The first consideration with strops is how good at stropping are you? If you are a novice then don’t use an expensive strop - use a cheaper one until you have the rhythm and rotation well rehearsed. There are a couple of points worth remembering - firstly, try and get a rotation where the spine never leaves the strop. So, starting at the bottom of the strop, move upwards with spine leading then rotate the edge over the spine before starting the downward movement - then bring the blade down and rotate the spine again.
Secondly, you need a reasonable speed - there’s no point moving the edge too slowly across the leather. If the spine is leading and you are keeping both spine and edge flat you will not cut the leather no matter how fast you go. However, you will cut your strop if you try and change direction without having full control of the blade. So, when learning, make an exaggerated stop and rotation before and after each stroke.
There are plenty of strops available - first of all try the want to buy section as plenty of people have tried but given up on straight razors. EBay has some very affordable makers or even second hand strops. A couple of makers of bette4 qualit6 are Westholme in UK and Scrupleworks in Scandinavia.
Secondly, you need a reasonable speed - there’s no point moving the edge too slowly across the leather. If the spine is leading and you are keeping both spine and edge flat you will not cut the leather no matter how fast you go. However, you will cut your strop if you try and change direction without having full control of the blade. So, when learning, make an exaggerated stop and rotation before and after each stroke.
There are plenty of strops available - first of all try the want to buy section as plenty of people have tried but given up on straight razors. EBay has some very affordable makers or even second hand strops. A couple of makers of bette4 qualit6 are Westholme in UK and Scrupleworks in Scandinavia.
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