Thread: Is My Strop doing more harm them good?

Hi SRP members,
I am a two year user of straight razors and i have my technique down and every thing...so i think. I have three strops(two vintage and one homemade). My first vintage(brown) is beat to hell but still excels in its purpose; however my recently required vintage strop(black) appears to be damaging my carefully made edges. while looking at both vintage strops the black appears in much better condition. While i was doing a side by side stropping i noticed them thing odd. The brown strop gives nice smooth laps, while trying to complete a pass on the black one it feels there no friction with the blade and the leather. Does this mean that the strop is useless.
On a side note i believe i am using the strop correctly, i do not think my technique is to question.

I don't know enough about strops to give any advice, but how does the razor perform after stroping on both? That might give some type of indication.
I have two very different strops & the slide of the blade feels different on each, but both keep my edge in great shape.

Different strops have different amounts of 'draw' (the feel of friction as you strop) and that's normal. Why do you think your blade is getting damaged? What's the evidence for that?

Sometimes a strop needs a little "breaking in" as it were. Some people like to strop a newly acquired strop with the back of a break knife, for example. Others like to raise a heavier draw with a light sanding or similar.

However, you say this new strop is a vintage one? I too repeat the question mdarnton asked - how do you know your blade is being damaged by this strop? What have you noticed happens to the edge after you use it? Have you checked this strop's surface for contaminants? It may have been pasted, or perhaps someone "cleaned" it up by sanding it down and left grit embedded in the surface? Or perhaps it just needs some TLC - mink oil or neatsfoot or some other conditioning treatment.

If however all that is happening is that the strokes feel different (ie one has more friction than the other), then perhaps your edges are not being damaged at all. As Hirlau says, it is the shave that counts. Maybe the feeling on the new strop is just that - a feeling and nothing more. If the shave is still good the strop is doing its job.

Good luck.

James.

Hi,
I am sorry if my post is a little confusing i have been under a lot of stress and my writing abilities have always been a problem. I am going to attempt to address all the question i have been asked. The strop in question is about 45 years old, i have used an old retired razor to break in the strop, also i have applied neatsfoot oil.
I belive it is ruining the edge of my razors. A great example would be my Extra Hollow Torry, one of my better razors. I spend about an hour and a half going from 4k to 12,000k. I have tested it on my arm hairs, but after meeting the strop and trying to shave with i got nothing. It hardly cuts now. I have evaluated my shaving style and my stropping.

I don't think you're yet in the region of proof for blaming the strop. Arm hair is a pretty easy target. Better would be to sharpen the razor, then try to shave. Then strop and try to shave. Compare equal situations, not different ones. It it shaves well without stropping, but fails after, then you can blame the strop.

Originally Posted by mdarnton

I don't think you're yet in the region of proof for blaming the strop. Arm hair is a pretty easy target. Better would be to sharpen the razor, then try to shave. Then strop and try to shave. Compare equal situations, not different ones. It it shaves well without stropping, but fails after, then you can blame the strop.

+1. Why not take a razor that is definitely shave ready and use your brown strop before the shave. The following day use the black strop and shave. If the edge isn't as good on day 2 maybe the strop needs to be looked at. IME horsehide strops have very little draw. Could be your black strop is made of horse. Also if you have an eye loupe and can examine your edge before and after that might reveal something. Last and not least give the black strop a palm rub and see if you feel anything out of order that might account for the edge deteriorating. I'm guessing that although the razor cut arm hair after the hones it may have needed more work to get "there".

What make is your black strop? I only ask because I know a few (Roma, Scorcher) that each had a strop in their lines that had some sort of carborundum grit embedded in the leather for coarse sharpening. They usually had another leather side, though, for fine sharpening. Then you went onto plain leather and then onto a strop with carbon black on it for polishing. Some just had a fine sharpening and a finishing side.

Of course, that doesn't rule out the fact that someone has treated it with a rather abrasive paste at sometime in the past.

If it has been pasted, you might have some luck sanding it (fine wet and dry paper), saddle-soaping it, squeegeeing the surface with a stout, seamless, smooth bottle and buffing it, but its only an outside chance.

If it is plain leather and providing it didn't dry out, get hard and start cracking and the neatsfoot has made nice, pliable and supple again, there's no reason why it shouldn't work. If it dried too much, that's another story - not all the neatsfoot in the world will bring it back.

Regards,
Neil