Straight Razor Place Forums - View Single Post

desertaliloff · 07-30-2008, 02:25 AM

Okay I'll freely admit I am still a newb, however since I've begun getting further into shaving with a straight I've been looking at the everything from the minimalist standpoint. I will also admit I like to tinker with all sorts of sharp and pointy metal objects and different ways to make them scary sharp.

I began thinking about the thickness of a standard strop. Usually made out of heavier leather anywhere from 6 oz. to 9 oz. leather either latigo or veg tanned. Now even though I have a perfectly good strop that I bought. I can't help but wonder why are they so thick. So being the tinkering person that I am and having some spare leather I decieded to make my own strop. However the leather is from a tooling kip and is only 3-4 oz. thick, very flexible/pliable even without conditioning cream. I cut a strip 2 1/2 inches wide about 18 inches long and simply used saddle soap and used a glass bottle to "break it in". After using my home made strop for about a week I've noticed that I get a better and smoother shave from it. Out of curiousty I decided to try the "factory" strop today and it fealt like I was trying to use a saw bladeto shave with. Lots of tugging and grabbing.

So my question is could the thickness of the strop possibly affect its performance. Will a thinner and more pliable strop enchance its general performance. Or does it perhaps make up for my stroping mistakes.

07-30-2008, 02:25 AM	#1 (permalink)
desertaliloff Status: Jack of all Trades & Master of None Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: So Cal Desert Posts: 9 Thanks: 3 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Strop Thickness Okay I'll freely admit I am still a newb, however since I've begun getting further into shaving with a straight I've been looking at the everything from the minimalist standpoint. I will also admit I like to tinker with all sorts of sharp and pointy metal objects and different ways to make them scary sharp. I began thinking about the thickness of a standard strop. Usually made out of heavier leather anywhere from 6 oz. to 9 oz. leather either latigo or veg tanned. Now even though I have a perfectly good strop that I bought. I can't help but wonder why are they so thick. So being the tinkering person that I am and having some spare leather I decieded to make my own strop. However the leather is from a tooling kip and is only 3-4 oz. thick, very flexible/pliable even without conditioning cream. I cut a strip 2 1/2 inches wide about 18 inches long and simply used saddle soap and used a glass bottle to "break it in". After using my home made strop for about a week I've noticed that I get a better and smoother shave from it. Out of curiousty I decided to try the "factory" strop today and it fealt like I was trying to use a saw bladeto shave with. Lots of tugging and grabbing. So my question is could the thickness of the strop possibly affect its performance. Will a thinner and more pliable strop enchance its general performance. Or does it perhaps make up for my stroping mistakes.