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Stropping on a leather file folder - pls advise!

I think many of the responses will be not to your preference OP, but that doesn't mean you can't try it.

if you try it, make sure you take some of the recs above and stay away from from the stitching that intrude on the honing plane and overlap pieces that also intrude.

Good Luck!
I do perfectly understand the risks, such as running the edge over the stitching, that is obvious.

That said, my Q was not about what are "potential risks", but rather is the leather surface of the file folder a bad leather, as such.

Being a newbie, mistakes are to be made and they are inevitable and I am fine with that.

So, to reiterate my original Q - obvious risks apart, is the leather on this thing, the surface itself not suitable?
 
I do perfectly understand the risks, such as running the edge over the stitching, that is obvious.

That said, my Q was not about what are "potential risks", but rather is the leather surface of the file folder a bad leather, as such.

Being a newbie, mistakes are to be made and they are inevitable and I am fine with that.

So, to reiterate my original Q - obvious risks apart, is the leather on this thing, the surface itself not suitable?

"I do perfectly understand the risks, such as running the edge over the stitching, that is obvious"
-It could also be that the lather is not stretched enough/wavy, what impact this have, not sure.

"but rather is the leather surface of the file folder a bad leather, as such"
-I would be concerned that the leather been contaminated with particles having bad impact on the edge.
Possible also hygiene.

Regarding performance I would not know without stropping on the item itself several times and test the edge during shave and also inspect the edge with a loupe.

Are you planning to cut the leather out and make a strop?
 
I do perfectly understand the risks, such as running the edge over the stitching, that is obvious.
.....

So, to reiterate my original Q - obvious risks apart, is the leather on this thing, the surface itself not suitable?

Unfortunately, there is no way for us to determine the suitability of the leather from your photos. A lot of portfolios are made from synthetic leather rather than real leather, although that is not necessarily a bad thing. Synthetic leather can be used for stropping. The main thing is that the leather needs to be clean and devoid of wrinkles. The photos show some spots in the leather that might be unsuitable. There are also some slack areas that are not ideal.

If you cannot wait, one thing you can do is to purchase peaces of leather from a local craft shop such as Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Tandy Leather, etc. of whatever is available in your area. They can be laid on a hard surface or glued to a backer such as wood, tile, acrylic, to produce a nice bench strop. This will not be money wasted as you can always use that bench strop later with Chromium Oxide, Ferric Oxide, Diamond or Cubic Boron Nitride paste for use as a pasted strop. I have a number of such strops that I have used with various compounds.
 
So, to reiterate my original Q - obvious risks apart, is the leather on this thing, the surface itself not suitable?
Well, I did start my 'cynical' post with "I'd say try it". I'll stay with that. It looks to me like it will be all right. You certainly won't do damage that can't be repaired except for possibly screwing up the leather.
 
Have you done it yet? How did it go?
Yup, shaved with it last night, didn't do any stropping prior to it.

I was hugely surprised as to how much easier and more comfortable was to shave with it, compared to half-DE blade type shavette. I guess the slight smile on the blade adds to that increased usability. The shave itself was super-smooth, zero irritation, went for the full 4-pass shave (WTG, XTG ear-to-mouth, XTG mouth-to-ear, ATG). Worked like a charm.

I am converted 100% :)

As for strop, I've decided to listen to what the rest of you guys have cautioned me about @RayClem, @bluesman 7, so no stropping on the file folder. I've found a local shop in the mall here that sells decent quality strops, so I'll just get one until the other one arrives.
 
"I do perfectly understand the risks, such as running the edge over the stitching, that is obvious"
-It could also be that the lather is not stretched enough/wavy, what impact this have, not sure.

"but rather is the leather surface of the file folder a bad leather, as such"
-I would be concerned that the leather been contaminated with particles having bad impact on the edge.
Possible also hygiene.

Regarding performance I would not know without stropping on the item itself several times and test the edge during shave and also inspect the edge with a loupe.

Are you planning to cut the leather out and make a strop?
Nope, no improvising or cutting leather to make my own strop... it was just a Q...
 
Yup, shaved with it last night, didn't do any stropping prior to it.

