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Strop upgrade, two new strops from Scrupleworks

When I first started using a razor I bought a cheap £30 3 inch strop from Etsy.
It was a buck skin type and had no linen component.
But it was nice and smooth and served me well.
I nicked it a few times which reduced it’s workable surface by about half but it served it’s purpose.

A couple of years ago I bought a travel strop of about a foot long and 2 inches wide which had a linen component.
Not great linen or leather but useable.
I found the linen part of the travel strop pretty invaluable when smoothing out a freshly honed edge and I would also do 20 laps on the linen each morning before going to the 3inch leather strop.

I wanted an upgrade, and to streamline by having just one strop with a nice linen component and a full usable surface area of a quality leather.

On advice from a friend, I got in touch with Torolf from Scrupleworks in Norway who makes quality leather razor strops.

I told him I was looking to upgrade my current basic strop and he recommended a 3 inch Horween oil tanned horse strop with natural linen and a stainless handle.

Torolf also offers practice strops to trial the other leathers he has so I ordered one of those too in his Swedish bridle leather.

The two strops and postage came to about £150.

There’s a 5 week wait while Torolf makes the strops and sends them on and mine arrived yesterday.

I cut the box open and got a great rich scent of leather.

I unwrapped the strops.


The 3 inch horse strop leather is a dark brown chocolate colour with a nice leathery scent.

It has a lovely brushed cotton component on the back with a nice grey/brown colour.

The Swedish bridle trial strop is a lovely deep green leather about 1.5 inches across and about 18 inches long.
Both look and feel nice quality objects and a big step up to what I’d been used to.
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I hung the two strops on my hook, grabbed a freshly honed slate edged Gold Dollar, and gave it a go.

First on the linen.
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This brushed cotton was a hell of a lot nicer than the cheap linen I’d been using. It was a much coarser grain but soft and felt beautiful under the razor.

I did 20 laps just enjoying the new feel of the cotton and enjoying the 3 inch width as my cheap linen travel strop is about 2 inches wide.

I then turned the oil tanned horse strop over and started to strop on that.

It immediately had a really nice smooth easy feel and will improve further over time as it breaks in and flattens after being curved a little in transit.

Next I gave the Swedish Bridle a try.

It’s a thicker stiffer leather, great colour.
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I really enjoyed using it and it’s 1.5 inches width was surprisingly easy to strop on.

Really happy with both strops they’re just what I’d wanted in an upgrade and I’m going to enjoy using them and seeing how they break in.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
A lovely buy. Congratulations.

I am not a great fan of 3" strops, prefering 2½" but that's a personal preference. I really like the stainless steel handle idea. Should be easier to strop with than a D ring.
 
Congrats on your purchase! Torolf is great to deal with and makes awesome strops.

I own 3 of them. Oil tanned horse, Swedish bridle and my favorite of all the Horween Sheel Cordovan

Ps: from your pictures I think the back side is real flax linen, not his brushed cotton (which is orange in color)
 
Congrats on your purchase! Torolf is great to deal with and makes awesome strops.

I own 3 of them. Oil tanned horse, Swedish bridle and my favorite of all the Horween Sheel Cordovan

Ps: from your pictures I think the back side is real flax linen, not his brushed cotton (which is orange in colorAh, good to know
Hi thanks for the help with that👍 And yes Torolf was a real gent throughout and really produced the goods for me.
I’m trying to minimalize the stuff in my shaving set up but I do like the sound of that cordovan.
 
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Beautiful craftsmanship. Almost too nice to use for stropping. I am using an old Dubl Duck that’s probably stropped SRs for over a thousand shaves; it was my great grandfather’s strop that’s been passed along.
 
Just a little update.
I’ve had the strops for 6 weeks now and used the Horween Oil Tanned strop almost exclusively.
This is mostly just for convenience sake as i use its linen component for 20 laps before every shave then I give it 50 on leather.
The leather is breaking in really nicely and gives a great smooth feel under the razor. The flax linen component is a joy to strop, it’s firm yet soft and feels like I’m giving the edge a real treat.
I went away for a week to Dubai on business so I took the green Bridle leather strop with me as a travel strop in order to get to know it better.
I think it’s about 2 inches wide though I haven’t measured it.
The leather is thick with more of a draw than the Horween tanned.
I took a slate edged 5/8ths Thomas Turner & Co for the trip and shaved and stropped daily.
The slightly reduced width and extra draw took a little getting used to but I really enjoyed using it.
Midway through the week I noticed a dulling of the edge so I refreshed it on the 5x1 inch coticule I packed in my kit. That really improved the edge and my last few days gave me brilliant shaves to start the day.
I had a nice little routine out there. Wake in my hotel room at 6.45am, go outside to the outdoor pool and swim laps for 30 mins. I usually had the pool to myself at this time and while it was nice and warm outside it wasn’t the 40 degrees that came at midday.
Then I’d be back in bed for 7.30am and sleep for a couple of hours.
Wake again at 10am take a quick shower then meet my team at breakfast at 10.30. Have boiled eggs, tea and orange juice.
Take a little sun and catch up on the weeks business then back to my room for 12.30pm. This is the hottest part of the day there so I shower and take my shave at a lovely slow pace. Then we’d get ready and go and do all the press commitments etc
Then an evening meal around 5pm then back to the room for a movie and a couple of whiskys and an early ish night.
I missed the family but this was a nice and peaceful way to spend the week. I got to better understand one of my new strops, had a relaxing time and a very successful trip.
 
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