Limited to one, that is, for the time being. The idea was to arrive at something like hone-strops sold in the early 20th century. These were marketed to the straight-razor user in an isolated area away from barbers, the original recommendation being to hone for 3 to 5 laps and strop twice as much before each shave to keep the edge going. The hones were used dry.
Following an old post on the forum, by member chuckd who said he used a Spyderco UF dry as a barber hone with razors, it occurred to me that such a hone might work well for this. And it just so happened that I had a used 8" x 2" piece that was otherwise collecting dust.
What I ended up with is sort of a hybrid inspired by two historical examples of strop-hones and a contemporary Solingen felt-lined paddle strop. After practicing with some different scraps of leather placed directly on the hone, followed by placing different scraps of felt between the leather and the hone, I settled for the rough-out horse butt lined with 1/8" thick hard felt as shown. Here I went mostly by what felt best to me, although the leather placed directly on the hone seemed better for auditory feedback.
Anyway, it’s easy to arrive such a combo, should one be inclined to make one. Apart from the Spyderco UF, I’d be interested to know of any suggestions for other hones and natural stones that could be used dry for finishing and maintaining an edge, if anybody has them.
I’m eager to see what happens. The consensus today seems to be that the result from the old hone-strops pales in comparison to what is generally available today by other means. But as I’ve been on a simplicity kick of late, such a reduced scenario holds an appeal.
Having arrived at the present example, I'd like to give a big "thank you" to B&B member, vendor, and strop maker par excellence @Tony Miller for his advice and help while I was thinking about how to approach this project prior to execution and for kindly selling me some scraps he had leftover. Thanks Tony!
Following an old post on the forum, by member chuckd who said he used a Spyderco UF dry as a barber hone with razors, it occurred to me that such a hone might work well for this. And it just so happened that I had a used 8" x 2" piece that was otherwise collecting dust.
What I ended up with is sort of a hybrid inspired by two historical examples of strop-hones and a contemporary Solingen felt-lined paddle strop. After practicing with some different scraps of leather placed directly on the hone, followed by placing different scraps of felt between the leather and the hone, I settled for the rough-out horse butt lined with 1/8" thick hard felt as shown. Here I went mostly by what felt best to me, although the leather placed directly on the hone seemed better for auditory feedback.
Anyway, it’s easy to arrive such a combo, should one be inclined to make one. Apart from the Spyderco UF, I’d be interested to know of any suggestions for other hones and natural stones that could be used dry for finishing and maintaining an edge, if anybody has them.
I’m eager to see what happens. The consensus today seems to be that the result from the old hone-strops pales in comparison to what is generally available today by other means. But as I’ve been on a simplicity kick of late, such a reduced scenario holds an appeal.
Having arrived at the present example, I'd like to give a big "thank you" to B&B member, vendor, and strop maker par excellence @Tony Miller for his advice and help while I was thinking about how to approach this project prior to execution and for kindly selling me some scraps he had leftover. Thanks Tony!