I was hugely surprised as to how much easier and more comfortable was to shave with it, compared to half-DE blade type shavette. I guess the slight smile on the blade adds to that increased usability. The shave itself was super-smooth, zero irritation, went for the full 4-pass shave (WTG, XTG ear-to-mouth, XTG mouth-to-ear, ATG). Worked like a charm.

I am converted 100% :)

As for strop, I've decided to listen to what the rest of you guys have cautioned me about @RayClem, @bluesman 7, so no stropping on the file folder. I've found a local shop in the mall here that sells decent quality strops, so I'll just get one until the other one arrives.

be glad that you have a local shop that sells gear.

I'd be in a world of trouble if those temptations were available to me locally!!!!

especially soaps too!!!

camo
 
be glad that you have a local shop that sells gear.

I'd be in a world of trouble if those temptations were available to me locally!!!!

especially soaps too!!!

camo
Well... I guess so yes, but then to me shaving is not a hobby, although I do enjoy it. I'm definitely not shaving aficionado. I have some decent gear and am learning about SR usage, but I don't plan on collecting razors, strops, stones or any of that in the quantities that exceed 1-2 pieces of each gear item. As someone put it the other day, I'm "1 razor, 1 soap, 1 brush" type of guy :cool:
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Well... I guess so yes, but then to me shaving is not a hobby, although I do enjoy it. I'm definitely not shaving aficionado. I have some decent gear and am learning about SR usage, but I don't plan on collecting razors, strops, stones or any of that in the quantities that exceed 1-2 pieces of each gear item. As someone put it the other day, I'm "1 razor, 1 soap, 1 brush" type of guy :cool:
Remember that many consider a matching seven-day set as just one razor.

Well that's my excuse.
 
Remember that many consider a matching seven-day set as just one razor.

Well that's my excuse.
Well you shave daily, I shave about 2, perhaps 3 times per week. That said, I am truly looking fwd to the shave #2 with the Koraat :)
 
Well... I guess so yes, but then to me shaving is not a hobby, although I do enjoy it. I'm definitely not shaving aficionado. I have some decent gear and am learning about SR usage, but I don't plan on collecting razors, strops, stones or any of that in the quantities that exceed 1-2 pieces of each gear item. As someone put it the other day, I'm "1 razor, 1 soap, 1 brush" type of guy :cool:

Just because you do not PLAN on collecting razors, strops, hones, etc. does not mean that a year or two from now you won't find yourself with a collection of those items and more. If you are serious about avoiding acquisition disorders, you will have to quit visiting forums like this one.
 
Just because you do not PLAN on collecting razors, strops, hones, etc. does not mean that a year or two from now you won't find yourself with a collection of those items and more. If you are serious about avoiding acquisition disorders, you will have to quit visiting forums like this one.
The main reason I hang on in here is to learn about / get answers regarding SR. Most of the time, at least 😁
 
Good choice with the strop.

Do you plan on buying a stone? I use my cheaper strop after honing. In my kind it keeps any metal from contaminating my more expensive strops. As others have mentioned, you can use your first strop for pastes if you'd like. I do no use pastes, but others here get great results from them.


I understand about the wait. When I ordered my Koraat, the wait was excruciating. Lol. This was before the pandemic and restricting shipping. When it arrived, it was worth the wait.
 
Good choice with the strop.

Do you plan on buying a stone? I use my cheaper strop after honing. In my kind it keeps any metal from contaminating my more expensive strops. As others have mentioned, you can use your first strop for pastes if you'd like. I do no use pastes, but others here get great results from them.


I understand about the wait. When I ordered my Koraat, the wait was excruciating. Lol. This was before the pandemic and restricting shipping. When it arrived, it was worth the wait.
Yup, I do and will go for what Ulrik recommended to me, the same stone he used / uses, a 3K/10K combo Nani. I've canceled my order for 12K Nani on Amazon and am getting this 3K/10K directly from Germany. Ulrik sent me the link.
 
Yup, I do and will go for what Ulrik recommended to me, the same stone he used / uses, a 3K/10K combo Nani. I've canceled my order for 12K Nani on Amazon and am getting this 3K/10K directly from Germany. Ulrik sent me the link.


