Most people use the scrub leather followed by the smooth layer for every day stropping. If you are refreshing your razor or using the diamond or chromium oxide sprays, one of these would be used prior to the scrub and smooth leathers.
Pretty wild the felt hasn't caught on in the high end knife world yet. It takes sprays SOO much better than any other media including the nanostrops made these days costing $35-$40 for a 6"x2" strop. I now have a separate felt module for this that I use only for knives. It's a fantastic razor strop but the fact it doubles so well for knives makes it well worth the money to me. Just a great product.
Glad to find this. You might consider giving people who buy the paddle a link to this video. I have to confess, i was a little at sea when i first received mine. Having fun though, now, and thanks!
I was very lucky to acquire this paddle strop few years ago when Lynn's shop was still open. Now I'just started using it again, when I recently resumed my interest in straight razor shaving. ( For many years I've been using single edge Feather Artist Club Professional blades with varieties of razors). I have a question to the strop users and may be to Lynn himself if he is still reading the comments: how easy it would be to make replacements modules. These magnetic adhesive sheets are available I guess in Home Depot, hobby shops and online. The big question is leather. All I need is a piece of leather with approximate dimension of the strop, metallic ruler and sharp knife. I put an adhesive sheet on the back and then cut it precisely for the strop dimension. Unfortunately, Idon't think is that simple. Can Ijust to enter any leather custom shop and ask to buy a few scrap pieces from them? Is the leather need to be specially treated? I saw some hanging strops online with insane , on my opinion , prices, like 300-400$, is it mostly cost of leather itself or craft/brand/fanciness/etc, for example Kanayama Llama strop for nearly 400$ from Fendrihan? Any info would be much appreciated. Finally, many thanks to Lynn for the excellent product and wishes to enjoy retirement
You should be able to go to your leather shop and get a piece to cut to size. See what variety of leather or horsehide they have available and pick a piece most suitable to what has worked for you in the past. Good luck.
@@LynnSAbrams Lynn, thanks so much for your prompt answer. As I understand, if I am direct, no special processing/treatment for the leather needed. Best regards. P.S. I heard somewhere it's advised to oil the strop regulary
@@vladimirrainish841 Correct. Try to find a piece that feels like it has the draw or resistance you like. Rub your hand back and forth to get the feel you think will work.
Lynn Abrams I love my paddle strop and it is my travel buddy when I'm on the road and need to keep my razors sharp. I have a question though what is the actual purpose of the scrub leather ? I made a guess it was to give resistance and heat the blade a bit to assist in the strop process. That was my guess though, can you set me straight ( no pun intended ), to its actual intended use or, uses ? As always shave on !
I took the original smooth leather and rubbed chromium oxide paste on it. 7-10 laps Works great. Then I strop 10-15 laps with the English leather and it gives a fantastic edge. Great for refreshing.
Normally we carry all the same leathers as with our hanging strops. We are waiting right now on replenishing our stock following a busy holiday season. There is a drop down on the site showing the different pricing.
In my opinion you would not need to buy a hanging strop if you have the Modular. Very much a personal preference item. The great thing about the Modular Strop is it's versatility.
Sometimes if the nicks are not too deep, a light sanding with about1K sandpaper will work. You need to make sure you get all the sandpaper grit off the strop. I usually clean it with saddle soap after I try to repair one and then let it dry followed by a very small amount of neats foot oil well rubbed into the strop. Good Luck. Developing a nice smooth rhythm when stropping will help avoid damage to the strop. Good luck.
The .5 diamond spray and the chromium oxide spray both work well on the felt. Both sprays are applied the same. Pastes and the chromium oxide crayon are rubbed on either leather or the webbed or canvas strop for best results in my opinion. You can refresh the razor with either the diamond or chromium oxide media. I normally recommend 4-7 light strokes followed by a stropping on leather.
Hey Lynn, Thanks for you videos, I just got my first Straight razor a week ago, shaved about 3 times. I'm enjoying it. I thinking of everything, stopping I under estimated the most. I don't god fast, but still already got some nicks in my leather. Is there any way to fix some of this spots? I saw one guy mention light sanding on another video. Can I do this. I'm going to have to make this strop last as long as i can before I have to tell the wife why I need another strop. Thanks again
Lynn, When I first purchased this paddle strop, it was recommended to me by someone at SRD that I use the scrub leather for CROX. Do you recommend keeping the scrub leather clean and using CROX on the felt?
I usually just use the scrub leather for regular stropping before the smooth or regular leather. I like the felt for the spray chromium oxide and diamond sprays and it works well with them. For the crayon and chromium oxide pastes, I use either the back of a hanging strop or the poly webbing second strop.
