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Answers for anybody questioning about a hone strop

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.

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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
 

duke762

Rose to the occasion
Well I think I got my about the same time. I haven't tried the blue strop yet but I'm seriously enjoying the shell. You've convinced me to give it a go.
 
I had a boar strop some time ago that had the pockmarked side as the finish or labeled side.
Most boars have the smooth side for the face, anyway, when using it, the strop generated much more heat than any other strop I had tried. It made the strop very effective and I would say you need less strokes to get the same results.
So, I'm not sure if it was the pockmarks or dimples in your case or the material itself that aids in the effectiveness.
Does yours seem to be treated with anything?
I think the majority of these things are simply the pattern embossed into it that make it work.
 
I had a boar strop some time ago that had the pockmarked side as the finish or labeled side.
Most boars have the smooth side for the face, anyway, when using it, the strop generated much more heat than any other strop I had tried. It made the strop very effective and I would say you need less strokes to get the same results.
So, I'm not sure if it was the pockmarks or dimples in your case or the material itself that aids in the effectiveness.
Does yours seem to be treated with anything?
I think the majority of these things are simply the pattern embossed into it that make it work.

From what I can tell it’s just dimpled leather and a very thick kind at that. At first I thought it was coated with something which made me doubt using saddle soap and leather conditioner. I just treated it the same as I did the shell side and it worked out well. What I was afraid of was ruining a just honed edge while trying the hone strop out. But what I decided to do was use it as as if it was a barber hone which is 6 to 10 passes max, make the passes count and keep the speed at a slow to medium pace and the results were quite surprising. Like I said before everyone may get different results so It’s a YMMV kind of thing but I would like to know if someone else has had the same experience with a hone strop.

Larry
 
Well I think I got my about the same time. I haven't tried the blue strop yet but I'm seriously enjoying the shell. You've convinced me to give it a go.

I would like to know if your results are the same as mine, please keep everyone posted.

Larry
 

duke762

Rose to the occasion
I gave mine a go tonight. I used a freshly honed Crown and Sword that was honed to my usual prefinish on a unidentified slate that I use. It's a finisher in it's own right. I use this stone after a Coticule and before my normal Arks. I find that this stone cleans up the bevels and apex to a higher degree than I can achieve on Coti's and makes the Ark finish go a little faster. I don't prefer the edge from this stone. It has near Ark keenness but feels a little harsh and unforgiving. This meaning more willing to cut me than the Ark finish.

I gave the razor about ten or twelve laps then went to shell. Very big improvement in comfort over the slate finish.
Keenness was deceptive. Sorry, I didn't tree top test. I judge keenness by how well a blade shaves my problem areas. This didn't feel as sharp as it was. Shaved problem areas with no problem and very comfortable.


I was impressed with how forgiving and skin friendly the edge felt.
Keep in mind, my strop is not in nearly the condition yours is and felt kind of dried out but still delivered the goods.

This really warrants more investigation. Going to try it post Ark next.
 
I gave mine a go tonight. I used a freshly honed Crown and Sword that was honed to my usual prefinish on a unidentified slate that I use. It's a finisher in it's own right. I use this stone after a Coticule and before my normal Arks. I find that this stone cleans up the bevels and apex to a higher degree than I can achieve on Coti's and makes the Ark finish go a little faster. I don't prefer the edge from this stone. It has near Ark keenness but feels a little harsh and unforgiving. This meaning more willing to cut me than the Ark finish.

I gave the razor about ten or twelve laps then went to shell. Very big improvement in comfort over the slate finish.
Keenness was deceptive. Sorry, I didn't tree top test. I judge keenness by how well a blade shaves my problem areas. This didn't feel as sharp as it was. Shaved problem areas with no problem and very comfortable.


I was impressed with how forgiving and skin friendly the edge felt.
Keep in mind, my strop is not in nearly the condition yours is and felt kind of dried out but still delivered the goods.

This really warrants more investigation. Going to try it post Ark next.

I think before you give it a go again, give it a good overnight layer of leather conditioner and see if that helps anything. Glad your getti g the same results as I am getting. I used mine the other day on a PJM Winove and the shave was smooth and confortable where as it was a little bit harsh the last time I used it. Keep everyone poseted, its fun trying something new.

Larry
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
I had or have one of these somewhere if I haven’t thrown it away - if I did it was rotten. I always assumed that the dimples were just for holding compound of some sort, but that’s a guess.
 
I think the reason they did work - sort of, was when the dimpling or embossing was done it compressed the leather and made it very hard/more abrasive, coupled with more heat generated.
 
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