Holy Mackerel, I just shredded my Tony Miler English Bridle strop!

[tezza]

I recently got an unusual, old, Le Grelot chromoly 5/8 razor, it's very thin and slightly longer than my other blades, and when I stropped it, to my horror after I was done, I had nicks all along the upper right and lower edges of my TM strop. Had to sand it down in those areas and now it doesn't have an even draw any longer. Treated it with neats foot oil and leather conditioner but it's now like two different strops in odd spots. And it looks like a mess too since the tanning is gone where I sanded. I'm pretty good with my other blades and can move reasonably fast without any damage to strop or razor, and get a good edge too so I'm not sure what happened.

Does anyone recognize this nick pattern and know what I did wrong?

And should I sand-down the entire strop to even it out. I have a RupRazor learner's strop which I sanded completely and I actually like it better, but my Tony doesn't seem to respond the same to sanding. Any suggestion how to bring it back or have I simply killed it?

Thanks!

 

[professorchaos]

Pictures. This thread is worthless without pictures.

Sorry to hear it. I did that once. Once. It is a tough way to learn a lesson.

 

[Kentos]

That sucks. Try emailing TM himself to see what he would suggest. Tony will lilkely find this thread too so some pics would be very helpful.

 

[tezza]

Sure, I'll put up some pics. (I did email Tony but haven't heard back from him. Checked his website; seems he's out of town.)

Also, while I have your attention, my TM is a 2.5, and the Rup is a 2.0 which I haven't used for a while, and since I wrecked the TM, I've been using the 2.0 Rup and I've discovered I really like the smaller width. I suppose the length of the razor blade would be a factor in that a long blade on a wider strop would be similar to an average length blade on a narrower one - at least relative to an x pattern. Do you fellows use a narrow strop?

 

[Isaac]

Are the areas on the top right and bottom right of the strop? If your using an x pattern, and there is any rough spine work it will make an impression. I have given kisses to more than one strop with several rough razors like this. I have just left them as is instead of sanding them.

 

[tezza]

Top right bottom left. But no spine work.

 

[tezza]

Sorry, no pics yet - but I did hear from Tony and he recommended just using it as it is, so I got out some fine grit sandpaper and gave the whole thing a buff to even it out and it worked great. The strop looks battle worn but I kind of like it. Looks like it's got some vintage age to it. Had a shave today and it stropped as good as ever. Tony said he might have some hides coming in which might be suitable to make a replacement piece but I think I'm going to stick with my scarred-up one! Will post a pic if I can get my camera working.

 

[drmatt357]

What could put the nicks on there? Was the blade not honed properly? We're there gouges or nasty burrs on it?

 

[tezza]

No, It's a beautiful blade, professionally honed. Something I was doing, for sure. Very neat and precise nicks. Will add a pic of the blade, too.

 

[tezza]

Finally, here's some pics of the sanded strop. You can see the darker spots where the original tanning isn't fully sanded away. The strop is flat, smooth, and has an even draw, in spite of the way it looks. I didn't want to try to even out the finish because I didn't want to take a chance of going too far. All in all, I think it worked out pretty well. It's got a different feel to it now than it originally had but I like it.

 

[Kentos]

Looks like the draw might be lighter?

 

[tezza]

Yes, that's right. The bridle finish was a little waxy, and it had a real creamy, supple kind of draw. It's lighter and faster now but still has a good grab to it. After I sanded it, I didn't condition it in any way except to give it a really good palming until the leather got too hot to continue. It had a very nice, velvety feel which I liked. I've used Lexol previously, on a HH strop which had a similar velvety texture, and rather than adding suppleness, it made the finish harder and faster, to the point there was very little draw at all so I left this one as it was. I think, over time with hand-rubbing and continued use, it will get that creaminess again on it's own. You can see in the photos the edges of the strop are lighter than the body of the strop, and on the upper right, some of the embossing is nearly gone; those were the areas where the nicks were most pronounced and I had to sand a little deeper there to get them out, then sand the body of the strop to blend it, and even the whole thing out.

 

[Kentos]

It looks good like that! Good job

 

[tezza]

Thanks! Instant vintage!