Thread: Linen Strop

Hi Y'all...just noticed this part of the forum and decided my question is more appropiate here...so...my question is: when using the "SRD" linen side of the strop (3" red latigo and brown linen from this site), is red and/or green paste necessary? Thanks. Rich.

Personally I never put paste or diamond spray on my daily use strop. I use a spare for paste or spray and use it when necessary. Not often in my case but good to have if needed. The SRD modular paddle is ideal for paste/spray IMO.

I don't use any paste on my linen strop either . I've only used paste on leather paddle strops . Unless you're experienced at stropping , and really know what you're doing , stropping on a pasted hanging strop will most likely do more harm than good IMHO .

In my personal opinion (and from what I have read and been recommended), your "everyday" strop should be free of pastes, etc...clean as a whistle. That's leather and linen. If you want pasted strop, I would get a dedicated strop (line, leather or both) and paste those. I rarely use pastes these days...even for touch-ups...I go to my Coti, Escher or JNats.

If you want some paste, I've heard of guys having great results with the Dovo white paste. Anecdotally speaking, they claim that it's not really abrasive to any discernible degree, but it seems to improve the feedback for them. Again, this is hearsay. I'm not recommending it, rather relaying the information.

Dovo's linen strops come pre-treated with this paste as I understand it.

I have to agree with these guys. Your daily strop, leather and linen, should be free of abrasive paste. All of my pastes are on paddle strops and only used when the edge starts to pull a bit.

so it sounds to me that the "pasted strop" is a bit of the middle ground between the everyday strop and the full blown honing...thanks everyone...

Originally Posted by certifiedbodyman

so it sounds to me that the "pasted strop" is a bit of the middle ground between the everyday strop and the full blown honing...thanks everyone...

Kind of. You can touch up the edge on paste when it starts to pull a bit, but eventually you will need to hit the hones. Pasting is definitely not for daily use.

Dovo white is basically chalk (very fine, extremely weak abrasive) in a grease binder. It's supposed to just make the linen side more efficient/faster at what it does (removing corrosion & other micro gunk before you hit the leather).

I tried it once a long time ago (when I was using way too much pressure stropping in general) & managed to dull my edges after a single shave, so I know it does something! I plan to experiment with it again soon now that I actually strop correctly! Some guys have reported longer edge life w/ using it, so I definitely want to give it another try. If you're new, I'd recommend steering clear of the stuff for exactly that reason.

Thanks everyone...so my verdict is no paste except on a dedicated strop...which I might or might not do...I did break down and get some Norton hones and a lapping stone - 220 and 100 for my knives and 4000/8000 for the razors. I'll practice on an old one while watching the dvd that came with my strop and I'll probably send a few to get honed so I can compare my results against some of the highly regarded honemeisters on this forum. Knowing that knives and razors are different beasts, I have another learning curve to maneuver. I still suspect that my stropping technique needs honing...lol.

Both the leather and linen or cotton strops are not polishing material, they just straighten or reshape the edge to it's original shape. I use balsa wood with CRO2 to touch up before honing again. Juan.