Newspaper strop advice

Hi Gents

How do you guys hold the newspaper taught to strop against, how do you secure it at the end. Does anyone have a special way that they do this, or have they designed a little gadget to help them out. Also, how long, wide and thick do you set the paper, is it a normal strop length and width etc. Much appreciate the advice, I used some paper last night and got a very smooth shave, not sure my stropping was as good as it could have been hence the message.

Regards
London

Dave12345 said:

Hi Gents

How do you guys hold the newspaper taught to strop against, how do you secure it at the end. Does anyone have a special way that they do this, or have they designed a little gadget to help them out. Also, how long, wide and thick do you set the paper, is it a normal strop length and width etc. Much appreciate the advice, I used some paper last night and got a very smooth shave, not sure my stropping was as good as it could have been hence the message.

Regards
London

Click to expand...

Hi.

I get the thickness of about 10 sheets on a hard surface (like the edge of a table) and use it like a paddle strop.

I dont cut it to standard length or anything, i just open that days newspaper on the table and have at it. Thats only travel though, and its nothing near as good as using a proper strop.

Wrap it around your hone or paddle strop. Failing that, wrap it around a chunk of wood. The 1/2x3 slats of maple from Home Depot are about the right size if you cut it to length. I cut a half-sheet (one page), tape one end to the board, and wrap it tightly around, then tape the other end down and trim to length with a DE blade or box cutter. Strop on the untaped side. I usually wind up with about 5 layers of paper.

I also use my paddle strop, and just wrap a few sheets of newspaper around it...maybe 3 sheets thick. I don't bother with tape or trimming it up too much, as the paper is stiff enough that just crimping it along the edges of the paddle hold it in place very well.
Unless the newspapers in London are Kleenex-thin and wimpy, you should be good to go.

If you don't have a paddle strop, by the way, or if you don't want to buy a board and cut it to size, I remember reading in another post here some weeks back that somebody recommended using a paperback book! I thought that was a very clever alternative.

Well, that's my two pence!

PS....i also really enjoy the smoothness of the newspaper stop. 95% of the 'burn' feeling disappeared when I started using the newspaper.

Thanks

You can lay it down at the edge of a desk with the folded side on the edge of the desk, then lay your arm across the paper to hold it still. Works for me.

Personally I find that stropping on newspaper makes the edge a bit too sharp and harsh for my face.

Thanks for the advice gents, I find the edge a lot smoother using the newspaper than any of my diamond pastes. I have a 7/8 Kropp that is extremely sharp but just not as smooth as my Wapi and Gustolf. Once I did 40 up and down the newspaper the shave was really smooth and no razor burn at the end at all.

I also found that rinsing the blade each time under running water during the shave makes for a smoother shave.


Regards
London

I have a thick piece of plate glass 3" x 8" that I wrap newspaper around. Usually 2 layers of paper, sometimes 3, that is scotch-taped on the reverse side. Sometimes I just wrap the paper around a barber hone. I like the want-ads or other heavily inked sections.

I just set a couple of pages of the paper on a phonebook and start stropping. I use the phonebook b/c I strop on my bathroom counter and it has a lip at the edge so the phone book keeps the paper flat.