Medal of Award 814 - Stropping material makes a huge difference!

I recently acquired a NOSish Medal of Award 814. Before this strop I was using a vintage pigskin strop that I picked up at an antique store near by. I had GREAT shaves before and always noticed edge improvement after stropping; once I was good at it that is. Now that I've got my hands on this bad boy, Scotch Shell and Belfast Linen, I've had multiple AMAZING shaves. I've only been shaving with a SR since the start of the summer so I'm sure that my honing and shaving techniques are improving BUT I can also say that a great strop made of great materials is a must have! Everyone does seem to have a personal preference and, as with most things, this is all that matters but this higher quality and better built strop has me sold on the idea of picking quality steel with quality stones and quality leather to achieve a great shave!

I'm almost at the point of getting, IMHO, perfect shaves for my face.

I'm finishing my blades on a Purple WHIG, 20 laps of CrOx treated balsa, 20 laps on the belfast linen and 50 laps on the scotch shell. It seems like a half decent, in-expensive setup.

There are talks of squeezing another 10% out of your blade. Is it worth spending the money on a JNAT/Escher/Zulu Grey, a ROO or high end kanayama strop, and expensive strop treatments?

Does anyone here use a similar setup as me? If so, does it really get THAT much better?

I've always wanted to own a NEW Ferrari but to wait 4 years and spend more on a car than I will ever spend on my house seems silly when a glorified minivan (7 passenger 2012 Ford Explorer) gets me to and from work and is big enough for my wife, kid and dog.

Chime in and let me know your thoughts please!!!

Attachment 111222Attachment 111223Attachment 111224Attachment 111225Attachment 111226Attachment 111227

You will see again and again on this site the notion you should be using quality items be it a razor or strop or hone or anything else concerning wet shaving. Using poor quality items just gives you a poor result and a negative attitude about straight shaving. The important point is many folks associate spending a lot of money with quality when in fact you can get great gear for a minimal investment.

Thanks Bigspendur! This guy cost me $26 (that includes shipping). One of my better ebay scores that will stay in my collection for a long time!

Great find. Older strop gets a new life. Enjoy!

Brooksie,

Having mastered stropping, the best investments one can make, is the highest quality strop you can afford. The last thing that will touch your razor’s edge daily will be your strop. It can make or break everything you have done prior to prepare the edge.

While the strop you have looks great you don’t know what has been on it before. Just flying dust will affect performance and imbedded grit and gunk may never come out of leather pores. I would give it a good cleaning and look at the edge prior and post cleaning, looking for errant stria on the bevel, you may get lucky, but you can’t go wrong with a quality, new strop.

As far as high grit, expensive natural stones… that is a personal preference but really, it is hard to argue with the edges pastes like CBN can deliver. It can take an 8k edge or any edge, to a whole other level. And it is something almost anyone can do and maintain with relatively little skill and cost.

If I had to start over on a budget, I would do Synthetic stones 1 - 8K a C12K, one of the “Welch Stones” or Ark Translucent or Black Surgical, CBN .50 and .125 or .10 and a good quality strop.

Right now, buying a Ferrari as an investment will out-perform your house. Ferrari prices are at an all-time low and will put at least a couple of kids through college in the future. Rent and buy the Ferrari.

Just wanted to give an update.
This strop continues to give me excellent results. Edges are consistently improving and are far nicer than the ones produced with my older strop.
Thanks for all the tips and advice in here!