How to use my Herold Strop?

[neatokino]

Hello--

I recently acquired a Herold paddle strop. It is 'juchten' (ie. russian) leather with red paste on one side, black on the other. All seems to be in good shape. I'm unfamiliar with this particular kind of strop, though I've been using my Whipped Dog balsa with green and red paste as a finisher after honing and before leather stropping. My thought was to use this as an alternative to the balsa strop.

Both 'pastes' are essentially powder, and the black powder seems to be running thin. My assumption is that after honing (or for touch ups), I'd strop on the red side first and then the black. Is that correct?

At what point should I consider re-pasting the strop, and when I do, what kind of paste is recommended? Is the paste supposed to become so dry and powdery, or should it have more of a 'pasty' feel to it when I strop.

Thanks in advance!

Michael

 

[life2short1971]

Red is coarser of the two so if you juat want to touch up try using only the black 10-20 laps. If that is not helping at all you can use the red 10-20 and follow up with the black before moving to either your chromox or regular finish strop.