Essential SR travel kit -- The strop

[Slash McCoy]

Strop travel damage used to be the bane of my existence. I hate rolling a strop because it wrinkles the leather. Thinner leather wrinkles less but I don't like thin strops. Once I took some PVC pipe, heated it up in the oven, and sort of squashed it between two boards. That was my strop protector. Eventually I decided it took up too much room in my seabag.

Eventually I just stopped traveling with a strop. I would fly out to a ship with a pair of cheap shavettes and a pack of Feather DE blades. Eventually I learned to get the best results from that combination and enjoy the shaves. And no more strop damage. The strops stayed at home and I switched back to straights when I got home.

 

[Gamma]

When you travel with a SR what do you bring with you for a strop? Do you have any lessons you have learned about travel strops?

I have a Joey from Legion, so that's one option.
My primary these days though, is a 2.5" roll up strop with a buckled loop for attaching to a towel bar.

A few things I've figured out..
1 - some leather types should not be rolled up.
2 - transporting a strop flat is doable when there's enough available space.
3 - paddle/loom strops are plausible options, but I prefer hanging strops.
4 - many combo strops won't roll up well. Seperate linen/leather strops work best for me.

 

[Legion]

Before I came up with the Joey design I used this paddle strop. The T handle was to reduce the overall length.

 

[Suhrim21]

Naked armor has eel leather strops that are very pliable. Like you can roll it as tight as you want and won't damage it. It's small but has D rings and soft denim secondary. It was my first strip and it's still a great little strop.

 

[ajduplessis]

Essential straight razor kit for me would be a Shavette, nothing else really makes sense.

 

[Scarry Knight]

Wrinkles can be steamed out, and the surface flatness restored without harm, if you are careful. It worked for me....you are on your own.

Use some thick toweling between an iron and the strop and apply the steam in short bursts. Too much and you might scorch it. I repaired a tightly rolled travel strop that came wrinkled as delivered, and one I intentionally folded and creased hard in order to leave even worse ridges.