If you find that the 10K edge is not quite sharp enough, you can always use pasted strops to take it to a higher level of sharpness and smoothess.
 
If you find that the 10K edge is not quite sharp enough, you can always use pasted strops to take it to a higher level of sharpness and smoothess.
Well frankly, I have found out that already - it is NOT.

I am thinking of ordering a pair of "el cheapo" strops from AlExpress, to use them as pasted. These are all made in China, but they do have both the canvas and leather surface and what I'm planning to do is to load the cotton side with CrOx and the leather side with .1µ diamond paste.

It ships free and costs only $13 bucks...

US $23.3 |free shipping leather strop keep razor sharp belt|strop razor|leather stroprazor sharp - AliExpress - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1394001338.html?spm=2114.12010614.0.0.1d50309eWXUfKK&gps-id=pcStoreJustForYou&scm=1007.23125.137358.0&scm_id=1007.23125.137358.0&scm-url=1007.23125.137358.0&pvid=6c24b9a7-7795-496c-b6bf-2db996aba394

What do you think?
 
If you’re going to do pastes, you’d be better served using @Slash McCoy’s balsa setups.

early on I tried CrOx and FeOx on balsa. They’re kinda harsh on a face feel. CBN and diamond feel smoother. I think going from .5 CrOx to .1 may be too big a step. .5, to .25, to .1 seems to be the best result.
 
Well frankly, I have found out that already - it is NOT.

I am thinking of ordering a pair of "el cheapo" strops from AlExpress, to use them as pasted. These are all made in China, but they do have both the canvas and leather surface and what I'm planning to do is to load the cotton side with CrOx and the leather side with .1µ diamond paste.

It ships free and costs only $13 bucks...

US $23.3 |free shipping leather strop keep razor sharp belt|strop razor|leather stroprazor sharp - AliExpress - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1394001338.html?spm=2114.12010614.0.0.1d50309eWXUfKK&gps-id=pcStoreJustForYou&scm=1007.23125.137358.0&scm_id=1007.23125.137358.0&scm-url=1007.23125.137358.0&pvid=6c24b9a7-7795-496c-b6bf-2db996aba394

What do you think?


I have tried lots of substrates for pasted strops. Normally, I want a flat bench strop for pastes rather than a hanging strop, but some people use hanging strops. Either can work. You just have to experiment to see what works for you.

If you get CrOX, be sure you get a paste or spray suitable for razors. The green crayons you get for use on buffing wheels might not be what you want. You want CrOx that specifically states either 0.5 or 0.3 micron.

I use CBN pastes, but CrOx, FeOx, polycrystaline and monocrystaline diamond can all be used. I even have some 2 micron Cerium Oxide that is designed for polishing glass that can work as an initial polishing step, but you need something finer for finishing.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Well frankly, I have found out that already - it is NOT.

I am thinking of ordering a pair of "el cheapo" strops from AlExpress, to use them as pasted. These are all made in China, but they do have both the canvas and leather surface and what I'm planning to do is to load the cotton side with CrOx and the leather side with .1µ diamond paste.

It ships free and costs only $13 bucks...

US $23.3 |free shipping leather strop keep razor sharp belt|strop razor|leather stroprazor sharp - AliExpress - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1394001338.html?spm=2114.12010614.0.0.1d50309eWXUfKK&gps-id=pcStoreJustForYou&scm=1007.23125.137358.0&scm_id=1007.23125.137358.0&scm-url=1007.23125.137358.0&pvid=6c24b9a7-7795-496c-b6bf-2db996aba394

What do you think?
DON'T BUY that strop from the Titan Store on AilExpress. Titan fo not make strops. They badge engineer strops from other manufacturers.

That strop is a good budget strip made in kazakhstan (not China) from calf hide sourced in Kyrgyzstan. You can buy exactly the same on AliExpress for one quarter to one third of the price from other vendors. Look around.

I have about half a dozen of these strops as consumable items. They are very good strops for the correct price. I have reviewed them here.
 
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