Thread: can it be done

Originally Posted by rwebb1683

can you strop a straight razor on a leather belt, like you can a knife blade. Just wondering it came up in a discussion i had yesterday my thought is no but being new at the sport i wanted to ask you veterans without making my answer a definitive one.

thanks ronny

If it is clean leather sure.
A good belt that I would strop on costs 40-60 bucks
and so does a decent strop. There are bargains out
there so you might do better.

By clean leather I am excluding some belts made of glued and
compressed stuff some of which might have been leather but
are more like cardboard.

There is a local Tandy leather shop not too far from me.
I have found some belt leather that made nice strops. It
is worth a good look.

Using your arm to strop makes a new meaning to nicking the strop!!!

Originally Posted by Zjgilbert

...on his arm? He must have had to do like 100 passes!

Yeah, I told him it had very little effect. However, I understand people used to strop on the palm of their hand. Of course, my main issue was it's dangerous...

Can you use a razor strop as a belt

Oni, you must be an awful little fella to ask that!

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Yeah, I told him it had very little effect. However, I understand people used to strop on the palm of their hand. Of course, my main issue was it's dangerous...

I was actually taught by my barber to palm strop. It's basically just a cleaning type stroke right in the meat of the hand. I do 10 laps between each pass. Hasn't hurt anything. Also don't know if it helps any. At this point it's part of the ritual and I'd probably miss it if I quit doing it.

I use a belt all the time. A horses belt! My last strop was made using latigo leather which can be used to cinch down a saddle.

Originally Posted by BigJim

Oni, you must be an awful little fella to ask that!

The devil made me do it. oni by name oni by nature

Actually referring back to Eric's post here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...tml#post905676
I was the guy who ended up rehoning said young lady's razor so when people talk belts for strops I always remember these pics of a smooth looking belt & what it did to the razor.

I went to Tandy Leather and bought a 3" belt blank, cut it in half, and made 2 strops out of it. Cheap. They work great. But, they need to be smoothed by using a light leather treatment on the surface and the side of a coffee mug. Just lightly treat the surface and run the side of the coffee mug down it a few times until you feel the leather smooth out.

i have 2 leather belts that i use as strops, both of them were leather cleaned first, then i used the corner of a jim bean bottle full of hot water to help smooth, condition and flatten them. i haven't bought a strop yet, probably will but am going to use my belts for awhile as the idea of nicks in a nice strop make me cringe a bit.