Let me begin by saying I'm dumb as a brick when it comes to straight razors. I have one that I will one day soon send to get honed. I was thinking that perhaps a paddle strop would eliminate some of the margin for error associated with stropping a razor. Is this sound logic for a straight razor noob? I hate to dull a honed razor by improperly securing or not holding the strop tight enough and getting wrap around. Will a paddle strop eliminate this possibility?
I dont even own a straight so take my advice with a grain of salt. I have been researching straights heavily for a couple months now and want one soo bad but the initial start up cost is alot. From what I have read and read and read you either need to get a barber hone or high grit hone 8,000+ and strop or a paddle strop and a a few diamond pastes for sharpening along with a strop paste to polish with. Polishing the edge should keep it sharp longer. The paddle strop was the least expensive choice to maintain a sharp edge. You can youtube how to videos on either choice. They both look easy to do but everything on youtube looks easy to do. Hope I was some help. v/r T.J.
It is always possible to hurt the edge on a straight with any kind of strop but if you are careful it is not a major concern. You are more likely to hurt your strop than your edge when you first start out, as long as you follow the basic rules of stropping (light pressure, edge following spine, flip on spine). It is true that a paddle strop can eliminate the issue of excess sag that can occur with a hanging strop, but as Sailor points out most people get a paddle strop for the touch-up aspect - they are a nice easy and cheap way to keep your edge sharp using abrasive pastes. You can use abrasive pastes on a hanging strop too, but there is the sag issue, as well as the fact that once pasted, always pasted with a hanger, and a decent hanger can set you back some decent money. I would not be too concerned about the sagging issue with a hanger if I were you - the fact that you know about it is a step in the right direction. But, if you want a paddle strop there is nothing wrong with them at all - it will provide a stable surface for both stropping and sharpening. In fact, if you got a four-sided one you could have 3 sides pasted with progressively finer pastes, and leave the last side as the leather for stropping. James.
Paddle strops can get kinda weird. I agree that a multisided paddle can have its uses. That is another thread. A double sided strop does not have the sag associated with that a hanging has. That being said. I have had both and here is the short fall of a paddle. IF you hone the razor with a taped spine you MUST retape the spine when ever you strop. This is a pain in the butt when you just need to touch up the razor. My advice is to practice and practice with the hanging and use a paddle in the honing part of the razor. If you want a paddle type without the paddle them you need a loom strop. Those take a little more to get used to than a paddle because they have a tensioner that tightens the leather or loosens the leather. They are a middle ground between a paddle and a hanging. I have never used a loom. Livi uses a loom and sells one under his name, but I am sure that there are cheaper alternatives out there.
The simple answer: What you need to start out straight shaving is a shave-ready straight and a nice hanging strop. It isn't that hard to learn how to strop and, for the most part, any damage you do to the edge of your razor while practicing stropping will be reversible if the strop has a pasted side. Hanging strops tend to be longer and wider than paddle strops so they have an advantage in that quarter. Paddle strops have the advantage of up to four sides, where you can apply different abrasive pastes to hone with. However, you will not need to hone a razor for a while (months) unless you really mess up the edge. In that case, you're probably better off having an experienced user/hone master touch up the edge anyway. The best reliable beginners deal out there is the Gold Dollar razor + Filly strop that's available at Ruprazor.com. The razor is honed and shave ready, and the Filly strop is all you'll need for a long time ---- long enough to find out if you want to sink money into more stuff. At $20 for the Filly, it is a great starter strop, and I still use mine even though I have very nice horsehide strops now. If you nick it, you won't grieve at the price. So my advice: Get the Filly...start shaving with your straight.
Sailor, actually you don't need all this stuff unless you KNOW you're going to stick with straight shaving. The hones, strop, and pastes you mention are recommended as the minimum equipment required to maintain your razors indefinitely (once you've decided to stick with straights). If you start with a shave-ready straight and a good strop with a pasted side, you should be able to maintain your razor in shave-ready condition for months. That should give you more than enough time to evaluate straight shaving. Also, in those months you could acquire all the strops and hones you want one at a time....spreading the cost over a long period of time. Don't be daunted by all the stuff you need to begin straight razor shaving. You can get all you require for about a half year for $60 or less. Not cheap, certainly, but not expensive either.
