Confused by strops and stropping

Hi all,

Last week , I completed my first couple of SR shaves , by a shave-ready vintage razor JR Torrey 11/16 . It went better then I thought, no nicks/cuts/irritation after multiple passes, but I couldn't achieve BBS, DFS only.

Now, in order to continue, I need to get a strop. Thought about SRD English Bridle Premium strop which has many high reviews, but then on SRD site I saw modular paddle strop and very much liked the concept : no need to think about tension etc. also if I damage a pad which is very likely I can get another one for a fraction of price of full strop.

Decided to read a little bit more about it and got very frustrated and confused: on multiple forums the are endless lengthy sophisticated discussions about hanging vs loom vs paddle strops and it all looks terribly complicated while I naively thought stroping is something simple and straightforward not some magical craft so I can do stroping myself and sent a razor for honing couple of times per year.
In particular I read it's easier to 'destroy the edge' on paddle strop becaused it doesn't have 'a give'

If somebody with expertise and hopefully with experience with SRD modular Paddle strop can step in and tell if it's suitable/good for a beginner

Thanks in advance

I don't have experience with the paddle strop, but I do have their hanging strop. Replacement leathers are available for it without having to buy the full strop. Also you could look at whipped dog. Larry has a "poor man's" strop that is aimed at a beginner. No frills, but you won't feel so bad if you cut it.

I think you should get whatever appeals to you most, and whichever you won't mind slicing to ribbons as you learn.

By default, I think it's best to use a hanging strop, although this means you will likely either cut the strop or roll the edge starting out. To mitigate things, and if you are located in the USA, I would suggest purchasing a 5" x 36" piece of vegetable-tanned leather from McMaster-Carr , 1/8" or 3/16" thick depending on your budget, to practice on. Cut the leather down the middle with a utility knife and straight edge to arrive at two 2-1/2" wide pieces, then cut the length to 24". Now you have two hanging strops to work with. Add grommets to the end of each one, and attach them to a doorknob/hinge/hook by means of a leather thong and strop away. Pull the strop slightly taut for starters, but not so taut that the leather stretches or the grommet risks to budge. The two leftover 2-1/2" x 12" pieces can be glued to similarly-sized pieces of plywood should you wish to try stropping on a paddle. I use double-sided, cold-press adhesive from an art-supply store to attach the leather to the plywood.

Best to do it this way, IMO, as you risk to cut the strop or roll the edge starting out. To avoid rolling the edge, perhaps the paddle pieces will work best first. Then switch to the hanging pieces. Once you get it down with these, you will know what works for you, and then it's time to move forward to "higher quality" from there.

Sham's stropping video is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mj5YliQQzg. Only differences I make are that I start from the top rather than the bottom and that I'm inclined these days to hold both components together (if there are two components), so that the unused component isn't dangling and causing things to sway otherwise.

First, thanks a lot for responses. I still don't understand why hanging strop is better then paddle one. Regarding cheap strop, I might go for it, but I understand stroppng is very important and if the difference is few tens of dollars ( not hundreds ) I would better start with a really decent one. I posted this question ( Paddle vs hanging ) directly on SRD site, hope to get an answer from the owner ( Lynn? )

A hanging strop is better because with experience with it, you will be able to adapt the hand-held tension to match the blade in question. Also because it involves a bit more real estate. With a strict (or stiff) paddle, there is no "give" to the underlying leather tension. This is good for knives, from my experience, where the angle of the knife itself can be varied as the spine does not normally make contact with the leather surface, but not so much with razors, where the spine and bevel/edge angle are intended to be stropped at a fixed angle determined by the spine width and bevel/edge resting on the leather surface. Ideally, a strict paddle would work with razors, but relative "slack" in the hanging strop can account for any variance between the two or spine curvature, which a strict paddle would otherwise miss. By way of compromise, loom strops and certain paddle strops with underlying air-spacing underneath can approximate the hanging strop variability, but one is sort of relying on a crutch in this regard, particularly if one does not have the experience of using a hanging strop before this.

Again, for a first strop, it would be better to start out with something that you won't shed too many tears over should it become nicked or seriously cut in starting out. In any case, a decent starter strop, used properly, is much, much better than the finest strop used improperly.

As stated above: Start with a really cheap strop or even a rolled up news paper. It's not a matter of if you cut your first strop but how soon you do it. My first strop lasted a couple of weeks, my second is still with me hundreds of stroppings later.

I have most of the SRD strops. I found the English bridle to take a long time to break in, and had less draw than I like, I prefer the Latigo, Kangaroo, or Buffalo. I like the SRD modular paddle strop when I am coming off honing, but for refreshing I like to use the hard felt hanging strop with diamond sprays. If I had to choose one strop, I would get the SRD Latigo hanging strop and upgrade to the premium linen on the other half.

Diverdoug, thanks for the feedback.
What does it mean, qiantitevly , having more draw or less draw ? Is it resistance ? I thought there is no need to apply pressure, so there should very little resistance if any. Or 'less' draw is something else.
Also, what does it meant ' takes time yo break in' Becames softer? can I take some old razor and strop it for half an hour to 'break' strop? And how do you know if it's broken enoug ?

Thanks a lot

Geometrical question. I am sseng a lot of custom razors designed in such a way so edge is not straight but curved so if looks like sword I think if is called smiling profile. Geometrically, if such a razor is stripped on paddle , only very center of the razor is stropped unless it's being drawn by variety of angles to avoid dead zones on both ends of the edge For such razors is hanging strop better then paddle, since it conforms more to the shape of the edge by curving, than completely flat paddle strop?

Draw it the coefficient of sliding friction between the strop and razor

Some strops can have an increase in draw after a few weeks of use. Theis can occur when there is wearing of an initial shiny surface.

q345 said:

First, thanks a lot for responses. I still don't understand why hanging strop is better then paddle one. Regarding cheap strop, I might go for it, but I understand stroppng is very important and if the difference is few tens of dollars ( not hundreds ) I would better start with a really decent one. I posted this question ( Paddle vs hanging ) directly on SRD site, hope to get an answer from the owner ( Lynn? )

Click to expand...

A hanging strop is better because we say so.





Seriously, it is because with a nice taut strop there is still a tiny bit of sag. This very small amount of sag means that the edge bevel is not totally flat to the strop. With each stroke of the blade, any fin edge or other artifacts are bent back and forth and eventually fall off the edge. That is my WAG, anyway. Anyhow, it is better. A paddle is maybe slightly better than a hanging strop, for use with abrasives. However, lapped balsa is much better than that IME. YMMV.

Diverdoug and Slash, thanks for answering, Now I start to understand or at least I think so. BTW it looks to me that same effect might be achieved with paddle strop if leather strip is mounted on a piece of stiff foam half of inch thick, which will ensure a small amount of sag you mentioned.

Meanwhile I got poor man strop and already slashed it in two places. So I am making.a progress : -) As I understand I can't use glue to repair it. I could have just used a razor to slash 20$ bill directly

The SRD modular paddle strop does have a bit of give because of slots cut below the surface of the paddle. Many paddle strops for sale are solid with no give. I would be concerned with using foam that it remain flat and not become deformed with use.