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Any recs for a strop and a brush in Oz / Nz

G'day fellas! Both my strop and brush have served me well for the past 4 years however they suffered the pain of being my first ones so they are pretty ready for retirement. Do you have any suggestion on what to get, preferably from a local vendor? I'm not after anything fancy, just sturdy good equipment. Cheers!
 

Legion

Staff member
Try Mensbiz, and see what they have that suits your needs. They are pretty good to deal with. Having said that, you might be better off biting the bullet and paying someone like Tony Miller to ship you a strop internationally.

 
Thanks! I had a browse and found his website, would 100% get one of his strops but I just can't fathom paying more for shipping than I am paying for the product itself. So far one of the only downsides of living in our beautiful Straya!

Cheers :D
 
With regards to a strop, I bought a strip of kangaroo hide from an Aussie seller on eBay. They offered free shipping to Australian addresses (I got it shipped to my uncle and got it off him as we both happened to be in NZ at the same time). I used this to make my own strop using Chicago screws and 75mm D rings at either end. The strop is longer than most commercially available ones and it works great. As for brushes, no idea where to get them in Australia. Good luck.
 
Seg85,
My 22 year old Sydney made strop was declared, by the strop forum, to be dead. I looked at an Illinois and Tony Miller strop but the shipping was more than the strop!

So I restored my strop for the sum of ~4$ buying wet/dry sandpaper (600/800/1200 grit) at Bunnings and about and hour of labour. She has come up a treat and I highly recommend it. It looks like there are manufacturers in Australia because I wanted to buy local too.

I picked up a synthetic shaving brush at Woolies for 6$ when on special. I had only used Badger and Boar and had serious doubts about it, but for 6$ how wrong can you go? Well it changed my opinion of synthetics and if nothing else it makes a great travel brush. I'm looking at swapping to synthetic once my other brushes die but that will be many years from now.

Good luck with the search. I'm interested to know what you find.
 

Legion

Staff member
I used to make and sell strops. I no longer have the space or materials to do so, but if you wanted to have a crack at it yourself I am happy to offer advice.

It’s not like you are trying to make a carburetor from scratch.
 
Thanks everyone for your great feedback! My strop is the very first one I got hence its... let's just say "a bit" cut up haha. A few parts of it are still miraculously holding together but I expect it to give in soon!
So far the only thing I found that wasnt ridiculously priced was Frank Shaving Extra Wide Strop Leather Hanging - https://www.beardandblade.com.au/collections/sharpening/products/frank-shaving-extra-wide-leather-hanging-strop which is my chinese option until I can find something locally made.

Legion thanks so much for the offer. That'd be amazing, unfortunately I have no space nor tools at all. The lapping film gear is already a nomad around the house!! I appreciate your offer though, send some pics through if you have some of your past work that'd be great to see!. Mr Straight Up I'll keep you posted!
 
Seg85,

I have seen that before and it looked like a quick cheap fix, but it was sold out. I'll be watching this thread keenly.
 
Tony Miller is the go. We may need to set up a group buy to cut the shipping cost. Shipping is expensive because he ships them flat rather than rolled so it’s a big package.
 
That's a great idea Tom! I'm set for the foreseeable future unless I manage to cut this one :p
 
Hey @Straight up ! You are right ,I ordered one and have been using it, it's definitely good but my expectations arent very high as I don't really know much :p It seems to strop just alright hah.

Thanks for the heads up!
 
Seg85, before I use my razor I have done the hanging hair test. I strop the razors and they slice the hair with no worries. Stropping makes a huge difference, try for yourself.
 
Seg85,
Do you use both sides for stropping? The rough side seemed a little too rough. My existing strop has two smooth leather sides, but one has 'Finish' printed on it. BTW I got a 10% discount for some reason and only paid $45 delivered!
 
That's mint!! Good on you. And no, just the smooth side. The other ones seems a bit too coarse!
 
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