Thread: First major knick in strop-Doh!

Dear Fellow Razorheads. Remind me not to strop after work. Was getting a little practice in and managed to carve a 1 " line about 2" from the bottom on my lovely 3" Big Daddy Strop. Thank God, I just received a latigo/bridle leather paddle strop. Is this a rite of passage or just a mistake? Is there any way to fix this blemish other than to strop in front of it? Shoudl I buy a less expensive practice strop to chew up? Doh and double doh!-Gearhead

It is a bummer but I think we have all nicked a strop or two or three. Part of the territory. It probably won't be the last one but I'm betting you'll be more careful in the future.

using a bir of sandpaper to remove the sliced of leather.


(personall i used a scalpel to remove cut leather then sand paper to smooth)

You might try rubber cement if there is a flap and glue it down. Not so good on a straight thru cut but if enough angle it will hold. Glue ,clamp and wait. Then sand out the bump if there is one.

Not that I would know from experience

Thanx guys! Shaved again today with my Cowboy and boy howdy did I cut myself! Doh! Thank God, I'm really hard headed and will master this. Waiting on the Diamond Slurry Balsa strop, as I think that this blade that cut the leather strop needs some help! FWIW, the cut is really shallow and very hard to feel. Feel lucky that it could have been much worse! Strop and myself!-John

Hey man, happens to the best of us! Definitely a rite of passage... I swore up & down that my "nicking days" were over, so I bought a brand-new Big Daddy 3" English Bridle strop. Guess what? I nicked the damn thing the second day I had it!!

Yeah, I think nicking your first strop is a rite of passage!! When I started, I not only nicked my strop from improper technique, but then made it worse, because I performed the other "rite of passage" by dinging my brand new Dovo Spike Point on the faucet!! SO, as I attempted to strop that, made some pretty nice scratches in my latigo...ahhh...the learning curve.

Thanx for the quick replies, guys. I perform hospital mnt. for a living, and am continuously learning technical every day. Thankfully, my strop was nicked about 2" from the bottom, so I have lots more stropping area left! Finally broke down and ordered a Norton 3 stone set, plus a DMT 325 stone and inexpensive Nagura stone. Star Shavings Chromium Oxide Balsa strop seems to be working well and I just ordered a .25 Diamond Slurry Balsa strop from them for blade mnt. Their Big Daddy strop is a great beginners strop and Ron's customer service is great, IMHO-Gearhead

gearhead222,

Yup - it has happened to us all As I have said in other posts, I nick-named my first strop ScarFace; you can guess what that strop looked like !

As the other posters have said, you can glue the cut. Finish with 600 or 800 grit silicon carbide paper, then rub the abraded area well with your palm - perhaps with the smallest amount of neatsfoot oil.

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

As I mentioned earlier, the cut is so slight, as I caught it just as it began-you cannot feel the slice going one way-the other way is very slight. Bet that it's okay, although the damage is at the bottom 2" of the strop-never again!-Gearhead