Lapping film, try it.

[Slash McCoy]

Tony's strops are very good quality and I highly recommend them. The only problem is that the cost to ship them to AU is about the same as it is to buy one.

Saddlemakes are your best bet to source stropping leather at a reasonable price. They can also help you in sourcing strop hardware. We have a good saddlemaker in Mareeba.

A saddlery would be a great place to get some really fancy D rings, MAYBE some chicago screws. You will want to try different lengths but probably 3/16" or 1/4" depending on leather thickness. But Tony's strop will do you just fine.

 

[rhgg2]

Tony's strops are very good quality and I highly recommend them. The only problem is that the cost to ship them to AU is about the same as it is to buy one.

Saddlemakes are your best bet to source stropping leather at a reasonable price. They can also help you in sourcing strop hardware. We have a good saddlemaker in Mareeba.

Indeed - the postage is almost exactly the same as the strop!

I followed your tip and found what I needed from Birdsall leather: 75 x 1200mm 3.5mm veg tanned belt leather, 50mm d-rings and 6mm key posts (= Chicago screws) all for the princely sum of $45 AU (about $30 US if you're counting). If I do fold-over ends I should have enough for a couple of strops.

 

[rbscebu]

Indeed - the postage is almost exactly the same as the strop!

I followed your tip and found what I needed from Birdsall leather: 75 x 1200mm 3.5mm veg tanned belt leather, 50mm d-rings and 6mm key posts (= Chicago screws) all for the princely sum of $45 AU (about $30 US if you're counting). If I do fold-over ends I should have enough for a couple of strops.

I'm happy that I was able to point you in the right direction.

My preference is for strops about 60mm to 65mm wide. Of course, it is a personal decision for you to make.

 

[javast]

I'm thinking about giving film a try - I can't get brand name 3M stuff easily where I live - does the Chinese stuff off Ali express work ok?

 

[rbscebu]

I'm thinking about giving film a try - I can't get brand name 3M stuff easily where I live - does the Chinese stuff off Ali express work ok?

Yes, it works well. I have been using it exclusively for years.

If you are new to SR honing, get 2 or 3 seven-sheet sets if it is within your budget. You will go through your first set rather quickly as you develop your honing technique.

 

[rhgg2]

A few things that have made using film a lot more pleasant for me:

• When mounting the film I don't pussyfoot around. I flood everything in sight with water, blast every last bit of debris off the mounting block and the back of the film.
• Once the film is in place I squeegee it with a credit card. It just works really well and gets all the bubbles out without any difficulty whatsoever.
• Whenever I pick the hone back up, I flood everything with water again: the blade and the top of the film. I could spend ages checking if there's any debris why bother? Just blast away.
• This one is the biggest one for me. Rather than the canonical 3"x12" block I now use this:

It's 2.5" x 7" and for me way more pleasant to use and gives better results too. I think for a beginner a smaller mounting block like this is great, as it's much easier to regulate pressure with a shorter stroke, it's much easier to hold in hand, and it forces you to use an X-stroke.

 

[Slash McCoy]

A few things that have made using film a lot more pleasant for me:

• When mounting the film I don't pussyfoot around. I flood everything in sight with water, blast every last bit of debris off the mounting block and the back of the film.
• Once the film is in place I squeegee it with a credit card. It just works really well and gets all the bubbles out without any difficulty whatsoever.
• Whenever I pick the hone back up, I flood everything with water again: the blade and the top of the film. I could spend ages checking if there's any debris why bother? Just blast away.
• This one is the biggest one for me. Rather than the canonical 3"x12" block I now use this:

View attachment 1704484

It's 2.5" x 7" and for me way more pleasant to use and gives better results too. I think for a beginner a smaller mounting block like this is great, as it's much easier to regulate pressure with a shorter stroke, it's much easier to hold in hand, and it forces you to use an X-stroke.

Nice. Yes, absolutely, after mastering the "canonical" Method, one should feel free to modify it to suit his own particular situation, bias, ability, or experience. Lots of water is great. In fact some guys actually apply their film underwater, in a filled sink.

Myself, I have experimented with shorter plates, as short as 6". I still find the long plate superior, but it must be argued that a shorter plate is easier to ship, easier on the wallet to PIF, more practical and with higher potential profit margin to sell, more portable, and possibly for the few, easier to use. I actually started using a 6" plate first, with the .1µ diamond balsa, so I could ship a prepared balsa with each razor I sold. Later I put together a couple of full sets, and tried it with film. I didn't pursue this line of endeavor for long because I found that giving or selling the tools encouraged random technique, while forcing the student to make his own, encouraged him to stick with the program. One customer even pasted his balsa with CrOx and followed the old school regimen of a half dozen laps "when the razor starts to pull". Meh. some people you can buy them schoolbooks and they will just chew on the cover. That was the beginning of the end of m flirtation with short plates.

For my own honing I prefer a full length plate. It is more stable and the longer stroke is more efficient in the beginning of any one particular grit stage. And beginners should absolutely be encouraged to follow the "canonical" program, so as to make as few decisions as possible, and leave as little to chance as possible. Random technique gives random results. Random results are not necessarily bad, but maybe not good enough to justify the effort in the first place. By following The Method exactly, one can reasonably expect a resounding success on the first attempt, or the second, if not the first. I and others who worked all this out, meant for all the minute details to benefit the absolute newbie, and not to be an "only way" to hone forever and ever. Fact is, my own honing is very similar to the dogmatic approach of The Method, but it doesn't have to be, and after first mastering it, yours doesn't have to be, either. Just remember, as you bring others into the fold, that encouragement to go "by the book" will get the brand new guys up and running quickly, and encouraging them to depart from The Method in any given way that seems unimportant to you or even undesireable, sets a precedent of wandering off the path and making random or arbitrary or poorly considered choices.

Glad things are working out for you, though. Results are what it's really all about.

 

[rbscebu]

A few things that have made using film a lot more pleasant for me:

• When mounting the film I don't pussyfoot around. I flood everything in sight with water, blast every last bit of debris off the mounting block and the back of the film.
• Once the film is in place I squeegee it with a credit card. It just works really well and gets all the bubbles out without any difficulty whatsoever.
• Whenever I pick the hone back up, I flood everything with water again: the blade and the top of the film. I could spend ages checking if there's any debris why bother? Just blast away.
• This one is the biggest one for me. Rather than the canonical 3"x12" block I now use this:

View attachment 1704484

It's 2.5" x 7" and for me way more pleasant to use and gives better results too. I think for a beginner a smaller mounting block like this is great, as it's much easier to regulate pressure with a shorter stroke, it's much easier to hold in hand, and it forces you to use an X-stroke.

I have done similar but with a 0.1μm diamond pasted balsa strop that I keep in my dopp bag. I use it for refreshing the edge after each shave while away. Being shorter (175mm), requires twice as many laps for the same effect. You also have to include a slight X motion while lapping due to the narrower width of the substrate.

At home, I still prefer the 300mm x 75mm substrates.