Thread: new straight shaver; strop paste question

I'm just getting started with this whole straight razor business. I wanted to jump into it in the most straightforward way possible, so I went through the various FAQs and ended up with a Dovo Best Quality 6/8 pre-honed from Straight Razor Design (no 5/8's available, as recommended by the FAQ) and a Filly strop from ruprazor.com. I had a brush and Proraso already. For any other straight up newbies, I think I can recommend the above choices as easy (no Ebaying of questionable antique razors), cheap (on the lower end of prices I saw), and high quality (pre-honed by a "honemeister"; FAQ approved).

I've been through about a week's worth of shaves, and it's working well, but I do have a question about the paste on the ruprazor strop. How long is it meant to last without refreshing? How do you tell? If you still see green, is it still working? If I want to repaste, do I need to stay with the same brand/type of paste, or can I use any .5 micron chromium oxide? And where can I get it? I found a likely bottle at chefsknivestogo, but they're sold out....

Hello and welcome. Your pasted strop should be good for several months with normal use on a single razor. Normal use should be something like once every two or three weeks--or even less often. The daily stropping is done on plain leather, and is enough to keep the shaving edge sharp and smooth. The pasted strop is for occasional touchup when plain leather isn't bringing your edge back any more. Overuse of a pasted strop will lead to an edge that needs deeper honing than it would otherwise. Read about stropping and pasted strops in our wiki (the Library link at the top of the page).

Best wishes

p.s. Good calls on your initial gear purchases. Many of us migrate to 6/8 blades anyway--I have, though I started at 5/8. The extra width smooths out the ride a little, the way it does with a larger car. Did you get the airbag option?