I have been honing and shaving with straight razors for about a year and the one mystery that I am still trying to get my head around is strops.
Having spent money on all the other aspects of SR shaving, I feel that I need to know more before I start spending real money on strops. Not a lot of choices in the UK.
I currently own two strops, both would be considered budget strops. A short two inch Korium strop and a XL Windrose strop that is about four inches wide. I prefer the larger strop, but the problem with the wider one is that it is cupping, so lately I started using the smaller strop. After every shave I strop for about 50 laps on diamond pasted paddle, veg tan leather strop, and then before every shave I strop on the clean leather hanging strop for about 50 laps. Seems to do the job, so I genuinely don't know if an upgrade would be worth the money. I never strop on linen or any other fabric, just leather.
So here are the questions:
1) What are you looking for if you are looking for a good quality strop?
2) Why are some strops ridiculously more expensive than others? Do you get value for money spent? I have heard some sing praises for Kanoyama. What makes them special?
3) I see strops made from cowhide, horse hide, kangaroo, buffalo. What's the pro's and cons? What characteristic of leather make for a good strop? The softer the better? The thicker the better? If I want to make my own, what leather would I be looking for?
4) Is it just about personal preference, or is there some science to it?
Having spent money on all the other aspects of SR shaving, I feel that I need to know more before I start spending real money on strops. Not a lot of choices in the UK.
I currently own two strops, both would be considered budget strops. A short two inch Korium strop and a XL Windrose strop that is about four inches wide. I prefer the larger strop, but the problem with the wider one is that it is cupping, so lately I started using the smaller strop. After every shave I strop for about 50 laps on diamond pasted paddle, veg tan leather strop, and then before every shave I strop on the clean leather hanging strop for about 50 laps. Seems to do the job, so I genuinely don't know if an upgrade would be worth the money. I never strop on linen or any other fabric, just leather.
So here are the questions:
1) What are you looking for if you are looking for a good quality strop?
2) Why are some strops ridiculously more expensive than others? Do you get value for money spent? I have heard some sing praises for Kanoyama. What makes them special?
3) I see strops made from cowhide, horse hide, kangaroo, buffalo. What's the pro's and cons? What characteristic of leather make for a good strop? The softer the better? The thicker the better? If I want to make my own, what leather would I be looking for?
4) Is it just about personal preference, or is there some science to it?