A razor strop or simply a strop (sometimes called a razor strap or strap) is a flexible strip of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

, denim fabric, balsa wood, or other soft material, used to straighten and polish the blade of a

straight razor A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors. The predecessors of the modern straight razors include bronze razors, with cutting edges and fixed handles, produced ...

, a

knife A knife (: knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least Stone Age, 2.5 million years ago, as e ...

, or a woodworking tool such as a

chisel A chisel is a hand tool with a characteristic Wedge, wedge-shaped cutting edge on the end of its blade. A chisel is useful for carving or cutting a hard material such as woodworking, wood, lapidary, stone, or metalworking, metal. Using a chi ...

. In many cases stropping re-aligns parts of the blade edge that have been bent out of alignment. In other cases, especially when an abrasive polishing compound is used, stropping may remove a small amount of metal (functionally equivalent to

lapping Lapping is a machining process in which two surfaces are rubbed together with an abrasive between them, by hand movement or using a machine. Lapping often follows other subtractive processes with more aggressive material removal as a first ste ...

). Stropping can also burnish (i.e., push metal around on) the blade. The strop may be a hanging strop or a hand-held paddle. Various abrasive compounds may be applied to the strop to aid in polishing the blade while stropping to obtain a mirror-like finish. Common abrasive compounds include half-micron

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

s, green chromium(III) oxide, white rouge (

aluminum oxide Aluminium oxide (or aluminium(III) oxide) is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen with the chemical formula . It is the most commonly occurring of several aluminium oxides, and specifically identified as aluminium oxide. It is commonly ...

), and jeweller's rouge (

iron(III) oxide Iron(III) oxide or ferric oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula . It occurs in nature as the mineral hematite, which serves as the primary source of iron for the steel industry. It is also known as red iron oxide, especially when use ...

Use

Stropping is traditionally associated with

s used for

shaving Shaving is the removal of hair, by using a razor or any other kind of bladed implement, to slice it down—to the level of the skin or otherwise. Shaving is most commonly practiced by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove the ...

, as these are the thinnest blades in everyday use, and therefore require frequent stropping. Kitchen knives may be straightened on a

honing steel A honing steel, sometimes referred to as a sharpening steel, whet steel, sharpening stick, sharpening rod, butcher's steel, and chef's steel, is a rod of steel, ceramic or diamond-coated steel used to restore keenness (the microscopic shape of ...

if less sharpness is acceptable. In principle, any blade may be polished by stropping. Custom strops are made to hone irregularly-shaped tools, such as

s or gouges, and nearly any piece of smooth leather or heavy fabric infused with abrasive compound may be used for stropping.

References

External links

Scienceofsharp
effects of various blade sharpening and stropping techniques, mostly on straight razors, shown by electron microscope.
Electron microscope analysis of various sharpening techniques
by John D. Verhoeven Shaving Grinding and lapping {{tool-stub Sharpening

Use

See also

References

External links