What do you put on the Wool Felt strop?

I am relatively new to STR8 shaving and have been using a Dovo 2" strop with regualr leather and linen parts. I put TI strop paste on the linen side and it seems to work well for me.
Now I have ordered a new strop that has wool felt instead of linen. DO you just leave the wool "clean", or do you use some paste (or diamond spray)?

I just use it for diamond spray or pastes.

A spritz or three of .25 diamond spray.

Dont spray too much or it will swell on you, or so it has been said. I just stay a few inches away and spritz it evenly, around 3 pumps.

I too use .25 diamond on my felt strop.

Diamond spray, or you can sprinkle some CrOx powder on it too, or do both.

Thanks everyone - the diamond spray sounds like something I would like to try.

I have two of the HS felt strops.

One is unpasted and used only to dry my razors post-shave. The other is pasted with CrOx and 0.25 micron diamond mixed. I've never been able to get the pasted strop to improve any of my edges. If anything, it seems to degrade the edges.

I usually do sets of five light laps on the strop. After each step, I test the edge.

I wish I could get it to work. It would come in really handy.

I made a 2 sided paddle with .5 and .25 on them. I do ten laps each with light pressure, followed by crox on balsa to tame the edge a bit. Seems to work great on touchups....ymmv.

MajorBurnz said:

I've never been able to get the pasted strop to improve any of my edges. If anything, it seems to degrade the edges.

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+1 However, pastes/sprays + hard substraight (i.e. my lapped Spyderco UF) works wonders YMMV though.

I've only tried diamond spray on balsa, and it works well for me.

I don't have any diamond spray or crox on hand, so I did a little looking around for alternative solutions...and heard that Mothers works. So last night I loaded up my "ugly" linen strop with the stuff and guess what? HHT!!!!! I do have another linen strop left untreated, but I'd definately recommend having a treated on on hand, it just makes the shave so much easier!

-Matt-

I use CBN 0.125 I like it better than diamond spray because IMHO it leaves a smoother edge, same keenness just smoother

R

riooso said:

I use CBN 0.125 I like it better than diamond spray because IMHO it leaves a smoother edge, same keenness just smoother

R

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So you would say that it's harder to "overcook" an edge on the CBN vs diamond? I find shaving off of unadulterated .25 diamond to be kinda harsh on the face no matter how many laps of linen and leather I do first.

Kentos said:

So you would say that it's harder to "overcook" an edge on the CBN vs diamond? I find shaving off of unadulterated .25 diamond to be kinda harsh on the face no matter how many laps of linen and leather I do first.

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I find diamond harsh also, specially 0.25, I had better luck with diamond when I went to 0.1 micron diamond film. It has been said many times the once you get above about 8K all you are doing is polishing the bevel and have little effect on the actual edge. Diamonds cut in a jagged fashion and I think it goes all along the bevel out to the final edge causing a "toothy" edge that grabs hairs nicely, but also skin and it is easier than hell to slice yourself. CNB does not have the same structural shape as diamonds and because of this does not leave as jagged a cut. Something more along the line of standard stones and I have a fairly strong belief random sizes like a J-Nat.

I find that with 0.1 CBN (became available a while back) I have a lot more control than I did with diamond. The resulting polish on the bevel has a mirror reflection that is not to be believed. After about 3 laps on a 12" long felt strop that it is about right for what I want. A very nice difference but not overpowering and more forgiving than diamond specially when using a scything stroke.

I don't know where you are at in the straight razor honing journey but I would bet that being in Hawaii it is tough to get supplies. I don't have much in the way of felt supplies but PM me, if you wish, and I will send you a strip of felt that is already impregnated with your choice of 0.125 or 0.1 micron that will last you hundreds if not thousands of uses. It would be easy to send in a standard envelope and no hassles with shipping liquids which is the form that CBN comes in.


Take Care,
Richard

Wow, that would be great!!

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