Thread: Mastro Livi loom Strop

I did try to cancel the razor but the reply I got was it's not possible.

I have the club 2016 razor and signed up for the 2017 but decided against it. I will say last Christmas I purchased a Griffeta which shaves very nice. It is made from a block of stainless steel. I noticed when I got the 2016 razor it seemed to be ground to an extra hollow which gives it a lot of flex. I can get a decent shave with plenty of pre-shave and a thick cream. I prefer a blade 3/4 hollow like my antler razor from Livi. As for my Livi strops, love then. I once in a great while put W-40 or silicone spray on the threads. I have noticed his pricing has gone up substantially. The Damascus razor has doubled in price since I bought it 2 years ago. Wish my stock portfolio has done the same thing.

I got a full refund this morning. Which was nice of him.

I saw a picture of a 2016 club razor on Instagram yesterday that had been horrendously honed.

I must say it does look terrible. When jamie honed my carbinox and btw jamie is top honer, the bevel was not even due to the the razor. Jamie had chipping issues at the 5 k level and he told me to send it back. I never did as I did,not want the hassle. Mastro makes beautiful looking razors but it does seem there are guys that had problems with shave qaulity and on the other hand lots of guys that have great shaves and no problems.

I agree that my older Livi razors are better then the new ones. The only Livi razor i had to dump was the RWL 34. Terrible shaving razor that would not take an edge. Sent it to 2 of the best honers and they said they had them and also sold them because they wouldn't take an edge.

Originally Posted by gary haywood

I must say it does look terrible. When jamie honed my carbinox and btw jamie is top honer, the bevel was not even due to the the razor. Jamie had chipping issues at the 5 k level and he told me to send it back. I never did as I did,not want the hassle. Mastro makes beautiful looking razors but it does seem there are guys that had problems with shave qaulity and on the other hand lots of guys that have great shaves and no problems.

Yeah I can only agree with everything Gary said about the Livi razor, I can only speak as I find I've seen far to many of these razors with similar issues, the razor Gary sent me the edge just kept crumbling away the steel was obviously not fit for purpose.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Actually, so far I keep it in it's wooden box, tuck it behind the door in my rec room, have some brushes, soaps and other shaving related stuff on a book shelf, just bring it out, have a table there, just place the bottom of the loom on the table top, hold it up at about 45 degree angle and away you go.

Really is a beautiful piece of leather, even better that it looks like human skin stretched over the metal frame, and Livi says you strop until the bevel is clean and it gleams, and the strop definitely does that, without that many laps as well.

Shave I had tonight with my W&B, after refreshing on the Escher, and then stropped with the treated side, then stropped with the skin side, was sublime....glad I got one.

So, to take us back to the original purpose of this thread, if I may for a bit...

Phrank,
Would you mind giving us your opinion of the Livi loom strop now that you've had it (and presumably used it daily) for a month?

Would you buy it again, if you had it all to do over?

I am still deciding a) whether to get one; and 2) if so, small or medium.

Originally Posted by 400E

So, to take us back to the original purpose of this thread, if I may for a bit...

Phrank,
Would you mind giving us your opinion of the Livi loom strop now that you've had it (and presumably used it daily) for a month?

Would you buy it again, if you had it all to do over?

I am still deciding a) whether to get one; and 2) if so, small or medium.

I would definitely buy it again, and I'm glad I went for this loom strop.

It has been mentioned that this strop puts an incredible gleam on the bevel of the razor, and with few laps, and I've found this to be the case. I've stropped quite a few razors on this strop, as well as recently finished honing a couple of razors as well as refreshing quite a few, and the Crox side is fantastic, and then stropping on the leather certainly brings out a nice edge.

I had an interesting experience couple of weeks back, I had honed a razor and wanted to try it right off the stones, no stropping. And the shave was "meh"...I then gave it 40 laps on the loom strop, now in this case the strop itself doesn't matter, but for the first time I experienced the direct results of what stropping does.

The razor that had performed poorly but passably now was absolutely perfect, and it was clear to me that stropping the razor absolutely brings the bevel together and tightens to edge up considerable. Know I may be stating the obvious, but it was fascinating to actually be able to demonstrate how important stropping is.

The Livi Loom strop is very nice, you can slow down and pay attention to ensure the entire edge of the blade meets the strop - Mastro Livi's video on how he strops using the Loom strop was informative.

Having said that, I think in general a Loom strop is a great things to have, the Livi in particular as my only experience with a loom as the "human skin" leather is very nice, the bevel gleams after using it.

Also, Mastro Livi passes on a cool way to clean your strop, soft cloth, some lighter fluid, and wipe on direction, cleans the leather very nicely, and dries instantly, then rub with the palm - have cleaned all my strops that way.

It's a unique loom strop for sure, and glad I got it...

Darn your articulate, informative, enabling answers Phrank!!
Exactly as I feared, the strop seems to be perfect. Oh the SAD sets in...