Here is what you need to start with a str8. A shave ready, professionally honed razor. A strop with a linen side (forget pastes they are not worth the effort, IMHO they belong to the honing realm). Soap, brush, mug and styptic. Aftershave is optional. Thats it. Strops, go to a leather or tack store, pick up some latigo scrap and make your own. 3" wide 30" long. Punch some holes on either end to hang it. Get some hardware, your in business. Linen, go to a craft store and buy it there. You want bottom weight linen or canvas. Cotton is preferable. This is also cheap. Eileens tacky glue and glue the canvas to the back of the leather. It works, just paint it on kinda thin, too thick and it will cause uneven spots. Strop scrap plus linen/canvas $10, hardware, $5, glue - $20 for a fully functional strop. Professionally honed razor, they can be had at the SRP for $20 - $900. Take your pick. strop 30 - 40 on canvas and double that on the leather. Your set for at least 6 months. In that time get yourself a Swaty three line hone or 12k hone, or Japanese natural. Depends on what you want to spend. Or say screw it and spend the $15 bucks to send it to a honemeister every 6 months to a year. Then you will need two razors in your rotation.
It's cheaper to have a razor honed, then it is to buy the necessary hones. - Unless you plan on having a big collection. You'll pay about 15 to 20 dollars plus shipping, for the time and tools of someone experienced with razors. Or, you can end up paying over 100 dollars for a collection of hones (40$ for 1k/2k grit + 50$ for a 6k/8k grit + 30$ for a 12k grit). And as you are inexperienced, your razors will suffer from hone wear. Those razors can last a lifetime, but only if you don't wear them out. Oh yeh, you can buy a shave ready razor, and save yourself this whole dilemma.
Let me begin by saying I'm dumb as a brick when it comes to straight razors. I have one that I will one day soon send to get honed. I was thinking that perhaps a paddle strop would eliminate some of the margin for error associated with stropping a razor. Is this sound logic for a straight razor noob? I hate to dull a honed razor by improperly securing or not holding the strop tight enough and getting wrap around. Will a paddle strop eliminate this possibility? I am just going to skip down here as there is way to much info to sort through above..... You need... A hanging strop with linen and leather,, Google Illinois#827 for the cheapest sale going on should be about $35... you can debate this for hours on end between a paddle and hanging but the fact remains that I do not know of one person that uses a paddle in lieu of a hanger.... You need a shave ready straight razor about $15 to hone, if you can't find someone close, PM me and I will hone one up for you to try... You need lather on yer face That is really all you NEED Also keep in mind if you try this and you don't like it, you can re-coup most of yer costs in the BST or Classifieds on the forums... What you might want NOW that is a different story...
The simple answer is yes, using a paddle strop removes one variable. However, I'm pretty sure everyone uses a hanging strop as Glen suggests. In addition, if you were really concerned about that variable, what you could do is take your hanging strop, remove the fittings and lay it down on a table counter. You can do this until your pretty comfortable with the motions, then when your ready, make it into a hanging strop again. The TM & TM hardware strops will lay perfectly flat and have no hardware. Stitched strops will have parts that don't quite lay flat, and might not work so well if you go this route. However, you could just buy a piece of wood that is the length of the leather and use it as a temporary paddle. Anyway, hope you found the answer you were looking for, feel free to ask more questions.
Stumbled across a hanging strop at a local antique store. It's very wide two horsehide strops so I noobed it up and watched all the videos and stropped the hell out of my one and only straight. I think the maiden voyage will be tomorrow and/or Sunday. There's a very nice edge on my razor (a Boker, Red Injun No. 102) and I'm quickly running out of excuses. I'm nervous, but at the same time very excited. I'm mentally prepared for the first few shaves to totally suck but then again, my first few shaves with a Gem Micromatic were less than remarkable too. The current plan is NOT to become a full time straight razor guy (I have too many safety razors I enjoy way too much to give up.) I was thinking perhaps as a weekend shave or other time when I totally have a lot of time to shave, a straight would be nice. For workday shaves though, I can't see abandoning the convenience of a safety razor. Although once I've used a straight enough to be comfortable with it, I may totally change my tune but that's the plan right now.
T-I Strop I use my Theiers-Issard extra wide paddle strop to bring my Dovo 6/8 blonde up to snuff. I recommend using a paddle Strop for the beginner and then moving up to the hanging strop. Also, the paddle strop is ideal for traveling
I think a paddle strop would be a good tool. It's always going to be flat and you can hold it different ways.
