It started out with a purchace I made over the summer last year which was a Koken Scotch Shell. The second stop that was behind it was a blue colored "Hone Strop" that had dimpled leather. It was something I have ever seen or used before so it was a huge unknown to me.
Not knowing what I had or seen before, nor how to use or care for one, I decided to treat it like leather should be. So I did a through clean with saddle soap on the Shell side and the hone strop side. My 2nd decision was to condition it as I did the shell side with leather conditioner until it was as supple as the shell side.
Well onward to months and months of deciding if I should use the hone strop or not, I decided to give it a try last week. Here is how I gathered on how to use one. 1. Go slow, speed will not do anything, the bumps kinda increase friction on the blade. 2. Keep the number of passes between 6 to 10 max. 3. After using it, progress to linnen and the leather as normal. What the hone strop seems to me to be doing is some sort of mellowing an edge and giving a slight bump in polish to an edge whichI felt when doing a HHT on my arm.
All of my blades are coti dulicot progression and then either green thuri or surgical black ark. They can easily pass a HHT so when I performed it before using the hone strop it was no surprise to hear the usual ping sound of my edges cutting the hair of my arm like usual with the usual slight resistance of my arm hair. Well afterwards I did 6 to 10 passes on the hone strop, then 20 passes on linnen and then did 50 passes on the Scotch Shell. I then performed the same test on my arm hair and was amazed at the results. Every hair that was in front of the edge was mowed down and it was 1/4" away from my arm. To add to that, the blades edge did it effortlessly and I never felt the edge cut my arm hair as it did before I used the hone strop.
So today I had to see just how smooth and improved the edge was and I tried my Torrey 992 after using the hone strop, linnen, scotch shell progresson. The results were incredible, not only did 1 pass yield DFS and a passable one at that, but never felt the blade against my skin. I kept going with the 2 more passes, XTG and the ATG. Same result in every direction, the biggest change I felt was ATG as I never felt the blade tug or pull. The feeling was just the slicing of hair and BBS skin was left behind. Even used an alcohol based aftershave afterwards and had little burn. Was it technique that improved the shave, doubtful as I have been doing it the same for about a year....can I honestly say a hone strop will work the same for everyone, no as I believe its a YMMV kind of deal as with any vintage shaving product. Should you try one of these unknown mystery dimpled leather strops of old? Why not, it seems like the older technology worked then and should work now. I wouldn't suggest using the hone strop with every shave, but use it on an as needed when HHT isnt quite hitting every hair comfortably.
Larry
Not knowing what I had or seen before, nor how to use or care for one, I decided to treat it like leather should be. So I did a through clean with saddle soap on the Shell side and the hone strop side. My 2nd decision was to condition it as I did the shell side with leather conditioner until it was as supple as the shell side.
Well onward to months and months of deciding if I should use the hone strop or not, I decided to give it a try last week. Here is how I gathered on how to use one. 1. Go slow, speed will not do anything, the bumps kinda increase friction on the blade. 2. Keep the number of passes between 6 to 10 max. 3. After using it, progress to linnen and the leather as normal. What the hone strop seems to me to be doing is some sort of mellowing an edge and giving a slight bump in polish to an edge whichI felt when doing a HHT on my arm.
All of my blades are coti dulicot progression and then either green thuri or surgical black ark. They can easily pass a HHT so when I performed it before using the hone strop it was no surprise to hear the usual ping sound of my edges cutting the hair of my arm like usual with the usual slight resistance of my arm hair. Well afterwards I did 6 to 10 passes on the hone strop, then 20 passes on linnen and then did 50 passes on the Scotch Shell. I then performed the same test on my arm hair and was amazed at the results. Every hair that was in front of the edge was mowed down and it was 1/4" away from my arm. To add to that, the blades edge did it effortlessly and I never felt the edge cut my arm hair as it did before I used the hone strop.
So today I had to see just how smooth and improved the edge was and I tried my Torrey 992 after using the hone strop, linnen, scotch shell progresson. The results were incredible, not only did 1 pass yield DFS and a passable one at that, but never felt the blade against my skin. I kept going with the 2 more passes, XTG and the ATG. Same result in every direction, the biggest change I felt was ATG as I never felt the blade tug or pull. The feeling was just the slicing of hair and BBS skin was left behind. Even used an alcohol based aftershave afterwards and had little burn. Was it technique that improved the shave, doubtful as I have been doing it the same for about a year....can I honestly say a hone strop will work the same for everyone, no as I believe its a YMMV kind of deal as with any vintage shaving product. Should you try one of these unknown mystery dimpled leather strops of old? Why not, it seems like the older technology worked then and should work now. I wouldn't suggest using the hone strop with every shave, but use it on an as needed when HHT isnt quite hitting every hair comfortably.
Larry