Thread: Mastro Livi loom Strop

Originally Posted by MikeB52

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

Join the club!

Nobody ever get hooked on the first one...

I wanted to update something I said about the pricing being double what I paid for my Damascus razor from Mastro Livi. The quote I received a couple of months ago was for a Artisan Damascus Steel which is much more expensive then the Damascus stainless steel on my present razor. I feel Mastro Livi was kind enough to reply to my post with an explanation and that I should post the misunderstanding and say if I ordered the same razor I have today the price would be similar.

I just received my Mastro Livi "small" loom strop and wanted to give my early reviews thus far.

First of all, the service from the Mastro is outstanding. I placed the order about 9:00 PM CDT on Tuesday, and had the strop at my house by Friday at 1:00 PM. DHL does the international delivery (of course, not cheap).

As others have noted, the strop comes in a nice wooden box with a sliding lid. Intended to be kept in the box to keep it clean. Since I ordered the "small" stop, I thought the box would be about the size of a shoe box, but it's much longer.

I debated on small vs medium for the longest time but settled for the small after watching Mastro Livi strop some razors with a small strop on his videos. I am very glad I got this size rather than medium.

So far I've used the strop for 2 days. Yesterday I did so very slowly and very carefully (using Mastro Livi's method on his video) using just leather. Today I (slightly less slowly but still carefully) did about 15 passes on the CrOx linen side then about 10 on leather. This is a razor I've been learning to hone on with mixed results. The shave after this stropping reminded me of when I first bought the razor which was superbly honed prior to shipping. Not quite as sharp and smooth but getting pretty close!

Others have commented on the build quality of the loom strop. It seems very nicely done to me. All the screws and nuts were properly tightened. The handle rotates to tension the strop and this is a very convenient mechanism.

So -- I am impressed! It seems well made and it performs wonderfully. I look forward to getting more experience with it over time.

Thanks for everyones reviews. Mine should be with me tomorrow

Someday I will get one, but I'm still leaning toward the medium.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Someday I will get one, but I'm still leaning toward the medium.

Get the large.

If someone breaks into your home you can use it as a weapon.

It's really very nice. I have one.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Someday I will get one, but I'm still leaning toward the medium.

After 400E's review, I think mine will be the small.

I have the small and it does fine. The large may reduce the number of laps needed but I don't see that as a big issue.

The Loom strop performs well. Is it any better than my Neil Millers or Kanayamas? Not that I can tell.

I could definitely see getting the medium if one has enough room in their bathroom/shave den. If nothing else, it is about 3" wide so don't need to do the x-stroke.

On the other hand, one thing that makes the "small" work pretty well is that, like all loom strops, you have the entire surface of the strop to use. You don't lose a couple inches of real estate at the ends like you do with a hanging strop.