Leather strops from India

Hello. I have a cheap strop set that I ordered that came from India. The leather strop is quite a nice quality leather, and the canvas part is slightly lumpy in 1 or2 places and the canvas seems to be of good quality- definitely not the best- but of good quality nevertheless.
I have a few questions:

Q1. Is there a way to smoothen out the light lumps on the canvas belt?
Q2. Would I hurt my razor if I stopped on this canvas strop? The lumps are very slight, but it's there and in only one or two places.
Q3. Is it advisable to strop on the rough side of the leather strop; would that be a good alternative to stropping on the canvas strop?

I'd appreciate your advise- thanks!

Pics please

Brianskeet said:

Pics please

Click to expand...

I've taken some photos but have nooooo idea of knowing how to paste it here: I went to GALLERY and selected four different photos of my strop and uploaded it to GALLERY but when I went to PROCESS, all four photos were one and the same. Will you or some one give me step by step instructions on how to post the photos here.? In any case you will see the photos one or two different photos there. It's named 'My strop from India" (the nut and bolt shows where the 'slight blister-like protrusion is located-it is a very,very slight protrusion).Nevertheless, I'd like to post the photos here. What must I do to do this?
I'd your help.

Thanks.

When posting, if you use the advanced post option (not quick reply), you can click on "manage attachments" and upload up to five images there.

We love our shaving pics so let me see if I can help you out. Click reply and then just over the text box you will see a row of buttons. The third from the right is insert picture. Click that and it will give you options. Then select my computer, open the folder where the pictures are, select them and hit upload. I hope I helped! Let me know if I didn't and I will see what I can do.

Ok, Brainskeet; I'll give that a try.right on!!! It worked! I tried that last time, but for some reason it didn't work. I also appreciated your advise Sliceoflife!! Thank-you gentiemen!!

In this photo you'll see a nut and bolt that marks the spots of a very slight lump on the canvas strop.

Here are 2 more photos. I hope that this is helpful.
Thanks for the help gentlemen!!

The bumps in the cloth appear very minor to me and can probably be ignored. If they impair your stropping you can sand the canvas a bit to remove them.

Thanks,Brianskeet. Would ironing the canvas be a good thing?- Would that help? Also; would stropping on the rough side of the leather strop be a good alternative to stropping on canvas?

An iron won't hurt, but I would suggest rubbing vigorously with a glass bottle. It flattens while it flexes the cloth, both of which help to break it in. Unless the rough side of the leather has been finished to a pretty high degree I would steer clear of stropping on it.

Is it possible for the canvas to be made of man made materials like nylon or polyester? Even if it is a blend, a hot iron would not be good!

Oh! Thanks a lot gentlemen regarding advice on not ironing and on avoiding stropping on the untreated back-side of a leather strop. I AM thinking of getting a better strop. What I have in mind is a 3" English bridle strop with a secondary felt strop.
thanks again for your suggestions.

Here is an another question. I am seriously considering getting a 3" Bridle strop with the secondary felt strop. I would like to consider applying a diamond spray on one side of the felt strop ,but I see various grades of the diamond spray. A .25, .5, and 1 micron[or would that be .1?] If it is 1micron spray, would that spray be smoother( or finer grit) than a .5 micron---OR what diamond spray or other paste do you recommend to put on the felt strop?

I want to use the sprayed felt strop as a means to hone my blade after the 12k Naniwa stone.

The lower the number, the finer grit. With the sprays, that number represents the avg particle size. So .5 micron is ~5x the size of .1 micron.


Now, what leaves the nicest edge is a whole hornets nest. You may want to buy a half dozen cotton weave strips from a fabric or craft store and try several pastes before deciding which to put on your felt. There's no real consensus over which paste/spray is best. Green 0.5 Chromox is probably the old standard, but there's a lot of options out there.

Thanks for the info SliceOfLife.

I am a long way from being an expert on pastes or sprays, but I would agree that Chromium oxide (green) is the most frequently used paste.

Thank-you for your comments, Brainskeet. I already have a balsa wood laced with chromium-oxide ( .5 micron ) the next finer grit would be .25 micron diamond spray;( am I right to believe this?) It will be very interesting to see what happens when I refresh the blade in that order.
I am still a novice at this sort of thing and find your comments helpful: Thanks!

You are correct the .25 diamond spray is finer. Many straight razor shavers do exactly that, but some, myself included, do not like the shave off of diamond sprays. It will leave the razor very sharp, but feels a bit harsh on my face when I shave.

Again, thanks for the tip, Brainskeet!!