My 3" bridal strop

I received my 3" English Bridal strop a few days ago and noticed some blemishes along the top edge. I rubbed my fingers along the edge, and, yes, I do feel the slight protrusion or indentation along the blemishes; however it is very slight. Is this a serious thing? Will it hurt my razor if I stopped on it? Here are some close ups.

I tried rubbing it with a glass bottle, but the indentation/protrusion is still there. Will it disappear, or smoothen out in time due to numerous stropping? Or will it hurt my razor? Any suggestions anyone?

I think you're OK with those, but others who know more will be along shortly. Also, I hope you're not going to strop your bride with that. For a strop, it's bridle, like the leather used to make equestrian bridles.

It's a cosmetic issue which won't hurt your razor or have a negative effect on your stropping.

you might want to give it a good rub with a bottle, as stated above I don't think it would hurt the razor as is, but the coke bottle rub might help. I always lather my strops and give a rub with the bottle to break them in.

LOL!!LOL!! I realize my mistake: you are correct that I'm not using my strop in a bridal way, LOL!! Thanks for the correction BSAGuy. Now I know it's 3" English bridle ​strop .

kn4wd said:

you might want to give it a good rub with a bottle, as stated above I don't think it would hurt the razor as is, but the coke bottle rub might help. I always lather my strops and give a rub with the bottle to break them in.

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With what do you lather your strop?- and that would be on the leather strop; right?

Is that a Star Shaving Big Daddy strop?

I have a question about stropping. My 3" English Bridle strop is equipped with a secondary felt strop; a beautiful strop altogether. I'm very, very happy with it. The question is this: Is it a good thing to strop on the felt strop on a habitual basis ( or before every shave ) before stropping on the smooth leather; or should the felt strop be used only once in a while?

The normal routine is to always strop on the fabric first, then on the leather. Most people do about twice the number of laps on the leather as they do on the fabric. My routine consists of 30 laps on fabric, followed by 60 on leather.

TheLegalRazor said:

The normal routine is to always strop on the fabric first, then on the leather. Most people do about twice the number of laps on the leather as they do on the fabric. My routine consists of 30 laps on fabric, followed by 60 on leather.

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Thanks for the reply LegalRazor.That's what I've been doing all along: That is to use the felt strop for 30 laps, and then 60 on the leather. It really puts on a nice edge on the razor doing this, but weren't sure if you were supposed to use the felt strop this frequently or not. Thanks!

a little 600 sand paper and you are brand new

kn4wd said:

you might want to give it a good rub with a bottle, as stated above I don't think it would hurt the razor as is, but the coke bottle rub might help. I always lather my strops and give a rub with the bottle to break them in.

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Alswan had a good question. What do you lather with? I have seen suggestions for everything from nedsfoot oil, olive oil, mink oil, vaseline, baby oil, castor oil.......heck, with all these choices I might as well use WD40 or SAE 10-40 motor oil.

the same as you lather your face with, the same way you lather your face. rub it in let it dry check the draw if too light for you another coat let dry overnight and then brush off what is left, rub good with your palm and use.

Alswan said:

I have a question about stropping. My 3" English Bridle strop is equipped with a secondary felt strop; a beautiful strop altogether. I'm very, very happy with it. The question is this: Is it a good thing to strop on the felt strop on a habitual basis ( or before every shave ) before stropping on the smooth leather; or should the felt strop be used only once in a while?

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The cloth - whatever the cloth is - is a great help with cleaning the razor. We all know by now I think a strop does not make a visible difference (that we can see anyway) on edges (but it does improve them). BUT if you look at your blade after shaving in a loupe you will be disgusted. I have taken to stropping on linen 25 times after every shave (after the blade is rinsed, and wiped dry) and then I do 30 on leather just to cut what I have to do the next morning in half (picked this up from Lakebound). That linen strop really cleans the edge off. I can't imagine whatever that horrible mung is will do the edge any good if it sits there.

LBussy said:

The cloth - whatever the cloth is - is a great help with cleaning the razor. We all know by now I think a strop does not make a visible difference (that we can see anyway) on edges (but it does improve them). BUT if you look at your blade after shaving in a loupe you will be disgusted. I have taken to stropping on linen 25 times after every shave (after the blade is rinsed, and wiped dry) and then I do 30 on leather just to cut what I have to do the next morning in half (picked this up from Lakebound). That linen strop really cleans the edge off. I can't imagine whatever that horrible mung is will do the edge any good if it sits there.

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Haven't heard "Mung" since my days in the Navy many years ago!

Frank

I was Army so we used much more direct terminology (which is inappropriate here).

I actually just checked out the thread to see what he was dong to his poor wife.

LBussy said:

I was Army so we used much more direct terminology (which is inappropriate here).

I actually just checked out the thread to see what he was dong to his poor wife.

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Gotta love homonyms!

(Cue the "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A HOMONYM?!?!" comments...)

I'm in a similar situation. I have wrinkles on my new strop that seem to have been caused by the strop bending on itself (concave curve). If I bend it in the other direction (convex) they completely disappear. If I run my hand along the surface of the strop, the texture changes where the wrinkles are... I will take a wild guess and say that it would would be bad for the straight razor... should I just sand this out with the aforementioned 600 grit? Apply mink oil?

Thanks for your help!

nomdeweb said:

I'm in a similar situation. I have wrinkles on my new strop that seem to have been caused by the strop bending on itself (concave curve). If I bend it in the other direction (convex) they completely disappear. If I run my hand along the surface of the strop, the texture changes where the wrinkles are... I will take a wild guess and say that it would would be bad for the straight razor... should I just sand this out with the aforementioned 600 grit? Apply mink oil?

Thanks for your help!

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I feel like sandpaper on a new strop is kind of "the nuclear option". For removing crud from a vintage strop, very necessary, but for slight surface imperfections on a new strop, I think it's better to exhaust other options that won't remove surface material from the strop. I would lather the strop with a tallow based soap (I use Tabac), work the lather into the strop with my hands, place the strop on a flat, stable surface, and commence hard rubbing it's surface with a bottle, or if the wife isn't around, use her marble rolling pin like I do

Also, remember that if you chose to apply oils to the strop, less is more. Too much is a bad thing. Apply a few drops to your hands and work it into the leather. If you feel you've expended ALL of the oil from your hands before you've finished the entire length of the strop, apply a few more drops to your hands and finish the job.

Thank you entropy1049!

Makes sense that sanding is an extreme measure... the wrinkles seemed deep and I thought that I would have to remove some of the material. As you suggested, I started with the bottle. I didn't have a tallow based soap, but used a bit of warm water and rubbed the strop with a bottle... within just a few passes it made a difference! I kept going, probably longer than I should have, and everything seems to be the way it should. Visually there is a slight hint that something might have, at one time, been amiss, but to the touch, my main concern, everything seems perfect. I'm relieved that the problem has been taken care of!