so I am being overly cautious with what I am doing, therefore a practice medium would be a wonderful tool for me

Don't think you have much to worry about "Overstropping" on newspaper, though you may just improve you technique. Over stropping to a novice does not exist, probable even for a seasoned stropper. Incorrect technique certainly does...though.

Boots, many will tell you, your sharpening skills will not transfer. Not so, while knives & swords vs. razors are not the same, many skills do transfer, similar though not the same.

If you are proficient you may have a leg up. Stropping is another kettle of fish. It is where most make their mistake. Go slow and develop the muscle memory that is required for consistent, repeatable results. Stropping seems so simple and can be mind numbing, a second of inattention will knick a strop or damage the edge or both. It is muscle memory that takes the thinking and inattention out of the equation. Slow, steady perfect strokes.

Any old smooth leather belt or better a strip of nylon webbing from a fabric store for a couple of dollars make excellent practice strops. It is not practice that makes prefect, it is perfect practice that makes … perfect.

Originally Posted by Boots

Castle33 does the newspaper strop have any stropping benifits, or is it the veritable "wooden sword" of the stropping world? I am going to use it either way but I don't want to over strop (which I hear can damage the razor) basically I am starting out having sharpened blades 2 different ways, knife sharpening and sword/ axe sharpening and they are very different techniques, but neither are as precise as razor sharpening and both are much more forgiving (the way it's been explained to me) so I am being overly cautious with what I am doing, therefore a practice medium would be a wonderful tool for me

Hi Boots

Newspaper ink is slightly abrasive. I don't really know what the microns might be for it though. I think it is less then .25 but as I said I have no way of proving it. For the purpose of how I have used it in the pass is as a substitute for leather. You can then shave off the newspaper like you would leather.

As has been mentioned by Euclid over stropping is a debatable issue. I tend to use less stropping strokes then many on SRP but with that said I don't think you can really over strop. You can reach a point where stropping really isn't doing anything other then working on your technique. Where you will get into damaging a blades edge is with poor stropping strokes and as you strop for longer periods of time you fatigue your arm and make yourself more likely to make a bad stroke. So if you do some stropping walk away for a bit then come back I think you will be fine.

Newspaper on a book or table has been suggest a lot for new shavers on SRP. I like the hanging version because most shavers are going to eventually use a hanging strop.

One other thing if you plan on sharpening your own blades I suggest spending some time reading in the honing section of SRP (Honing) there are some differences between razors and knifes. Don't know about ax's

Originally Posted by jaswarb

No intention towards contention, but didn't gssixgun address this issue by trying to over strop an edge with pasted strops? .5 micron paste IMVHO might on a balsa block be capable (stress might be) of producing a harsh edge(according to some faces) but it would seem stropping or using the crox on canvas or felt lessens the effect and smoothes an otherwise "harsh" edge according to Lyn's advice.

Unless one is pressing the edge with spine off the strop I don't see the harm.

I have been known to be wrong.

You're not wrong but neither am I.
I was referring more to using hones but my main point holds. "Get your linen & leather stropping down pat first then consider harsher media". If you are rounding off your edge on leather thru bad technique, abrasives magnify your faults.