Thread: Cotton vs Linen on Strop...

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Singlewedge,

Cotton is cotton, linen is linen. I am refering to my two cloths, real cotton and real linen. If it is cotton it is not linen. This what I tried to explain in the statements a previous poster quoted from my website.

Today everyone calls the cloth linen. It could be cotton, hemp, linen, nylon, polyester, etc.....


Tony

My car is made out of linen!

I personally asked Tony this very question (he must get it a lot!) before I purchased my new strop from him, and his reply was exactly as it is here.

I ended up going with the smooth cotton and it seems to work just fine. I do like the feel and result, but I have nothing to compare it to. And honestly, at this point in my straight razor journey, I probably wouldn't even know the difference.

Once I save up enough pennies I plan to get a horsehide/linen combo to complement my latigo/smooth cotton combo, if for no other reason than to try them all out and see the differences (if any) for myself.

I looked at it this way. Not many people seem to have the smooth cotton. I'm not sure why this is, but I guessed it's because people are resistant to change -- they've been using linen, it works good, and they see no reason to switch it up. But if Tony says it's what he recommends for daily use, that's more than good enough for me. I'm willing to bet he's seen and used his fair share of both cotton and linen strops

I really think this is one for personal preference. I have old strops with linen and old strops with canvas and with thick cotton. I also have strops with poly webbing, felt and thinner cotton linen (so they say) and hemp. I would be hard pressed to say which really performs better from a result standpoint. Each has their own draw and sound. The other consideration would be what type of paste or sharpening media would I use on which one...........

Lynn

Lynn,

Interesting. I was under the impression that the cloth side wasn't usually for holding a sharpening media, like a spray or paste, but was intended to stand alone, providing a slightly abrasive surface for cleaning the edge of micro-particles and flecking, while the leather was for smoothing.

Am I way off here?

Originally Posted by Spatterdash

Lynn,

Interesting. I was under the impression that the cloth side wasn't usually for holding a sharpening media, like a spray or paste, but was intended to stand alone, providing a slightly abrasive surface for cleaning the edge of micro-particles and flecking, while the leather was for smoothing.

Am I way off here?

I don't think so. In the old days, i'm not sure that there was any pasting other than the soaps. At some point though going back into the 50's and 60's, maybe before, there were pastes available. TI actually used to make little rectangle pieces wrapped in foil in green and red and they had a white too like now, I believe. Dovo makes a green and red and white although one is for strop leather dressing, I think. The diamond compounds are pretty recent.

But the purpose of the cloth is to catch microchips, and the like such as corrosion. The stronger the fiber the better the catch. This helps smooth the blade before the leather aligns and further smooths it for an optimum edge.

Over the years it was noticed that the irregular surface of the cloth made it a good medium to hold a paste for further polishing, and then taken to the leather to kick it up a notch!

Can't say for certain, but it works.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I was in a fabric store today with the idea of buying some linen to make a paddle strop or two to practice on, and the variety of fabrics was kind of disappointing.

Everything under the "Linen" section was a blend of some kind, either linen-cotton, or linen-rayon. The highest proportion of linen was around 50-60%. There was a wide range of weaves, from coarse to very smooth.

I'm wondering if anyone has actually tried to strop a razor with a linen blend fabric, and if anyone can comment on whether a smooth or rougher weave makes a difference. I was thinking of using it without paste, since I already have a strop with paste on it.