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RIP old friend

It is amazing how much this bothers me........and I still can't believe it........somehow, I guess before being awake enough or having coffee, I just sliced the living hades out of my strop right dead smack in the middle shaving off about a dime size of surface. Man I have never done anything like that before, not even close, and this is insanely in the middle of my strop. I have had this strop longer that some of my children - no exaggeration. I don't even nick strops. I still have no clue what I did....short of the obvious which was to turn the razor razor around edge leading and use like a skiving tool :-( Maybe honing muscle memory kicked in, no coffee/half asleep, no clue. I have done this on auto-pilot for so long I do most all of it without much thought or focus......and man oh man what a mistake that was today. This totally sucks and I guess I had to vent to anyone who would actually care or half-understand. Self-pity trip over (I hope).
 

Ravenonrock

I shaved the pig
Yes , the strop is damaged, that sucks. Then you beat yourself for a few rounds wondering, how did this happen. It’s a lose, lose situation. Once the dust has settled, I like the reward system of a new strop.
 
Yup, pretty much where I was at with it as soon as it happened. I looked at it in a stooper, completely dumbfounded by the "spilt milk", finished stropping on the top 1/3rd a few seconds later and went on about my shave and day.......short of coming here to whine a bit.

Pretty much expect I will be settling with Kanoyama, Tony Miller, or my own. I am certainly open to suggestions if anyone has any.

I don't like makers' marks on the stropping surface of any kind. But also not comfortable with sight-unseen leather or shell for DIY and I am not close enough to anyone to go hand select. This, I think, is what has me still bothered the most. I can't really replace it so easily as just throwing money at it.

It did make me reflect and I think I have been using this one as a daily driver for 12-15 years now. I have other strops of course but nothing I really like or they would be used more.

In all those years I have to wonder how many miles I have stropped steel on leather :-O
 
Oich, but is the razor OK?

Razor was fine actually but not one I really care about at all. Just a junker for honing fun. It was like I took an edge leading honing slice and removed microns-thick surface of the strop. Skiving type cut if you are familiar. Enough that it is ruined to me but not like I hacked a deep chunk out. It was weird to say the least. It can be sanded and finished to a decent strop I am sure........but it was my perfect strop and it is perfect no more. I used several before I settled on this one, acquired more since, but it was my main strop for many reasons. Oh well :)
 
That definitely sucks! Accidents just happen. My guess is that most folks who have been doing this for a few years have at least one story - whether it be a razor, a brush, a stone, a strop - I know I do. Just be thankful that no one was hurt and hopefully the strop can be replaced without mortgaging the house.


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My sympathies. At least you're turning it into a mistakortunity.

Tony Millers are nice. I personally find his HH/Notovan a little fast for my taste; so I'd consider this new Latigo that's being tested in another thread here.

Konayama is also nice if you can forget how much you paid. Also fast for me... but again the quality makes it worth the compromise (and unlike Tony there's no alternative I'm aware of to his cordovan so you just have to get used to it).

Vintage strops are a great option if you can find one in NOS or not abused shape for a decent price. Problem is good condition vintage strops are rare, and decent enough pictures in a listing to ensure it are rarer still. That said, I've got a couple vintage strops with really pleasant and unique feel that I wouldn't even know how to describe/ask for from a modern strop maker. There's a bit of fun to it when you do score a good condition vintage... seeing how it acts and feels.

My other strop is an Ambrose Spanish HH... which was I think the first run of strops ever made by a former member here many years back. My favorite draw of any strop. No clue where to find anything that replicates it though, and I believe he stopped making strops years ago.
 
Thanks for the kind words all. Been communicating with Tony Miller who is hooking me up with exactly what I need. Class act as you all have said.

Dug around in my leather and found a 2-½” wide strap of 9oz material that seemed to have a workable section. Not 100% sure what it is exactly but it took water with no problem so went to work. Couple days of little time here and there working on the strop surface until I got it like I wanted. Not perfect but workable. Cut a quicky piece for the end and some non-matching hardware laying around and voila. Far from perfect, maybe far from nice even, but quite workable. My other strops just never do it for me so I made one that would in the interim. Not my ideal specs, but this does the job. Seems I only have chrome top clips, brass Chicago screws, and either raw steel or dark blued D-rings LOL - so it had to be a bit of a Frankenstein for now. Not sure if I will leave as barber end or add D-ring later. May add a small box at the bottom and add some texture for grip if I leave barber style. One shave so far and it did the trick, so moving forward and now have a decent backup strop.

E4E2151B-281B-4DB8-A567-B572C4F1CC1A.jpeg
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..took water with no problem so went to work. Couple days of little time here and there working on the strop surface until I got it like I wanted

Can you explain why it needed to take on water? To show any treatments done before that would be unsuitable?

what did you do then to work it?
 
Can you explain why it needed to take on water? To show any treatments done before that would be unsuitable?

what did you do then to work it?

I wish I knew enough to explain more, but I don’t know how to work leather that has been tanned in a way that it resists water. Veg tanned and water based tanned leather can be wet with a cloth or sponge as long as there is not some type of surface finish. So if I can’t wet it then I can’t work it. Wish I knew enough facts of the “why” behind that but I do not.

Treatments are fine. Like tanning :) And coloring and many other things that are not hydrophobic.

I just do a bunch of working the leather is all. I case it, roll it, press it under pressure, flex it, rub it, etc etc. Wet it and work and let dry and keep doing that each time I work with it depending on what I want or how it feels. Maybe some light oil early on if I feel like it. You can use quite a few different oils and waxes depending on the feel you want and how the leather starts off. Towards the end no wet work really. Some burnishing and rubbing and working. Bevel edges and burnish those with beeswax. That’s what I do but I am sure there are other and maybe better ways.
 
That looks quite nice from the pictures. Hope it strops as good as it looks. Good luck with it.

In hindsight, any explanation for how the accident occurred with the other strop? Always good to learn from one's mistakes...
 
That definitely sucks! Accidents just happen. My guess is that most folks who have been doing this for a few years have at least one story - whether it be a razor, a brush, a stone, a strop - I know I do. Just be thankful that no one was hurt and hopefully the strop can be replaced without mortgaging the house.
Yip. I dropped a vintage Bismarck snapping the blade in half a year ago. Yesterday while stropping I was thinking about this thread, still don't know how I saved it. Nothing happen but it would have been disastrous. Small lapses in concentration and complacency, not matter the experience level will eventually catch-up with us. Don't get to attached to stuff...
 
In hindsight, any explanation for how the accident occurred with the other strop? Always good to learn from one's mistakes...

I wish I had some profound wisdom to share, but I think ajduplessis summed it up well here :

Small lapses in concentration and complacency, not matter the experience level will eventually catch-up with us.

All I can say is I saw it as fast as it happened. My mind just wasn’t alert enough yet. I flipped the blade mid strop and sliced it nicely.

I did some work to it since and now only a small nick about ¼-½” long is all you can see. Blended OK but fact is the surface grain is missing. Repaired better than I thought it would after looking at that big flap of skin I shaved off of it. Will snap a pic later
 
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