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Sliced strop

So, I'm new to straight razors by just a week or so, and while I've gotten good shaves from the get go, I may have badly damaged my strop.

I was trying to execute the X pattern that you're supposed to use when your blade is longer then your strop is wide, and I was in a groove and got going pretty fast. But as the X reached the far end of the blade, away from the tang, the strop rolled slightly and the blade slipped off. It was going in the right direction, and I wasn't using much pressure at all, but there is a barely visible finer than hairline slice on a section of the strop.

How bad is this? Do I need a new strop now? I would post a picture, but without a better camera and quality lighting you wouldn't be able to see it. Running my finger over it I can't feel it at all. Will it damage my edge?
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Okay, that's it. We are taking your Straight Shaver Card away from you.

Actually its probably no big deal. Sounds like it must be near the end of the strop. If it causes trouble just give it a light sanding. Or avoid that part of the strop. If the slice is just at the edge, then swap ends on the strop. Then the slice is on the left side where the razor won't see it. Oh, unless you have a narrow strop. A really deep slice you can fix with a dab of superglue and then sanding the repair flush.

And now you know why many guys here recommend that newbies start out with a cheap and expendable strop. It is basically inevitable. You gonna cut your strop.
 
Yeah, I think it's not that bad (and I did buy a cheap strop to start with, I've tried to be careful, but I anticipated that I would have to replace it). It's more like an exaggeratedly defined impression in a way. It doesn't actually seem to have cut into the "meat" of the strop. When I rub my thumb over it quickly, parts of it almost disappear for a minute. There's one part near the bottom where it is especially defined and where it meets the outer edge of the leather, I think it may have legitimately sliced into it, but I can avoid that part.

I want to go back to taking it slow, but I've heard that a lot of the benefit comes from the heat generated by stropping quickly. Either way, when I upgrade, I'm going with a wide strop.
 
I am using some veg tanned leather from Hobby Lobby, and I found how easy it is to cut it while stropping. Good thing leather is on sale there this week, as I may pick up a few more pieces!
 
I was trying to execute the X pattern that you're supposed to use when your blade is longer then your strop is wide, and I was in a groove and got going pretty fast. But as the X reached the far end of the blade, away from the tang, the strop rolled slightly and the blade slipped off.

From your description, it sounds like you may be moving the toe too far forward in making the X-pass. Slow down and don't worry about generating heat or friction. It isn't necessary to use all the length of the strop, even 8 to 14 inches will suffice for the pass. Also how you grip the shank is important. I grip side-to-side on a diagonal bias towards the edge with a slight turn of the wrist during the flip, rather than top-to-bottom pencil-roll flip. Learning this helped me out a lot. For the past few months, I've mostly been using a 2" wide strop. Regular main blade X-passes for ~20-25 laps, then I'll choke up on the strop and address the toe for ~10 laps towards the end of the strop attached to the wall. Then ~10 regular main blade X-passes to even every thing out. Toe of the razor is only coming close to the opposite edge of the strop during the ~10 pass choking up section, if that.
 
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