Thread: dorko strop

Hi, i have a small dorko strop (16 inches) and i only dull my razor on it, i tried to follow the techniques in the videos i found, no pressure, a little pressure etc.. it does not help. The leather feels like suede (even the smoother side, the other side is just rougher, no linen or anything) so today i applied leather conditionner to see if it makes it any difference, and now that its dry, i tried to strop my dovo bq and the sound changed to a more scratchy sound, is it good?
I dont know if its the strop or my technique. But i dont want to dull my new hart.

Anyway i just ordered a new 3" English Bridal Leather Strop-Chestnut from classicedge as i find the dorko too small.

Do you have any experience with either?
Thanks

Mike

I would think that its your technique rather than the strop. Was your razor shave ready? When you apply strop conditioner it will change the draw of your strop so that may be the sound you are hearing. I would try and lay the strop flat on a counter and strop that way until you get the hang of it. Putting it on the counter ensures that the strop is flat so you can focus more on your hand and wrist movement. The strop you bought from ce is good, but I would practice on your other strop a while before I put a blade to your new one. Finally you may have rolled the edge of your razor. This can happen from improper stropping and it sounds like this may be what happened here. You may wind up having to send your razor off to get re honed if thats the case. How does it shave?

Thanks for the tips, i'll try with the strop flat to see if it improves my technique, im sending my dovo to be honed properly today.
Mike

Originally Posted by Mmmike

Thanks for the tips, i'll try with the strop flat to see if it improves my technique, im sending my dovo to be honed properly today.
Mike

Was your dovo honed before or where you trying to use the factory edge?

No, i bought it from centredu rasoir and it was factory sealed. I bought a 4k/8k stone and tried to do it myself but with little success.

Then I am going to guess that your razor was never shave ready as many dovos need a new bevel set on them before they are truly shave ready.

So your strop and your stropping technique are not bad. That's the good news the bad news is you need to send your razor out to get honed. Which I think you already did.

In the mean time you can use a butter knife to practice stropping.

I think the butter knife is an excellent idea, why didnt i think of that?

Mike

Originally Posted by Castel33

Then I am going to guess that your razor was never shave ready as many dovos need a new bevel set on them before they are truly shave ready.

So your strop and your stropping technique are not bad. That's the good news the bad news is you need to send your razor out to get honed. Which I think you already did.

In the mean time you can use a butter knife to practice stropping.

For the first time stropping my razor does something other than dull the blade, i put it flat on the counter and slowly made about 60 passes with my hart, and the razor ended up sharper than ever. From now on i will practice like this and when i get faster i'll hang the strap like before, and im still waiting for my new 3" strap.

Mike

Old strop (dorko autruche..) vs new strop ( 3" English Bridal Leather Strop-Chestnut from classicedge) Big difference :-D The drag feels much better and i have a felt side now that i have to try