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!!!