Opinions sought: best strop width for a newbie.

[fccexpert]

2" is fine and you can find them at a reasonable price.

 

[rbscebu]

I started on a 2" and cut it up, then a 3" and cut it up, then a 2½" and cut it up. I'm a slow learner but I do learn.

Settled on 2½" as my preferred width. I now have five of them and am waiting on the arrival of my first "quality" strop from @Tony Miller, another 2½".

 

[Slash McCoy]

I like 2-3/4" to 3" and I think that is great for a beginner. IMHO smaller is a slight handicap that a beginner can do without, but down to 2-1/2" will still gitter done. To me, 2" is just too skinny but YMMV. The best strop to use is usually the strop you got cause you already got it.

 

[Tomo]

I started with a 3” Horsehide Tony Miller. After one year of daily use the strop was in great shape with no nicks but I heard somewhere the newbies always end up cutting their first strop. After hearing that I promptly bought a 3” Shell Cordovan Westholme as a spare just to be on the safe side. If I ever slice one of these I will probably replace it with a 2.5” Shell.

3” is great for learning but 2.5” seems to be the ideal width for strops and stones. I got everything in 3” to start but I’m kind of leaning towards 2.5” now. It’s a nice width to work on with a slight x stroke. The strop is more stable when it has full blade coverage. Not a biggie but sometimes less is more. Either will work fine. The main thing is to get started.